While the “Sunshine State” is often associated with coastal herons and swamp-dwelling egrets, the Eastern Meadowlark represents a different side of Florida: the vast, open interior. From the historical “Florida Dry Prairie” to modern-day sod farms, this striking icterid—a member of the blackbird family—has carved out a niche in a state rapidly losing its open […]
Search Results for: egret
Cumberland Island
Cumberland Island, Georgia, is a place where time seems to have folded in on itself. As the largest and southernmost of Georgia’s Golden Isles, it offers a rare glimpse into a coastal wilderness that has largely escaped the high-rise sprawl characterizing much of the American Atlantic seaboard. Accessible only by boat, the island is a […]
Wood Stork (Mycteria americana)
There are birds that announce themselves with song, birds that dazzle with color, and birds that move through the world like quiet auditors, taking careful stock of conditions before rendering judgment. The wood stork belongs firmly in the last category. It is not a bird of melody or flamboyance. It is a bird of thresholds—of […]
Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
If you spend enough mornings wandering Florida’s edges—causeways at dawn, mangrove shorelines at low tide, the quiet backwaters of a river just lifting its veil of fog—you will eventually encounter the double-crested cormorant. You may not notice it at first as special. It is not showy like a roseate spoonbill or theatrically elegant like a […]
Babcock Ranch Reserve
Nestled in the beating heart of Florida’s wildlands, Babcock Ranch Reserve sprawls across 67,000 acres of pristine wilderness, mere miles from the buzz of Punta Gorda. As a naturalist venturing here in late October, you’re granted a front-row seat to some of Florida’s finest seasonal transformations. The dry air settles in as autumn’s crispness hints […]
Leffis Key (Sarasota, FL)
Leffis Key… for some reason, there are almost always interesting birds that hang out at the preserve and today I saw an American Redstart (in migration), and overhead were a couple of magnificent frigatebirds, which I rarely see this far north. They are common in the keys, and I have also seen them down at […]
Ringling Grounds (Sarasota, FL)
There are days when I walk into a place in Florida and feel—before even seeing anything—that the land has something to show me. Not merely a display or an exhibition, but a conversation, a story waiting in a shadow, a rustle, a shaft of light. The Ringling Museum Grounds in Sarasota—John and Mable Ringling’s sprawling […]
Red Bug Slough Preserve (Sarasota, FL)
The first thing you notice about Red Bug Slough Preserve is how improbable it feels. One moment you’re on Beneva Road—traffic lights, grocery stores, lawn crews—and the next you’re stepping into a pocket of old Florida, 70-ish acres of hammock, wetland, and water tucked right into the middle of Sarasota. (sarasotacountyparks.com) As a Florida naturalist, […]