A Day at the Park, Blue Run Park

 

Blue Run Park is in Dunnellon, Florida but it isn't your typical 'city' park with picnic tables and playground equipment.

It has nature trails with ponds, a trail that runs with the swamp on one side and the Rainbow River on the other side.

A park that has a big bridge overlooking the Withlacoochee River, the River that flows North!

Alligator seen from the bridge!

And ZOOMED in!

A place to launch kayaks and canoes, nature trails and paved biking and hiking trails.

A side trail with oranges ripening on the trees!

And it is one of the best places we know to see a lot of wildlife and birds. 

Red-Shouldered Hawk

Turtle taken from the bridge

Great Blue Heron on the Rainbow River

And a squirrel!

It's a popular place but never very crowded.

There's lots of space to roam!

Lizard

So I'm sharing some of our sightings from a day at the park.

Do you have a favorite place near you to get out in nature?

It's good for what ails you! Happy weekend!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.  

I'm joining Mosaic Monday HERE 

and I like Thursdays HERE !  

The Colors of Autumn

 We have 'Fall colors' here in Florida but they may not be typical of our neighbors to the North.

Fall brings colorful flowers that rival the Spring wildflowers.

We even found one that was new to us this week walking on the Florida Trails from parking on hwy 484. I actually got off the trail to take the photos and got into some thorns. So I drew blood to take this photo! lol

But it's a beautiful time of year. Our temps are milder and the humidity is a lot lower.

We are hiking just about every other day! I wish I had the energy to go every day!

Purple is throughout the forest right now....

with splashes of yellow! 

Coralbean

Red berries

Virginia Creeper

Cypress trees

Maple leaves

I hope you've enjoyed our Autumn colors.

I'm not sure my Mosaic Monday buddies got to see my fairy forest post HERE! 

It was magical!

Have a beautiful week!

I'm joining Mosaic Monday HERE 

and I like Thursdays HERE !  

Florida Fall featuring the 'Littles'!

 

We really don't have a problem seeing little things when we hike. We walk really slow! lol

Palm Warbler (thanks hubby for the photo!)

And we are constantly looking about!

Tiny wasp on Dotted Horsemint (it smells incredible, minty sweet!)

It's been perfect hiking weather here this past week and we even took one afternoon hike with it only in the 70s! 

So here's a few of the 'littles' we saw on the trails.

Grasshopper

Shiny beetle

Hover fly (hard to photograph but so much fun to see)

Probably a Hornet and not as neat to see!

And not little! For a wasp, it was huge! lol

A teeny tiny moth!

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

We're seeing a lot of these birds right now!

Feay's Palafox at top with honey bee, Cypress vine is the tiny red flower and a small purple morning glory.

Even this horse at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve was small!

Has your weather been nice too? Do you love getting outside in the Fall? The birds are returning to Florida so we've had some good sightings too! Lots of photos to sort through! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.   

An Exciting week and the Bird trees!

 I'm going to describe this past week as 'exciting'! 

Eastern Meadowlark 

We worked on some projects and when everything came together, we went hiking!

Palm Warbler

Some of the usual tasks went undone but isn't it nice when you have interesting places to go and don't have time to tackle all of the 'ordinary' chores.

(possibly a female Blue Grosbeak)

And that brings me to the bird trees. 

Phoebe

We've found over the years of hiking that birds flock together along the trail. All different types of birds and all flitting around from tree to tree in one area! 

And right now we are seeing some familiar birds return to Florida.

Palm Warbler

We are also seeing some we are having trouble identifying.

Palm Warbler

They don't always make it easy either! lol

We connect my computer to our big screen TV to view our photos. And then we sit with our collection of bird books but still have trouble making a positive ID on some of them. Especially the Warblers.

Common Yellowthroat

I would love to have a good ID for the Warbler above!

And I have one now! A special thanks to Sandra, Cloudia, David G. and Eileen for the help!

Thanks to my Florida blog friend, Wally for help with the Palm Warblers! 

I'm sharing what we saw on just one hike at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve from the Pruitt Trailhead.

We got a quick photo of these Sandhill Cranes at the end of the hike! Do you see them above the tree line?

Have a wonderful weekend! 

Get out and have some fun while the weather is nice!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.   

What do the fairies in the forest eat?

Well, macaroons of course!

You didn't think they lived on a diet of berries and nuts did you?

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these mushrooms and thought they looked exactly like macaroons.

So I used my imagination and looked around for the forest fairies, but of course they were shy and I didn't get good photos of them. Can you spot all three of them at the base of this tree?

I hiked the Florida trails from hwy 484 and went East on the trail.

And it was a fairyland of mushrooms and lichen.

The trail has grown up in tall weeds but once you get through these, you can walk on a paved section.

I thought this black and white lichen was beautiful too!

Every cluster was different!

It looks like my Jeep has been swallowed up by the grass! But we got out without any trouble!

Look for the extraordinary in your part of the world and enjoy

 your week! 

I'm joining Mosaic Monday HERE 

and I like Thursdays HERE !