outdoor photography

Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve On April 9th I drove my daughter back to school at University of Florida. I got there in the early afternoon, and I decided to try a park there before heading back home. I decided to try Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve. I've been there once before, and I thought it was beautiful. A Hair Woodpecker has also been reported here, and I thought it would be good to add that species to my year list (a goal I failed to accomplish). Longleaf Flatwoods Reserve caption This is a beautiful park. I walked the loop marked by white blazes, and there were a couple other trails I ventured down a little ways just to see how the habitat might change. I didn't see a whole lot of birds, but pine flatwoods are one of my favorite habitats, and so it was good just to be out and about in nature. It was was fun to find a blooming Hooded Pitcherplant along the white blaze loop. Hoosed Pitcherplant I saw several Zebra Swallowtails and Common Buckeyes. One pair was m...

Golden Silk Orbweaver with Green Darner Golden Silk Orbweavers amaze me. First, they're giant; second, they're gorgeous. And third, they're really good at killing bugs. Over the last couple weeks I've seen a couple of them that had captured dragonflies.  I'm not absolutely certain of the IDs for these dragonflies, but I think I'm pretty close.  Golden Silk Orbweaver with Carolina? Saddlebags

Black-bellied Whistling Ducks Yesterday I drove back to the Lake Apopka Restoration Area where the Fork-tailed Flycatcher had been seen last week.  It had not been seen yesterday morning, but I thought I'd see if I could find it again.  It was a no show.  But there were about 30 or so Swallow-tailed Kites around, and they were having a literal field day with the dragonflies and grasshoppers that were there.  I found one kite that must have grabbed a blade of grass with its prey (it looks like a grasshopper but I can't be sure). I did take a few minutes to photograph the dragonflies as well.  I think I found both Red and Carolina Saddlebags, but I'm very new to identifying dragonflies, so I'm not confident in my ID yet.  On the way back to the car, I dropped by the ponds by the parking area on Canal St.  I found two Black-bellied Whistling Ducks with six little ducklings.  They stayed very close to their parents, tucked between mom and dad. ...