Nature Appreciation

[John Roberts]

Some Black Vultures on a Cabbage palm stump....."I hope you guys were not waiting around for me!"

 

[John Roberts]

Anhinga in the bush...

 

[John Roberts]

The St.Johns River Floodplain.....The St. Johns River is one of two rivers in the continental United States that flow north...the other is in Alaska.

 

[John Roberts]

Water Hyacinth bloom

 

[John Roberts]

A wren I can say for certain, initially I thought a Carolina wren being a native bird but they usually have a richer brown color with more markings....broad supercilium above the eye......this one is a House wren or a Swamp wren......both of which winter here.......Where is my bird book!.....mutter...mutter....

Whoops! I meant to say Marsh Wren.....there is no such thing as a Swamp Wren.......maybe back in the backwoods somewhere....in an abscure corner......a distant island.......ah shucks!

 

[John Roberts]

A Gulf fritillary on a Turk's cap....this flower is too long for the Frits probiscus to reach.....note he is on the base of the flower where he or she has pierced the flower to get to the nectar inside.....other butterflies will do the same.

 

[John Roberts]

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, these little guys move around a lot like the warblers it is hard to get a shot of them. Sorry about the poor quality.

 

[John Roberts]

Another Blue-gray Gnatcatcher shot.

 

[TamedTiger]

A Gulf fritillary on a Turk's cap....this flower is too long for the Frits probiscus to reach.....note he is on the base of the flower where he or she has pierced the flower to get to the nectar inside.....other butterflies will do the same.

The colors are incredible in this one! Just beautiful.

 

[John Roberts]

The colors are incredible in this one! Just beautiful.

I usually have a lot of these in the yard as I have a lot of Passiflora vines which are their larval host plants. I love their hot orange color.

 

[John Roberts]

Whoopee! Finally got a Zebra Longwing butterfly in the yard, I have not seen one since the second Hurricane blew through.....She was busy laying eggs on the Passiflora Vines same larval host plant as the Gulf Fritillarys.
This butterfly is the official State butterfly of Florida.

This photo is a little blurry, I will replace it when I get a better shot.

 

[John Roberts]

A Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly on the Cassia alata

 

[John Roberts]

Golden Dewdrop - Duranta repens

a good butterfly bush or sometimes a tree.

 

[John Roberts]

Verbena fresh from the nursery ready to go in the ground.

 

[John Roberts]

Squirrels.......errr.......greedy little guys would empty out my bird feeders for just the choice bits.

 

[John Roberts]

Here is a Gulf Fritillary catepillar in the yard.

 

[done_got_old]

As always, John Roberts, your pictures are beautiful. Thanks.

 

[John Roberts]

As always, John Roberts, your pictures are beautiful. Thanks.

Thank you for your kind words DGO. It is a lot of fun, hit and miss with this camera.....the auto focus will make you insane focusing on the twig behind what you really want to take a picture of........A lot of failures but persistance does pay off.......Here is what one of my wilderness shots usually turns out like. Can you see the bird?

 

[done_got_old]

Thank you for your kind words DGO. It is a lot of fun, hit and miss with this camera.....the auto focus will make you insane focusing on the twig behind what you really want to take a picture of........A lot of failures but persistance does pay off.......Here is what one of my wilderness shots usually turns out like. Can you see the bird?

I'm still looking. I see something green on the left side, but I think it's a leaf. This is more difficult that 'find waldo'.

 

[John Roberts]

I'm still looking. I see something green on the left side, but I think it's a leaf. This is more difficult that 'find waldo'.

I will make it easier.....I cropped the section with "waldo"

 

[done_got_old]

I will make it easier.....I cropped the section with "waldo"

That's what I thought was the bird, but I couldn't be sure. It's still a great picture.

 

[John Roberts]

This thread is starting to look like a children's book that my little boy has.....Bugs,bugs,bugs!

Here is a blue dragonfly, it almost has a cartoon face..

 

[John Roberts]

Here we go.....amber dragonfly

 

[John Roberts]

Orange dragonfly

 

[John Roberts]

Cassius Blue Butterfly

These little guys are almost always in motion, I got lucky and found one nectaring.