coming out of my shell

coming out of my shell

Sunday, June 24, 2018

My beautiful Florida

A cranky osprey on a telephone pole



A discarded fish skeleton hanging from a telephone wire

heron and alligator coexisting

I think this is a juvenile bicolor heron - feel free to correct me

Egret with just the right amount of yin and yang in it's neck

Dwarf poinciana and butterfly.  Feel free to tell me what kind of butterfly it is

The mucky swamp land with a heron smack dab in the middle

More mucky land, this time with attitude

28 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing all this Florida beauty!

    Looks like a Monarch butterfly to me. Love the Osprey photo. Somewhere very close to where I live is an Osprey nest. This is the time of year I see one or the other Osprey (sometimes both) as they fly above Lake Whatcom in their hunt for fish. Ospreys remind me of my father who learned to imitate their call and "talked" with them from the bluffs where my parents used to live on the Mendocino coast north of the Gualala River. An Osprey once dropped a fish from high in the sky, and it broke the stained glass sign with their street number that they had created together. My mother did the stained glass work, and my father built a frame for it. Upon arriving home one day, they thought their sign had been vandalized, but then they saw a large fish on the ground next to the sign!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great story! I'm sorry for all your mother's hard work, but if it was going to be randomly destroyed, at least it was done by an osprey.

      Delete
  2. The butterfly is a Monarch. Baby Brother raises their caterpillars from eggs each year and releases them all over his area. They like living on the edges of fields where there are plenty of milkweed leaves to eat.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Same reasons I love it here - in spite of the muggy summers! Great photos.….

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Molly. I am in love with Florida. It is a crazy place.

      Delete
  4. "smack dab in the middle". If I'd been asked I'd have sworn that phrase's orgins lay somewhere in:

    This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
    This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
    This other Eden, demi-paradise,
    This fortress built by Nature for herself
    Against infection and the hand of war,
    This happy breed of men, this little world,
    This precious stone set in the silver sea,
    Which serves it in the office of a wall
    Or as a moat defensive to a house,
    Against the envy of less happier lands,--
    This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.


    (Sorry about breaking out in this way but these days I desperately need to remind myself that my homeland has something to offer other than bombast, lies and treachery.)

    And yet you've used the phrase and therefore it must be, at the very least, a shared locution. On the other hand languages are open to whoever finds them congenial. You've read a book, you've received advanced education of which I wot not of, and there's no copyright on the phrase. You may have borrowed, to which I'd say welcome if I'm entitled.

    You could say I'm ignoring the reason for this choice of photos and I confess, I have that habit. But the pix come with captions - complemented by them in fact - and are not left mute. "Feel free to correct me," you say, and I smile to myself about the multi-layered nature of that invitation.

    Not a chocolate-box collection because of the fish carcase. You've offered Florida as a place not a retirement destination. Good on yer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is so much of the British Isles in U.S. culture. They were our colonial pioneers (along with the Germans) into the part of the country that my ancestors eventually settled in. We share a lot, even after all these years.

      Delete
  5. Absolutely beautiful, I try to imagine the temperature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a bit muggy these days. Still June, though. The worst is yet to come. I loved seeing the flowers on your blog today.

      Delete
  6. Beautiful blue skies. I will be an egret in my next life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Must be you've lived a beautiful life, then.

      Delete
  7. It is such fun to see all that magnificent wildlife. You are in a good area for it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What kind of wild animals and birds are in your neck of the woods?

      Delete
  8. There are so many wonderous things to love about Florida.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow!!! Such great photos. I love seeing Florida through your eyes. Fantastic and beautiful. Alligators and herons, osprey and fish bones. Wow!!! Yes, that looks like Monarch to me too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Robin. I like seeing California through you eyes!

      Delete
  10. Replies
    1. Thanks, Middle Girl. Hope you are enjoying the summer.

      Delete
  11. That all looks very familiar! Yes, that is a monarch butterfly, and I believe the juvenile heron is a tricolor -- though I had to look it up. I love that swampy sky/water shot at the end!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Steve. Nice to have a native Floridian weigh in.

      Delete
  12. They're all wonderful photos, but the yin and yang egret is my favorite. :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love the photos, especially the herons. My husband takes photos of birds, he's got the big zoom lens.

    It's so flat. I'm not used to that. Not that Edmonton is all that hilly but there are lots of hills around and trees. You can't see that far. That last shot is beautiful. I'm a fan of reflections.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, it took me a while to get used to all the flat lands. It is a different kind of beauty, not as dramatic.

      Delete

So, whadayathink?