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 !  

Endemic to Florida

 It feels very special to come upon something endemic to Florida.

This week we saw THREE things endemic to Florida.

Endemic meaning - Native to or limited to a certain region

The Florida Scrub Jay is found in 2 locations that we hike. 

We can usually see some on a back loop of old Limerock Road from the 49th Ave Trailhead of the Florida Trails.

And we always see them when we hike Halpata Tastanaki Preserve from the SR 200 trailhead. 

Photos taken at HTP

This is a good website HERE but there are others featuring the Florida Scrub Jay if you do a search.

Which bring us to the Longspurred Mint.

Dicerandra Cornutissima

A good website with info HERE.

It is only found in Marion County, FL and possibly Sumter County.

There are only 15 known occurrences remaining. 

I found them blooming on the Florida Trails 49th Ave Trailhead. Photos taken of the plants on Bluebird of Happiness Hill near the hwy 484 trailhead.

They are just starting to bloom right now.

The Garberia is in full bloom all through the forest and it is endemic to Florida as well. 

More info HERE.

How privileged I am to see these amazing things in the beautiful state of Florida.

We are still praying for everyone devastated by Hurricane Ian and I am still limiting my time on the computer to get some things done. The weather is gorgeous now so I am hiking more too.

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.