Florida Flannel and Fleece

 

We had cold air come down and stay for a few days but we're back into the 70s now! We took a drive on Christmas day and a hike on the day after Christmas when it was in the 50s! We put on our long sleeve flannel shirts and fleece vests and braved the elements to hike at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve. lol But we didn't get photos of the best sightings. We saw a coyote. The same one we saw a month or so ago. It's bigger than usual and darker so it's easy to remember. We also saw deer...but no photos.

Northern Cardinal at HTP

So let's take a drive to the Gulf Coast when it's in the 60s and nicer to get out and walk.

This is a view of the Gulf of Mexico from the end of the Withlacoochee Bay Trail at low tide.

It was the lowest tide we had ever seen and the exposed mud was popping and snapping and making all kinds of crackly noises. I laughed out loud! 

And here are some of the birds we saw there.

He's blending in!

Dipping for something to eat!

Willet

Great Blue Heron

Great White Egret

Belted Kingfisher

Another Kingfisher with belt showing

Birds all along the exposed sandbars!

Oystercatcher

Cormorant

I hope you've had a lovely holiday and I'm wishing you a Happy New Year!

Enjoy each and every day! 

And get out in nature whenever you have a chance!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.   

I'm joining Mosaic Monday HERE 

and I like Thursdays HERE !  

What do these have in common?

 Coral Honeysuckle, Shrub Verbena and Wild Poinsettia

Zebra Longwing Butterfly on Verbena

So what do they have in common? 

They are all on the same page of my The Nature of Florida ID book AND we saw all three of them on our hike on the Withlacoochee Bay Trail this week. 

I had the book out to make sure I had the proper ID for the Wild Poinsettia. It still amazes me that after all our hikes here in Florida that we can see something we've never seen before.

Wild Poinsettia

It's not a rare wildflower but it has eluded us all these years. 

Shrub Verbena

We had a great hike and for awhile we thought we were all alone in the world. We only saw a few people on this beautiful trail and we stayed there for lunch and more hiking in the afternoon.

Coral Honeysuckle

I had mentioned that I would love to see a Manatee and we did!

And while we were eating lunch a Dolphin swam by. It just doesn't get any better than that. (I handed my sandwich to hubby, grabbed my camera and ran to the bank of the canal to watch him glide through the water but I didn't get a good pic of the Dolphin! )

Here are some of our other sightings.

Great Blue Heron

Willet

Little Blue Heron (juvenile)

Little Blue Heron (breeding colors)

Bald Eagle

Gulf of Mexico

We are having such beautiful weather that I am out on the trails more than at my computer. But I'll catch up soon. After all....it will get HOT before we know it here in Florida!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’. 

"I Spy" something different!

 I remember when one of my grandson's loved the "I Spy" books and I enjoyed looking through them with him. 

It's fun to see a variety of things and find what is different among the ordinary.

We go to a lot of the same trails, preserves, state parks and forests but we are always amazed at how different our sightings can be from week to week. And we usually see something we've never seen before at that location. So I'll hit some of the highlights from our hikes this week.

The Snowy Egrets were the first 'I spy' sighting. We may have seen them before here in Florida but this was the first time we could positively identify them. I was excited...to say the least!

The Withlacoochee Bay Trail has so many beautiful birds and this past week we spotted these for the first time at this location.

Willet

Caspian Tern

Caspian Tern 

Black-crowned Night Heron

Black-crowned Night Heron juvenile

Great Blue Heron in the Gulf of Mexico

On one hike we started walking on the 49th Ave trailhead heading East and turned onto beauty berry lane and saw this...

 Sherman's Fox Squirrel

And then driving back into our development we looked down into a low grassy area where we see wild turkeys frequently but instead, there were 4 deer! 

First time we've seen deer this close to our house.

All Bucks!

Amazing!

And last but not least we saw this beautiful little Warbler at Felburn Park near Phil's Pond.

A rare Warbler that we've never seen before?

No, a Yellow-rumped Warbler...quite common but still oh so pretty!

Have you seen anything 'out of the ordinary' this week? Want to play 'I Spy'?

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.