A strongly backlit northern parula in a tree, next to some Spanish moss. #birds

We ran an interview with Paul DePodesta where I walked away saying to myself, "this guy is falling behind the times." That was almost 15 years ago, and he's since been working for an NFL team achieving humiliating results. Hiring him to run an MLB team in 2025 is...well, it's the Colorado Rockies.

The Albert Dershman of blue jays, this bird has at least two acorns in its mouth and possibly more in its crop, as it sits in a bare tree on the edge of the prairie. #birds

A green heron catches the light just right in the marsh just after sunrise. #birds

Eastern bluebird looking out from behind a pine trunk. #birds

An orange-crowned warbler springing from one twig in a wax myrtle to another. #birds

The actual biggest problem baseball has? The sports franchise value bubble which will inevitably preclude anyone except these three types of owners in the future. Which the current owners sure as hell don't think is a problem at all, because a third of them aspire to sell to them anyway.

I think it's kind of bonkers that after watching that particular World Series, everyone's concluding the Dodgers' victory was undeniably inevitable.

Another shot of the marsh wren perched amidst the cluster of burr marigold. #birds

Sunrise at Sweetwater Wetlands in Gainesville: a sun rises in a cloudy sky over a gazebo and boardwalk built over the marsh, with a concrete walkway and shrubs in the foreground.

I quite like this one: a marsh wren poses atop a long leaf, completely surrounded by burr marigold bathed in early morning light. #birds

A juvenile male American redstart standing on an oak branch with some palm fronds in the background. You can tell this is a juvenile male by the small patches of black showing up here and there and the fact that yellow markings are beginning to take on an orange hue. #birds

A ventral view of another golden silk orbweaver at the center of her web in the middle of the woods.

Warning: today is going to be a spider day. A golden silk orbweaver in profile, resting atop her golden web.

A palm warbler perched on a cypress branch in the mid-morning. Palm warblers are omnipresent right now and will be for the next few months. #birds

A great egret in some really nice backlighting at sunrise while it hunts among the water hyacinth. #birds

The warbler who thinks it's a nuthatch, a black-and-white warbler climbs down a tree trunk in the woods. #birds

This white-tailed deer buck was just on the other side of a palmetto from me, underneath more palms. We both noticed each other at the same time.

Scoping out its surroundings, a green tree frog pokes its head out of its cover: an old rusty pipe sticking out of the ground in a nature preserve.

A male black-throated blue warbler looks up at some cascading Spanish moss from his spot on a live oak branch. #birds

Just a pile of reeds at the edge of the marsh. Definitely no bird here. Nope. #birds

As @birderstuart.bsky.social pointed out, the first image was of a Blackburnian warbler, not a blackpoll. That's because while I was photographing the blackpoll, actually shown here searching the Spanish moss for food, the Blackburnian jumped in front, and I started following the wrong bird. #birds

I only count birds I photograph on my life list, and I checked off my first blackpoll warbler the other day. Here it is looking up from foraging methodically through the Spanish moss in a live oak. In the fall they lose a lot of their contrast, picking up this brown and pale yellow coloring. #birds

A Carolina wren perched upon a large, woody vine in the middle of the forest. #birds

A mixed flock of chickadees and titmice were flitting about the scrub. Here, its crest towering over its head, a tufted titmouse leans forward on his pine branch perch as it prepares for a takeoff. #birds

And blue grosbeaks aren't always very blue. A mostly tan grosbeak, likely a female, clings to a twig in a pine scrub on a bright morning. #birds

Indigo buntings aren't always very indigo. A mostly tan bunting, likely a female, clings to a dead plant stem at the edge of the prairie on a bright morning. #birds

A tight portrait of that red-shouldered hawk from the other day. #birds

Tony Vitello? Really? Huh.

Since it's #WorldReptileDay, here is a collection of reptiles: an American alligator, an eastern ribbon snake, a brown anole, and a gopher tortoise.

Wings outstretched, a great egret pulls up a good-sized fish from the marsh. #birds

When I walked out this morning, there was a visitor on the electric wire opposite my front door: a red-shouldered hawk, staring right at me against a gray sky. #birds

A mixed flock of warblers moved through last week. Here's a female magnolia warbler dancing around the foliage while scouting around for grub in a wooded patch. #birds

In the shadows, a Carolina wren perched atop some debris poking above the brush underneath a small palm. #birds

My favorite snake--which I've only seen twice--is the rough green snake, a beautiful, bright green arboreal snake that enjoys climbing. Tongue extended, this one had to tolerate a tiny ant crawling towards its face as it sat in some ground debris after a stupid photographer almost stepped on it.

This eastern phoebe was chasing an insect over the river, spotted this male belted kingfisher perched on a sign extending above the water, and then abruptly decided to change directions. #birds

A front-facing shot of an American bumblebee visiting some pinkish-purplish blazing-star blossoms.

Another quick landscape photo taken with my phone because I didn't feel like walking all the way back to my car to grab a wide lens: the sun peeks through the tall pine trees in a scrub, illuminating some of the palmettos occupying the ground level.

A roseate spoonbill preening over its reflection in shallow water. #birds

I love October on the prairie, because that's when the wild muhly grass blooms. This tall grass, which is often used as an ornamental, develops this bright pink inflorescence that will slash the prairie pink. One day, I gotta go out there at sunset with a wide angle lens.

House wrens have been appearing in full force for a week or two now, chattering the days away. Usually they stay under cover, but this one popped out for a moment onto a downed pine tree to look around before slipping back into the palmettos to resume its volley of calls with its neighbors. #birds

A female summer tanager sitting on a branch, surrounded by muscadine vines. #birds

Another shot of that river otter from the other day, here swimming through the water, mouth agape, with the warm glow of sunrise reflecting off of the water.

A ten-point buck looks my way as he prepares to amble across the trail after exiting the brush.

A closeup of a gray catbird perched on a branch against a gray morning sky. #birds

A male wood duck swimming through a pond, a blurry reflection below. #birds

A young wood stork preens while standing in some shallow water at the edge of a marsh. #birds

Fresh off his victory in battle, this alligator went to a different corner and began a bellowing exchange with a different gator. When alligators bellow their bodies vibrate through the water to alert any gators below the surface that they're present. This causes surface water to dance.

Another image of a young roseate spoonbill splashing in the marsh. #birds

This river otter popped out of the water so close to me that it was a struggle just getting it inside my minimum focus distance.