beautiful in its time...

All posts...

2009-01-19T19:04:00.002-05:00

...are now at Pollywog Creek with the beautiful in it's time label.

Thank you so much for reading and enjoying beautiful in its time. I hope you will visit us on Pollywog Creek.

Painted Bunting

2008-01-23T21:39:00.002-05:00

Painted Bunting (male)
Passerina ciris

More painted bunting photos here.

Rusty Lyonia

2008-01-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

Rusty Lyonia
Lyonia ferruginea

Yellow - Barred Yellow (Eurema daira)

2008-01-10T13:41:00.000-05:00

Barred Yellow
Eurema Daira

Regal Jumping Spider

2007-11-15T12:40:00.000-05:00

Regal Jumping Spider
Phidippus regius

Winged Sumac

2007-10-10T17:46:00.000-04:00

Winged Sumac
Rhus copallinum

Great Horned Owl

2007-10-10T12:33:00.000-04:00

Great Horned Owl
Bubo virginianus

Wood Stork - Endangered Species

2007-10-03T21:47:00.000-04:00

Click Photo for Wood Stork Slide Show

Wood Stork
Mycteria americana

Eastern Yellow Jacket

2007-10-03T09:34:00.000-04:00

And the food chain...

Eastern yellow jacket eating an insect larva...

Eating a dead baby bird...

Being eaten by a Green Lynx Spider

I took the first three photographs this morning, keeping in mind the warning I read in the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Florida regarding yellow jackets:

"Stings repeatedly if bothered."

I kept my distance.

Caesar's Weed

2007-09-16T16:24:00.000-04:00

Caesar's Weed
Urena lobata

St. Peter's Wort

2007-09-15T20:55:00.000-04:00

St. Peter's Wort
Hypericum tetrapetalum
Syn: Ascyrum tetrapetalum

Flowers throughout Florida year-round in damp, sandy soils.
May grow to 3 ft. tall.

Robber Fly

2007-08-22T20:23:00.000-04:00

Family Asilidae: Robber Fly

Creeping Oxeye - Yellow

2007-08-15T14:54:00.000-04:00

CREEPING OXEYE
Wedelia trilobata

Click on photo above for a yellow wildflower slide show

Stinging Nettle - Tread Softly

2007-08-11T23:35:00.000-04:00

Stinging Nettle
Cnidoscolus stimulosus

2007-08-11T23:27:00.000-04:00

White Peacock Butterfly

2007-08-04T18:22:00.000-04:00

White Peacock
Anartia jatrophae

More White Peacock photos here and here.

Bee Fly, Part III

2007-07-24T21:24:00.000-04:00

I ~~promise~~ imagine that this will be my last bee fly post, but my fascination with this tiny insect drew me back out to the field where spermacoce prostrata - a false buttonweed that I think looks like a tiny wedding bouquet - grows in abundance and I first discovered the bee fly.

Bee Fly, Part II

2007-07-23T21:58:00.000-04:00

I was fascinated by my bee fly discovery, so as soon as I could grab my camera late this afternoon and head out to the field nearest the road where I had found the bee fly on Saturday, I did, and I was not disappointed. I'm still not satisfied that I've captured the best photos, but at least it is a bit more than what I had posted before.

Bee Fly

2007-07-21T21:50:00.000-04:00

Bee Fly (Bombylius major)
Family: Bombyliidae

More Photos Here

The Moon

2007-07-19T21:23:00.001-04:00

Esmeralda Longtail Butterfly

2007-07-14T21:42:00.000-04:00

(Photographs updated 07-18-07)

Esmeralda Longtail Butterfly
Urbanus esmeraldus

Fiery Skipper

2007-07-14T20:53:00.000-04:00

Fiery Skipper
Hylephila phyleus

Delta Flower Scarab Beetle

2007-07-13T08:03:00.000-04:00

(Identified and Updated 7/24/07)Order: Coleoptera (ko-lee-OP-ter-a)
Family: Scarabaeidae
Genus: Trigonopeltastes
Species: delta

Great White Egret

2007-07-13T06:22:00.000-04:00

Great White Egret
Ardea alba
Order CICONIIFORMES - Family ARDEIDAE

Magnolia blossom

2007-07-01T21:54:00.000-04:00

1 blossom - 3 days

Milkweed Bug

2007-06-12T21:08:00.000-04:00

Milkweed Bug

Common Nightshade

2007-05-28T07:08:00.000-04:00

Common Nightshade
Solanum americanuum
Family: Solanaceae (nightshade)

POISONOUS - foliage and fruit. The green berries contain solanine and can be fatal if eaten in sufficient quantities. Some sources state that the fully ripe berry which is shiny black is edible, but most sources recommend avoiding ingesting the berries at all.

Cardinal

2007-05-14T10:43:00.000-04:00

NORTHERN CARDINAL
Cardinalis cardinalis

Male

Female

Leafless beaked orchid or Frost-flowered Neottia

2007-05-12T13:32:00.000-04:00

LEAFLESS BEAKED ORCHID
Sacoila lanceolata
Family: Orchidaceae (orchid)

The reddish orange native (Florida) terrestrial orchid grows on leafless spikes 3 feet tall.

This orchid is an unusual find, but can be found throughout central Florida (and Pollywog Creek in SW Florida) in wet, pine flatwoods and sandhills - flowering in the spring and summer.

Day-flower

2007-05-12T12:20:00.000-04:00

DAY-FLOWER
Commelina erecta
Family: Commelinaccae (spiderwort or day-flower)

The day-flower has 2 lateral blue petals and 1 smaller white petal, 3 greenish and equal sepals, 6 stamens (3 fertile, 3 unfertile).

