November in Mosaics (updated at the end)

 It's been an exceptionally good month to hike and we've gotten out every chance we could.

I've taken so many photos that I thought I would do a post with 'November in mosaics'!

These are a few of the leftovers.

Warbler and water lily

Kestrel

Bench at the top

Birds and squirrel

Wildflowers

Bare trees at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve

Golf course behind our house and our Camellia bush in full bloom.

Interesting clouds

I hope it's been a good month for you too. It's not like Novembers in the past. Times change and we are constantly changing along with it. Look around and see what makes you happy and do more of that!

After I wrote this post, I had a call to tell me my mother had passed away. I wanted to share my favorite photo of my parents. My mother is pregnant with me and they were teenagers in this photo. (My mother turned 20 just before I was born.) I think they look very happy here. 

So the month has ended on a sad note. I would appreciate your prayers. They are both gone now and I feel incredibly sad. I know you've all suffered losses and understand. 

Thanks for your friendship always, Diane

I'm joining Mosaic Monday HERE 

and I like Thursdays HERE !  

The Queen Butterfly

 

The beholders eye sees the beauty.

A little twist to the usual quote.

But I'm going to start with beauty that we all agree on and end with what I think was the most beautiful sighting I had this week. This is not a butterfly we see often so it seemed fitting to see it this week in honor of Queen Elizabeth 11.

Queen Butterfly

We've had a lot of pop up showers lately and the wildflowers are blooming like crazy!

Long-Tailed Skipper

This Skipper was missing a bit of one of his tails but I loved the way the sunshine came onto him.

I don't remember ever seeing the Morning Glory on this trail but it was blooming when I hiked this week.

And I walked 'off trail' to get this wonderful photo of a Mockingbird! 

I thought it was a Cuckoo and walked through the tall wet grass to get a really good photo. Thank you very much! lol

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

And now onto what I thought was my most beautiful sighting this week.

The Yellow Orb Spider

I don't usually like spiders but this one is amazing!

A rainbow over the Gulf of Mexico this week.

And please keep leaving comments even when it gives an error message. It seems like they are all coming through so I don't understand why the message comes up.

 

Thank you SO much for your sweet comments! They really do make my day. And I won't even fuss if you tell me my amazing spider is not beautiful! hahaha!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.   

The Roseate Spoonbill, my Florida Favorite

 It's hard to pick a favorite bird when you live in Florida! 

But I fell in love with the Roseate Spoonbill when I first moved here.

And we've only had a few sightings of this beautiful pink bird 'in the wild' over the years.

You would think you could go to the same trails and see the same sights but that's not at all true here in North Central Florida. 

My husband and I went over to the Halpata Tastanaki Preserve and hiked from the Pruitt Trailhead a week ago and looked up in the sky and saw Roseate Spoonbills!

 

It was cloudy and they showed up nicely against the grayish silver sky. Later we saw another one fly over when we were having a snack.

Roseate Spoonbill flock, Cedar Key

I looked back at posts that have featured the Roseate Spoonbill and found the one of our sighting of a flock of them in Cedar Key, back in July 2012 HERE.

That was the first time I had seen them in the wild and I wasn't even sure what they were!

We can see them at Ellie Shiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park.

This is a mosaic I made of photos we took there a couple of years ago and posted them HERE.

Close up of their feathers

So that was our excitement on Hike #104! We also had a really good sighting of an Owl but only one photo. I stood there and watched it fly by without even lifting my camera but hubby got one. It was amazing!

Owl in flight

I went back over to this trail a week later and didn't see any of the same birds. Time and chance!

Roseate Spoonbill

Hope you can get out in nature this week and see something neat. Time and chance...but you have to get out there often for that to work in your favor!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.   

I Spy Something Red!

 

It's not always possible to find answers to your questions when you view your photos from a hike.

But it sure is fun when you do!

So what happened to the red berry?

 

We saw the Red-bellied Woodpecker with a red berry in his beak in one of my photos.

And then we found it stashed away in a little crevice of the old snag of a tree when we looked at hubby's photos. Of course the most interesting part of the photo is the yummy snack the woodpecker has pulled out of the top of the tree. But do you see the red berry above?

It seems like we see Woodpeckers on every hike this summer.

This Pileated Woodpecker is right in the center of this photo.

But we managed to change our angle and get a few more.

He's so beautiful!

And we've seen a few Red Headed Woodpeckers. Not many. Just a few so far.

 Red headed Woodpecker

And I love seeing a young one (possibly a Red-bellied Woodpecker) that doesn't have much color at all.

The Flicker is a neat sighting too.

Do you see the red on the back of his head?

We started this post with a red berry. 

How about this beautiful red Cardinal flower to end it! We're getting out for more hikes lately! 

A few people asked if the Luna Moth I featured in a post HERE was still alive when we saw it. Yes, it was alive but struggling. It was flapping it's wings and flopping around on the ground, not flying away. I guess it was at the end of it's life. 

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.   

A Preening kind of Day!

 Maybe this heat is making for a 'bad hair day'!

This White Ibis just wants to perch here and do a little preening and not have to worry about a Great White Egret swooping past!

After all it's not that easy to perch on this little twiggy tree!

When I first drove into the Pruitt Trailhead I saw a big flock of Cattle Egrets preening near the marsh.

My photos aren't very sharp for 2 reasons. It was quite a distance away AND my lens fogged up when I got out of the cool, dry Jeep and into the heat and humidity! 

But you can tell this little guy had done his best to look presentable. (looks like he has it just the right 'poofyness'. Poofyness is not a word?! It is here in Florida! lol

And this Red Shouldered Hawk is doing his best!

He's poofed and fluffed.

And now he thinks he has it just right!

It was a beautiful day at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve!

And in heat like this, I had it all to myself!

White Peacock Butterfly

Have you been outside much this week?

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.