Author Archives: makielb

Sometime you just need to revisit locally common birds at a really great spot. Today we spent the morning with Tom and Kathi do just that, photographing birds, like this White Ibis. The last time we were here I didn’t spend enough time photographing Pied-billed Grebes. Today I did. The head feathers on this GreatContinue reading “Revisiting Apopka Wildlife Drive”

Our first day visiting our friends Tom and Kathi in Dunellon, Florida found us walking around the neighborhood looking at birds including White Ibises (AKA “long-billed lawn chickens”) before we headed out to the Goethe State Forest. We stopped at a small roadside slough where Tom had previously found an American Bittern and was pleasantlyContinue reading “Our first day in Dunnellon”

Somehow, the above image of two Christmas lichens merging into one seemed an appropriate find for Valentine’s Day. We spent the morning on a trail at Spruce Creek Preserve. The trails were easy walking, although sometimes muddy. But we managed to get in a nice walk. One of the little canals that drains to SpruceContinue reading “Spruce Creek, Florida for Valentine’s Day”

After the rain ender this morning we visited with friends Patsy and Ken. We had a wonderful walk on the beach where we saw all of the typical gulls, terns and sandpipers. we were able to watch several Northern Gannets over the ocean. Even the Laughing Gulls were tired of the rain. Many of theContinue reading “Daytona Beach for birds and a whale”

Red mangrove, flowers and fruits. A nice way to start our day. As we continued our walk today into the Eldora Hammock Trail, we found quite a few Shoestring ferns. This one was nearly two-feet in length. Moths have become a bigger part of our trip south this year. We havre been setting up lightsContinue reading “Another full day at Canaveral National Seashore”

I love when old cartoons pop up from the past. This one was from 2017. One of the first plants that I found at the Merritt Island Visitor Center was this beautyberry. It’s hard to believe that a berry can actually be that color. One of the birds I will be will be Ospreys. IContinue reading “Back to Merritt Island for more natural history fun”

Jacco, another friend from Ann Arbor came to visit Don and Loree for the day. Jacco, Don and I spent the morning driving the beach looking for bird. There were a lot of gulls and terns, like the Royal Tern, on the beach. But we had a special target to get for Jacco. The sunContinue reading “Looking for birds with another friend”

It’s funny how the world works. Sometimes I think that the computer is spying on me. Just a few days ago Susan and I were talking about the differences between the three temperature scales and how to calculate the differences. Then this cartoon shows up on my Face Book feed. Watching Osprey working on theirContinue reading “Exploring new areas in Florida”

Not every day is warm and sunny, even in Florida. So, what do you do? Laundry was the start of the day. But there’s a lot of time waiting. There was a game to play while we waited. But Susan opted to read about moths. and i wasn’t up to an operation. So I wentContinue reading “A cold rainy day in Florida”

Today we spent time at the Wiregrass Prairie Preserve south-west of New Smyrna Beach. The main trail (at least for the orange trail) winds through a prairie and into pines. This is a grassland habitat that is dependent on fire to keep it this way. As you look to the sides of the trail throughContinue reading “Wiregrass Prairie Preserve”