Slow down, You might miss something!

 

Slow down? I don't think anyone has actually said that to me lately.

Common Buckeye Butterfly

Lizard on a log

Grasshopper in the pine needles

Hoverfly in the sky

They 'hover' and stay so still that if you can get your camera to focus on them, you can get a photo!

I walk at a pretty slow pace and I stop and look around at odd times.

Armadillo

It's amazing how many times I've stopped to get a drink of water and noticed something interesting in the forest.

Or if my battery gets low on my camera and I have to change it, that's a sure way to have wildlife saunter by.

One day we were hiking near Shangri-la and a bike rider stopped to say he had pulled out some crackers to have a snack and a bear poked his nose out from behind the tree. We asked him where and he pointed to a spot close by. And no....I don't think he stayed long enough to share his crackers with the bear.

Anyway, I thought I would find those photos of the small things we see when we are hiking that often get left out of a post.

Bear Scat (poop...not zoomed in!)

You may WISH I had left out more! hahaha!

 

Someone dropped their walking stick in the forest. I hope they came back to get it!

Happy Hiking! It's just a walk in the forest!

 A chance to get out in nature and enjoy the scenery...watch where you walk!

And enjoy your day!

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’.   

Summertime Hiking!

 

It was in the low 80s with a nice breeze so we drove over to Halpata Tastanaki Preserve! 

We were anxious to see what the water levels were like in the low areas.

This was the most water standing we've ever seen at the Pruitt trailhead. The low area filled with water is usually where we park! (the red Jeep is photo bombing my photos again, Sandra! heehee)

The trail was dry until we got to our turn around and then it was a big mud hole. It was a good place to see animal tracks though! 

But it felt great to be out in nature seeing so many birds and 'critters'.

Lots of dragonflies, butterflies and grasshoppers and we weren't bothered by mosquitoes or flies on this particular day. It may have been because of the nice breeze.

We always see quite a few birds that we don't get good photos of so I'll just list a few. We saw a Stork fly overhead and 2 Little Blue herons. We saw a young bluebird, warblers and tree swallows. We even had a beautiful Red shouldered Hawk fly across the trail in front of us.

Lots of flocks of Cattle Egrets,

Great White Egrets,

and Ibis.

And at the end of our hike, we turned to look back and saw 2 deer bound across the trail. 

It was the perfect ending to a wonderful hike. 

Florida in the summertime....it's still pretty nice!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’. 

The Florida Scrub Jay!

I finally saw this elusive bird! I was hiking a section of trail from the main Halapta Tastanaki Preserve Trailhead and saw 2 Florida Scrub Jays! 

I was so excited to see them because I haven't taken photos of them at all this year. 

To be fair though, I don't hike this trail as often any more. I would consider it even more 'wild' than any of the other trails I hike and I've had a few more scary encounters here. It's very open too so it's not great for summer time hiking. 

But I only stayed out there for a little while! (until I saw some of the biggest animal tracks I've ever seen...then I turned around! lol)

It seems like wherever you go, you see beauty though.

And a few oddities.

grasshoppers

monsters

fence lizard

walking sticks...two of them

What would scare you most? A small wild animal or a BIG wild animal track? 

(this track was 5 or 6 inches across!)

After I turned around, I have to admit to looking over my shoulder from time to time. There have been quite a few bear sightings around here lately. This track made me think of a dog track because of the configuration and the claw marks but it came out of the woods at one point, went down the trail a short distance and then back off into the woods on the other side. No human tracks on the trail with it either. 

Don't be scared though...we'll go hiking again SOON!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’. 

A few Forgotten Pics

I love taking hikes! 

 And I really enjoy working on the photos when I get home. 

But there are always a few photos that get overlooked when I write a post.

We've have so many wildflowers right now and lots of butterflies.

There are SO many big grasshoppers and dragonflies that they run into you when you're walking! 

A leaf hopper!

He's teeny tiny!

Every color dragonfly!

A pretty Cardinal.

And a Sandhill Crane!

Just a few things to be thankful for this week! Are you having pretty weather now too?

I’m joining Thankful Thursdays 
and Cooking and Crafting with J&J HERE.