Illumination
Mornings have been colder than normal here in south Florida but the color is golden. I remember when I first arrived here ten years ago, walking along the edge of the cypress in the winter. Their...
View ArticleClose Encounters
I had just rounded a corner from a rain shelter at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Camouflaged in the alligator flag perched on a branch warming up was a young male anhinga, partially flaked with duckweed....
View ArticleFloral Arrangements
The grays of the deciduous trees and perennial greens of the cabbage palms and slash pines are showing themselves now along with thousands of tree swallows. Sounds are crisp and loud as I walk through...
View ArticleTermite Surprise
One by one they left the branches and surrounded me. The fact that I was there was incidental. Termites were swarming……..and the blue- gray gnatcatchers were gobbling them up. The click, click, click...
View ArticleStalking the Wild Falcon
Sometimes I forget that I have a camera and I become mesmerized by the movements and behavior of the bird I am observing. In this case it was a male American Kestrel, Falco sparverius. These birds...
View ArticleAncient Iris
Reaching for the sky Messages grow on the wind. Earth connects with heaven So tells my observations and the ancient wisdom of old. This flower had many uses including medicine made from its rhizomes,...
View ArticleGreen Cover
In an effort to create green corridors here in southwest Florida some developments have set aside acreage in its natural state while other neighborhoods have made a commitment to plant native plants...
View ArticleInvasive Charm
I thought it was a rose as soon as I set eyes on it. How could I have overlooked a rose in my wanderings through these woods? This three ft tall plant is growing on the edge of the red mangroves and...
View ArticleWalking on the Wild Side: The Coral Bean
Walking on the wild side with children is an excellent opportunity to teach them about plants that are both beneficial and harmful. There is a shrub blooming now with very attractive tubular flowers...
View ArticleBirding Tip Series #5: from Rosemary Allen
1. Accompany an experienced birder but be sure to bring your bird guide and binoculars. 2. Have a destination in mind where birds have been spotted and wake up with the birds before sunrise or watch...
View ArticleNative Wonder-Serenoa repens
It’s going to be a bumper crop for saw palmetto berries in my neck of the woods this year. They have been blooming for a month now in Southwest Florida and they are still blooming. I am fascinated by...
View ArticleMother’s Work
While I was getting ready to mow the lawn and make a lot of noise, I was distracted by what sounded like bird chicks feeding. I walked closer to the oak trees that border the south side of my house...
View ArticleLife is Good
With the warblers long gone now, my favorite singer takes the stage; the northern cardinal. They are permanent residents but begin nesting in the spring and continue through the summer. Their songs...
View ArticleTrue Colors
Pausing to take in the magnificence of the wet grass prairie, hoping for a glimpse of a deer, and hearing the cry of a Bald Eagle, I was eventually pulled in to witness the Red-shouldered Hawk making...
View ArticleAwakening
Cabbage Palm Ablaze by Rosemary Allen While the Red-shouldered Hawks went about their courtship and nest building activities, a Roseate Spoonbill soared overhead on a cool January morning. I was in the...
View ArticleAfter the Fire Part 1
After the Fire by Rosemary Allen It has been almost three weeks now since this prescribed burn, and as I surveyed these burnt woods in this Lee County preserve I was first impressed with the clear view...
View ArticleThe Limpkin’s Prize
Limpkin with Apple Snail by Rosemary Allen This is the time in our dry down with little or no rain occurring during the winter months. Some of the water from the sheet flow settles deeper into the...
View ArticleMorning Stroll
Black-and-white Warbler by Rosemary Allen I took a stroll last week past an oak hammock, down towards the edge where the willows meet the pond cypress swamp, near my home in SW Florida. While the lone...
View ArticleSmall Wonder
Crablike Spiny Orbweaver by Rosemary Allen A small but intriguing spider called the Spiny Orbweaver or Gasteracantha cancriformis has woven her orb web between my bougainvillea and firebush in the...
View ArticleAfter the Fire: Part Two
Gopher Apple by Rosemary Allen Now, three months after the prescribed burn, in-between the blackened pines with their flush of green and the flowering Saw Palmettos, a carpet of Gopher Apple, Licania...
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