Winged Sumac and Florida wildflowers

I usually notice the Sumac in the Fall of the year because of the cluster of red berries that hang from the plants. But this year I happened to be on the Florida Trails to see it in it's summer glory!

It was gorgeous with clusters of white and yellow blooms.

It looked so different that I started thinking it was something 'new'.

There's a bug on this plant getting ready for the Ugly Bug Ball! heehee!

But it's Winged Sumac and the Florida Native Plant Society has the ID info HERE.

Summer is my favorite season and here in Florida we have summer showers that give us so many wildflowers that you would think it was Spring again.

Flowers and butterflies! It doesn't get any prettier than that!

And I have to get at least one photo in of the paved trail! 

The showers give us the perfect conditions for mushrooms too.

Here's the Sumac a week later. Some of it is already turning a rusty red.

Oh and do you want to hear something funny? I've always pronounced it SHU Mac! Shu as in SHOE! lol Is that a Southern thing too?

 

Have you had any summer time showers this week?

I'm joining Angie for Mosaic Monday HERE . 

I'm linking with All Seasons at the Jesh Studio too!

Let's visit the birdie nursery!

We hiked at Halapta Tastanaki from the Pruitt Trailhead a few days ago and before we left, we drove into the grassy area where the horse trailers park. NO ONE was there that day! It has huge live oak trees but they are spaced so that the trailers can unload the horses with plenty of room to drive around and back out after a ride. We love to drive around back there and we always see birds.

But on this particular day we saw baby birds!

And lots of them!

The craziest part of it was the different birds that we spotted in the same area.

The bluebirds were the most fun to watch. They were swooping and soaring and chasing each other just like you would expect youngsters to do!

Most of the photos I got were those onlookers from the fence!

They stayed there without moving much.

And then there was this cute fellow.

A young Mockingbird!

And then this appears to be a young Red-bellied Woodpecker.

What a great ending to a fun hike! 

Summer time hiking....

you gotta love it!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’. 

Learning something new!

I've read a lot about how people are taking advantage of the time they have at home to learn something new. I don't know if I've focused on that. 

But I can say, I did NOT focus on this hummingbird except for the one photo above.

I am still learning my new camera (Canon SX70 HS)and my setting was on flower (for close ups) when I took most of these. I should have changed it to mountain to zoom in from across the street. 

Look at this beautiful flowering bushes that attract the hummers and butterflies!

I am standing at my house, taking pics of the hummingbird across the street.

Don't worry, my neighbor was aware of what I was doing! hahaha!

When I changed the setting, I only got ONE more photo and he was 'away'! It's the 'in focus' photo at the beginning.

And doesn't everyone take photos of their shoe boxes? That's what I had just taken photos of in the lanai. We are in a cleaning out, throwing away, recycling and donating mood at our house right now and I was going to get rid of a shoebox. (I know! I should do better than that! hahaha)

I wear Montrails to hike in and I still wear my oldest pair when it is wet or muddy. They are the BEST shoes in the world for hiking here in Florida. 

And I got a kick out of what was written on the side of the box.

It says, Raise your right foot and repeat after me, 

"I, Diane give my word as a morally righteous Montrail consumer to always play fair with others in the great outdoors and to recycle or reuse this box."

Oh, and I guess now you'll want to see my oldest hiking shoes! 

I have a lot to be thankful for this week! How about you?

Are you blogging about something more interesting than old shoes and recycles? 

I certainly HOPE SO!!!

Updated...I wrote this post yesterday and I am so saddened to see the damage from Hurricane Laura this morning. I hope and pray everyone in it's path is safe. I have lots of family and friends in the area it is traveling so I'm watching it closely. Take care and stay safe!

I’m joining Thankful Thursdays and

I like Thursdays HERE too!

Seeing Red!

No, I'm not mad at anyone. I'm not sure I would consider myself 'easy going' but I don't get upset very often either. 

I was just noticing all the things around me that are red.

We saw this Cardinal a couple of weeks ago in the courtyard. The first photo was taken a week later and could possibly be the same young bird.

He's kind of a splotchy mess in these!

And while I was hiking on the Florida Trails, this RED got my attention!

Coral Bean

Isn't it beautiful!

Eye catching!

Beautiful RED!

I've been 'online' looking at these! Wouldn't one be fun to drive over to the trails?

And this doesn't even count the two red sofas I can see here in my living room as I write. On the subject of 'seeing'. I DID go for an eye exam and got a good report. I still have good distance vision and the doctor just brought my reading glasses up a little. The doctor said my vision was incredibly amazing....I wrote it down! I was ready for new frames and now they are on order. I went because I was afraid my old glasses were a cause of my headaches. So when I get the new ones, I'll see if they make any difference. I think my headaches are just seasonal allergies. But they are a nuisance for someone that's never had many headaches...ever! Do you ever get end of the summer allergies? I don't really have any other symptoms.

Maybe I shouldn't stare up at this so much. 

What? Do you think? 

I'm linking with All Seasons at the Jesh Studio.

Critters AND Birds

I was driving over to the Pruitt Trailhead when I spotted this 'critter' on the side of the road.

Gopher Tortoise

There was a good place to pull over so I took a few pics.

I didn't want to get too close to him though and scare him back onto the street or have him stop and pull into his shell.

That's him behind my car in a gravel driveway of a business. I watched until I saw that he had gotten near the woods next door. 

I saw many of my usual birds and critters at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve (hike #96 for the year)

and it was a beautiful day to be out. (just a little on the HOT side of pleasant) But as I was finishing up my hike and in view of my car,

I heard a small group of trees tweeting. I recognized the Mockingbirds tune and the Cardinal too. 

But the other birds sounded like tweaty birds.

I took photos (most of them I couldn't even find the birds because of the leaves) and I was happy when I got home to see the nice variety.

This Black and White Warbler flew and I got a good look at all of his striping.

This Warbler is probably a female (not sure what).

The Northern Parula I recognized when I saw it. (sorry about the blurry photos, he wouldn't hold still! heehee)

And I got more than one photo of it.

Even a Blue-gray gnatcatcher.

Hope he was spending all his time catching bugs because they are buzzing around.

I did notice this web that had caterpillars in it so they might have all been feasting on them.

So it was a great day to be out in nature!

But isn't it always!!!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.