All in Wildlife Watching
Many of us grew up chasing fireflies in our yards during the summertime. They were fun to watch and even more fun to catch. These insects are also called lightning bugs, and both names are appropriate since these creatures have the ability to light up with their amazing internal light source.
Hummingbirds are amazing little creatures. They are the smallest birds that will visit your back yard this summer, and they are definitely one of the most interesting. Hummingbirds can hover in mid-air, and they are also the only birds that can fly backwards.
Dragonflies were part of my youth. My father was a freshwater fisherman- dragonflies are found around freshwater. I grew up watching their amazing aerial acrobatics.
The Eastern Chipmunk is a common sight in backyards, parks and woodlands throughout the most of eastern United States and southern Canada. They do not live in the coastal areas of southeastern states, as they both prefer forested and colder habitats, but wherever they are found these curious little mammals are fun to watch.
If you’ve seen a large yellow butterfly in your yard or garden this summer, chances are good that it was a tiger swallowtail butterfly. Tiger swallowtails are one of the easiest butterflies to identify in the eastern United States since they are bright yellow with very distinct black “tiger stripes” on their forewings.
Any visitor to Florida's Ocala National Forest needs to include the Alexander Springs Run on their list of things to see. This first-magnitude spring discharges over 60 million gallons of spring water daily, with a boil strong enough to be easily observed from the shoreline.
Woodpeckers are one of our most recognizable wild birds. They easily cling to the vertical trunks of trees as they hammer away at the hard wood with their sharp beaks, searching for tasty insects to eat.
Most fishermen (and fisherwomen) are very familiar with the Largemouth Bass. This common fish goes by many names: black bass, green bass, largie, bigmouth bass, bucketmouth bass, and often just plain bass.
The warm days of summer are here, and that means our flower and vegetable gardens are already in full bloom. One of the most colorful residents of our backyard gardens is not a flower, though, it is the tiny candy-striped leafhopper.
Orlando, Florida. It's the world's number one tourist destination. Most of the visitors come to see Disney World, Universal Studios, Sea World. Theme parks. Artificial attractions. We have better places here, natural attractions. One of them is the Tosohatchee Wildlife Management Area.
Mallard ducks are a very common, medium-sized waterfowl species living throughout North America. In fact, they are the most abundant duck species on the continent. They are actually common in other parts of the world, too, such as Europe, Asia, Australia and North Africa.
Sparrows tend to be hard for most casual birders to identify. Many of them just look like small, unremarkable brown birds. There are a few exceptions, though, and the white-crowned sparrow is one of them.
