Our Natural Places

Archives

Header: Osprey The weather forecast advised we would encounter heavy fog and once it lifted around mid-morning skies would be mostly cloudy. We decided to go anyway. Perhaps we could get some of those “mood” pictures of thick fog blanketing a lake. We rolled up to the bank of Picnic Lake, its calm surface reflecting the crystal clear blue sky as the sun rose above the cypress trees on the far shore…. Read More

Header Image: Cold Front Departing How can we be “The Sunshine State” if the sun is not shining? Winter. What is it good for? Absolutely nothin’! So there we were, standing on the dock of the lake, peering into grayness. At the end of the dock were two Brown Pelicans, peering into grayness. Soon, the fog will lift and they can go fishing and we can go birding. Soon. Any minute now…. Read More

Header Image: Ruby-crowned Kinglet Apparently, we did not exhaust ourselves enough during the Lakeland Christmas Bird Count so we volunteered to participate in the Green Swamp count. Twenty people. Over 500,000 acres of swamp. Challenging! Gini and I were assigned to the East Tract of the Green Swamp Wildlife Management Area which consisted of a mere 51,000 acres. The vast majority of this area is inaccessible. The Christmas census is designed to… Read More

Header Image: Eastern Phoebe Eyes Bagworm Moth We seem to relish foggy days. For one, as Gini noted on this day, it just seems so quiet. The stillness of an early morning on the bank of a lake blanketed in gray with sight and sound limited heightens the senses. More importantly, we know clear skies lurk just above the mist and the natural world will soon be going about the business of… Read More

It’s that time of year when we sweep out the old in preparation for the new. In a dusty corner of the archive closet, covered in cobwebs deposited by Halloween goblins, I found a few images which need to be shared. Hope you don’t mind. We gave ourselves a treat on All Hallows’ Eve this year and spent the morning poking around another of the gems which makes up the Tenoroc Fish… Read More