Spiders and friends

If you can get over fear of spiders and assorted insects, Florida's a good place to be. I'm a rank novice when it comes to identifying them, but noone can deny how beautiful some can be.

Dragonfly

Golden-orbed spider

Just above the large female is the significantly smaller male.

Unidentified

This web had a 2-3 foot diameter.

The only good cockroach is a .......

Mushrooms. Yummy. Not!

Mushrooms of hundreds of varieties can be found in Florida. The more edible they appear, a mushroom expert once told me, the more likely they could make you sick!

Wildflowers, wild plants -- a bargain

Plants native to an area are well adapted to their habitat. Some people may consider them weeds and not wildflowers, but many are quite beautiful. In any garden they are easy to maintain. In Everglades National Park all species are protected. Elsewhere many can easilty be transplanted. Free!

Mexican bluebell

Butterfly pea

Pineland acacia

Cardinal Air Plant,
Big Cypress Swamp 

The air plant with its red bloom is scarcely noticable but I've included it because the cypress trees and their reflections make such a beautiful background for it. This was off Loop Road in the heart of the swamp.

Wedelia

Purple thistle

Blackeyed Susan

String-Lily

Marsh pink

Pineland heliotrope

Marsh fleabane

Unidentified

Unidentified

Air plant

Unidentified

Scaleleaf aster

Unidentified

Snow or Everglades square stem

Pickerelweed

Madagascar Periwinkle

Water lily

Birds of different feathers

Hailing from Massachusetts, my first couple winters in Florida brought enchantment with birds I had never seen before. Below is a sampling.

Red-capped sandhill cranes

Black-necked stilt

Common moor hens



Piliated woodpecker

 Great white egret hunting in Big Cypress Swamp 

Anhinga

Royal terns

Plovers

Brown pelicans

Bald eagles

Cormorant

A common bird in many states I never noticed their emerald green eyes untl I could see them close up on the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park.

Green heron

Green heron

American coot

Alligators

No blog of Florida photos would be complete without at least a few pictures of alligators.

Anhinga Trail, Everglades National Park

In the winter, as the dry season progresses, the Anhinga Trail and Shark Valley of the Everglades Naional Park are good places to see groups of alligators congregating. This occurs beause water becomes more and more scarce as the winter/dry season develops. In the summer with increased rains and waters, they disperse.

Mother Alligator with baby on her back

Mzarek Pond, Everglades National Park

Baby of above mother sunning itself near the shore at my feet.

This young alligator has taken up residence near my house in a man-made pond next to Lake Okahumpka. He's about three feet long and still sports the yellow stripes that will fade as he ages.

Nine Mile Pond

Everglades National Park





Sunrise, sunset

No matter where you go in the world the sun rises and sets. Here's a few Florida born.

Lake Okahumpka

Long Pine Key, Everglades National Park

Everglades National Park

Somewhere in Northern Florida

Everglades City/Chokoloskee Bay

Key West

Everglades City

Everglades City

Chokoloskee Bay

Picayune Strand State Forest

Everglades National Park

 

 

Everglades National Park

Everglades City

Everglades City