The leaves are alternate, lanceolate or elliptic and succulent.

The flowers can be found through Florida in late winter, spring, summer and fall, on dry, sandy soil and cultivated sites.

Florida Wildflower Coloring Book (PDF)

Roseling or Pink Spiderwort

2007-05-12T11:59:00.000-04:00

PINK SPIDERWORT
Cuthbertia ornata
Family: Commelinaceae (spiderwort or dayflower)

The Pink Spiderwort has 3 pink or rose petals with wavy margins. The flower has 3 sepals, 6 fertile stamens and hairy filaments.

The leaves are few, less than 3mm wide, alternate, grasslike and linear.

It can be found in south and central Florida in dry pinelands and oak woods, in late winter, spring, summer and fall.

2007-05-06T21:01:00.000-04:00

Great Crested Flycatcher

2007-05-02T20:46:00.000-04:00

Great Crested Flycatcher
Myiarchus crinitus

The First of May

2007-05-01T20:54:00.000-04:00

Dragonfly

2007-04-11T19:19:00.000-04:00

The Dragon-fly
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Today I saw the dragon-fly
Come from the wells where he did lie.
An inner impulse rent the veil
Of his old husk: from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.
He dried his wings: like gauze they grew;
Thro' crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.

Mockingbird

2007-04-10T21:02:00.000-04:00

I've been watching a pair of mockingbirds as they have claimed an abandoned nest in the Japanese honeysuckle vine that covers a section of fence in our backyard.

Last spring, a pair of mockingbirds also nested in the honeysuckle vine, but used a different nest that has been abandoned this year. The nest these mockingbirds have rebuilt was unused last year.

March 23 - before the rebuilding...

April 3

April 4

April 6

April 7

April 8

April 9

"I sincerely congratulate you on the arrival of the mockingbird. Learn all the children to venerate it as a superior being in the form of a bird, or as a being which will haunt them if any harm is done to itself or its eggs." Thomas Jefferson

The Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) is the state bird of Florida.

Glorious

2007-03-28T20:57:00.000-04:00

Weeds

2007-03-28T19:36:00.000-04:00

Weeds are flowers, too...

Pink Burst

2007-03-23T19:45:00.000-04:00

Attraction

2007-03-18T19:56:00.000-04:00

Pollen

2007-03-08T21:20:00.000-05:00

Red

2007-02-14T19:19:00.000-05:00

Mine - all mine!

2007-02-07T21:23:00.000-05:00

Morning Glory!

2007-02-06T15:25:00.000-05:00

"Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee..."

2007-01-16T22:38:00.000-05:00

"...opening to the sun above."

Zinnias. My favorite subject. Click on the photo above for my gallery of zinnia photographs.

Perspective

2007-01-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

"All Creatures of Our God and King"

2007-01-13T21:05:00.000-05:00

Strange creature

2006-12-24T22:42:00.001-05:00

sunny

2006-12-24T22:39:00.000-05:00

Tasselflower

2006-12-17T17:34:00.001-05:00

A new coat...

2006-11-29T22:08:00.000-05:00

...on an old friend?

Me and my shadow...

2006-11-22T22:45:00.001-05:00

A drink

2006-11-21T19:29:00.000-05:00

Fall...

2006-11-15T16:31:00.000-05:00

....even in south Florida...

Looking out

2006-11-09T19:44:00.000-05:00

Day is done!

2006-10-31T19:16:00.000-05:00

Blue skies smiling at me....

2006-10-24T21:17:00.000-04:00

Nothing but blue skies do I see.

Dragonfly

2006-10-23T22:21:00.000-04:00

Almost fall

2006-10-23T07:17:00.000-04:00

Dandelion seed

2006-10-20T16:23:00.001-04:00

Sweet

2006-10-19T13:36:00.000-04:00

Grasshopper

2006-10-16T14:26:00.000-04:00

Full Moon

2006-10-07T00:20:00.000-04:00

100% of the Moon is Illuminated

Ready. Set.

2006-10-07T00:13:00.000-04:00

Go!

Umbrella

2006-10-07T00:10:00.000-04:00

Pom, poms

2006-09-29T08:27:00.001-04:00

May I help you?

2006-09-25T09:25:00.000-04:00

Nearly perfect

2006-09-25T09:20:00.000-04:00

Four....

2006-09-22T15:58:00.000-04:00

Three....

Two...

"The day is yours and yours also the night....

2006-09-20T06:58:00.000-04:00

...you established the sun and moon."

Psalm 74:16

Zinnias

2006-09-18T07:14:00.000-04:00

The time for singing lingers!

Isaiah 55:12

2006-09-13T18:58:00.001-04:00

Hello

2006-09-08T09:08:00.000-04:00

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love

2006-09-06T10:33:00.001-04:00

Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee....

opening to the sun above

Stretched to the limit

2006-09-05T17:42:00.000-04:00

"Flowers appear on the earth....

2006-09-04T09:38:00.000-04:00

....the season of singing has come."

"For the beauty of the earth..

2006-09-03T12:34:00.000-04:00

for the glory of the skies..."

The heavens declare His glory...

2006-09-02T23:01:00.000-04:00

A Time for Everything

2006-09-02T21:24:00.000-04:00

Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 (NIV)
1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
9 What does the worker gain from his toil?
10 I have seen the burden God has laid on men.
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.
13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.
14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.