Special sightings this week!

 

You can look up in the sky and see that more people are traveling now! Lots of contrails from the airplanes high in the sky flying to Florida destinations. That was one thing we noticed during the pandemic, how few planes were in the sky.

My hubby and I are not 'free to travel' yet but we did get to meet a traveler at the trailhead of my favorite section of the Florida Trails, Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Florida Greenway. 

My youngest son traveled through and we hiked together! (and yes I have a mask in my hand for hugging! Moms have to hug, it's just who we are!!!)

That sure lifted our spirits to get to spend time with him. 

And he had a chance to ride his mountain bike on some of the trails here too.

This Pileated Woodpecker was in the tree behind our house this week.

He found something good in that big Live Oak tree!

He sure is photogenic, don't you think?

This guy is too!!!

I hope your week has been a good one. 

It was a GREAT one for me!!!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’. 

A Colorful Week in March

 

The wildflowers are bright and colorful growing along the highways here in North Central Florida right now.

I think most of the fuchsia pink is Phlox!

And I know the red is Dockweed!

There are other wildflowers popping up in the woods and pretty sights every time we hike.

They make pretty mosaics I think!

We've gone on some of our usual hiking trails but also a few we rarely hike.

Several of you are afraid we'll see an alligator up close and personal. But I would be more afraid to see a Wild Hog. (we've seen a few at a distance over the years) This week we HEARD the squeal of a Banshee...probably a wild hog. I picked up my pace and set a record time for getting back to the car! hahaha!

Anything 'wild' to report in your comings and goings this week?

Have a WILD colorful week!

I'm joining Angie for Mosaic Monday HERE . 

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

AND my Monday post HERE.

Cows, Horses and a 'cat'?

 

We drove out to the Pruitt Trailhead to hike and the cows were in the neighboring pasture.

There were so many young ones.

I think there were as many small cows as big cows!

All very curious about our vehicle driving past the fence.

We hiked the other trailhead of Halpata Tastanaki another day and just as we got around a curve, we heard a 'hiyahhhh' behind us!

A rider was coming at a full gallop.

In all the years we've hiked this trail, this is the first horse we've ever seen there. It's nice and wide and horses are allowed, we've just never seen one here. I don't know who was more surprised! It gave us a 'start' for sure!

And the 'cat' is a catbird that I saw in the brush.

We usually hear them make a meow type sound but not this time.

Hubby took a photo of me taking it's photo! lol

(I think I'll leave the photo small so that I look smaller than the cows! hahahahaha)

Have you seen anything out of the ordinary in some of your usual places this week? 

It keeps life interesting, that's for sure!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’. 

Happy March Mosaics! What a week!

 

We are retired and you would think we would find time for everything! But with our hiking schedule, we never get caught up! I'm not complaining though. I love a busy life that is filled with interesting things to ponder. A few people wondered why I am spending so much time saving old photos but I guess they are a part of my life...something that documents my days. I keep 2 journals too. I love to write down the happenings of the day and what we see on our hikes. 

Here are some pretty wildflowers popping up everywhere around North Central Florida. There are hundreds of flowers along the roadways and hwys too but I haven't tried to photograph them yet.

We have a flock of 30 or more Goldfinches at our feeders this morning and lots of birds out on the Florida Trails.

This Flicker was especially pretty! And the little Downy Woodpecker is a favorite.

Are you seeing signs of Spring where you live? Bright sunny skies count too!

This Great White Egret walked through our neighborhood this week! And the other photo is a hike on the Florida Trails!

Beautiful blue skies! Enjoy your week!

I'm joining Angie for Mosaic Monday HERE . 

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

AND my Monday post HERE.

Cool Hiking in March!

 

We've had some hikes in the 60s and 70s this week which is 'cool' for us here in Florida! I had to wear long sleeves one day! lol

We went to Blue Run Park one day and the river looked dreamy.

And there were critters and birds galore.

This Moorhen is wondering if that fishing lure is any good! lol

This Little Blue Heron is on what we call the Alligator log!

Later we went back by and the Great Blue Heron was on the same log! hhhmmmm!

Of course there were a few real gators here and there!

And isn't the head of this Pileated Woodpecker amazing!

Another day we hiked the Florida trails and saw the most beautiful dragonfly.

I think it's a Common Darner. (I'll update if someone knows for sure!)

We are staying busy. And just when I thought I was getting a little better control over things, my computer said the disk was full. So I've spent the week saving photos to a thumbdrive and to the cloud so that I can get a lot of them off my computer! So that I can take MORE! lol

Happy March! Enjoy your weekend!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’. 

If you had a choice....

 How would you choose to travel? And where would you go?

We drove over to Ross Prairie Trailhead on our way to hike at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve.

There's a campground nearby and we saw this nice Motorhome. It's not the biggest one made but a great size and very luxurious.

But we also saw this little home made camper.

Isn't it adorable?

What do you think? Which would you choose? 

It was a beautiful day! And we were so happy to see several Florida Scrub-Jays at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve. I hope this is a mating pair! 

There's some great info on these beautiful birds HERE. And we noticed they are featured on the cover page of the Audubon magazine this month with an interesting article inside!

Enjoy your day! Get out there and drive around! 

You may discover something interesting where you live, too!

I'm joining Angie for Mosaic Monday HERE . 

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

AND my Monday post HERE.