Since I just posted a photo of a catalpa moth, I thought I should post a Southern catalpa tree in bloom. A member of the plant family Bignoniaceae, of which most have very showy flowers. #tree #bloomscrolling 🌳 #nature 💮

Catalpa sphynx moth for #mothmonday #moth #nature #insect #invertebrate🦋

Not my photo, but it is my 3 year old grand-daughter admiring what looks like a male cardinal jumping spider. That apple doesn't fall far from the tree. #spider #bugsky #jumpingspider #nature #inverts

Dragon fly from this morning, sitting what’s left of a milkweed stalk. #insectthursday #nature #invert #dragonfly 🐉🐝🦟

Assassin bug on a milkweed plant, #insectThursday #inverts #insects #nature #macro #milkweed 🐛 #macro

There's plenty of Florida blue sky in this photo of a cabbage palm. They are found in coastal regions of southern US states and are used by Seminoles as food (heart of palm) and the fronds to construct roofs of chickees. #blueskymonday #tree #nativeplant #nature 🌴

It’s that time of year here. Bird grasshopper on an Adam’s needle leaf. #Insect #grasshopper #invert #nature 🐞

A Chinquapin branch with a chestnut burr, The southern version of the American chestnut. Chinquapin trees are more blight resistant than the northern version whose populations have been decimated by the chestnut blight fungus. #chestnut #trees #forest #autumn #forestfriday 🍃 #nature

Turkey vulture, up close and personal. #addBirder #nature #bird #ornithology #wildlife🐦 🪶 #photography

Foxtail palm resembles royal palm, but is native and endemic to Queensland Australia. It was not widely known until 1978 but is now planted frequently in South Florida. I thought this photo was a good candidate for #blueskymonday #palm #Florida🌴

Cloudless sulfur feeding this morning. There are a lot of sulfur butterflies appearing now in North Florida. 👐 #butterflies #insect 🐛 #nature #insectsofbluesky #invert

Largeflower Mexican clover, a non-native and potentially invasive plant found distributed through most of Florida. This one was seen in a lawn 🌸🌿🌱

A red-eyed vireo in the leaf litter adjacent to my house this morning. I am surmising it either hit a nearby window or was exhausted from it's migration south. In keeping with my policy of not trying to 'rescue" wildlife unless I know what's wrong and if I can help, I checked back and it was gone 🐦

For #blueskymonday a silhouette of the seeds and leaves of the native grass, river oats. An easy to grow plant in shady moist areas. Birds eat the seeds and skipper butterfly cats eat the leaves. #nativeplant 🌱🌿 🍃 #nature

Shell ginger in bloom today. #bloomscrolling 🌼🌿💮 #blossoms

Elephant's foot, a native FL wildflower. Named because of large basal leaves, which someone with an imagination thought resembled elephants feet. #bloomscrolling #nativeplant #nature #wildflower 🌼🌱

A followup post to the outstanding mink post that I just reposted. Here are some river otters with their young that were in a ditch that was attached to a retention pond via a culvert. River otters and mink occupy a lot of the same geographic range with otters being in larger bodies of water. 🦦 💧

Mink on a Mission

Narrowleaf sunflowers with a blue sky background #blueskymonday #sunflower #nativeplant #nature #bloomscrolling 🌞🌻☀️

Red-spotted purple resting on a black cherry tree leaf. An interesting #butterfly that exhibits Batesian mimicry of pipe vine swallowtails. They are also known to hybridize with viceroy butterflies. 🦋 #nature #wildlife #photography #insect

Today is the first #Worldlakeday. My contribution is a photo of a lake in Lake Placid, FL that I lived on decades ago. #Florida #lake #reflection 💧 🌎

A followup to yesterdays killdeer post. Photo of a juvenile killdeer a day or two after venturing out from the nest. When then first leave, they look like cotton balls stuck on top of toothpicks. 🐦 #birds #nature #wildlife

A killdeer parent tending to nestlings beneath. A spot in a airport apron where a grounding connection is located was chosen for the nest. The nestlings are well camouflaged with brown caps that look like rocks when they lie still. 🐥🐦 🪹 #bird #nature #nest

Palamedes swallowtail butterfly pollinating Spanish needles. #butterfly #swallowtail #nature 🦋

This is why I find bogs and wetlands so interesting. These are Grassleaf Barbara's Buttons, found in bogs and wetlands of the SE US coastal plain. I found them in a group of about 50 plants and they reappeared annually. #bloomscrolling #bog #wetland #nativeplant

I could barely make out this Lichen Mimic mantis near my front door very early this morning. I was hoping for a better shot after the sun rose, but I think the camera flash frightened it away. The shadow it cast is pretty spooky. #mantis #insect #nature

Spicebush swallowtail visiting a cardinal flower. #nativeplant #swallowtail #butterfly #nature 🦋🌼 #insect

Florida leatherleaf slug crawling across the bark of a water oak. #sluglife #nature #florida #inverts

Upside down painted lady on a Spanish needle flower. Painted ladies are widespread across the globe and undertake migrations. #butterfly #insect #nativeplant #nature 🦋

Thank you to all who weighed in on the identity of a caterpillar on my swamp milkweed. Today, it looks obvious that it is a monarch cat. It's put on quite a bit of weight and added the typical pattern. Notice that the aphids are still there.

I was checking out aphids on my swamp milkweeds in hopes of seeing some ladybugs come to the rescue when I spied the caterpillar in the macro photo. Not being a monarch expert, is this a monarch cat before they develop their distinctive stripes? Other species do eat milkweed 🦋 #nature #milkweed

A juvenile five-lined skink. Not a great photo, but I thought the brilliant blue tail warranted posting this native #reptile. #blue #skink #nature #lizard #herp #🦎

An invasive brown anole showing off on a fence post. Some sources say they have displaced the green anole at ground level, but the green anoles are more successful higher up in the tree canopy. #lizard #herp #reptile #invasive 🦎

Green anole lounging on the side of my house. I used to see these frequently when I moved to the SE, But I've read they are being displaced by the Bahamian anole, an introduced lizard. #lizard #reptile #herp #native #🦎

Florida swamp lily, as the name implies, is found in wetland habitats, Except for winter months, it appears to bloom randomly. #nativeplant #bloomscrolling #nature 🌼🌱

In the southern US, epiphytic resurrection ferns seem to be everywhere. This one was spied on a water oak while I was dog walking today. They earned their name by being able to be dried out, yet returning to life after a rainfall. #nativeplants #ferns #nature

A queen butterfly for #butterflyweek. Literature indicates they are widely distributed, but I can only recall seeing a few in my life. Like monarchs, the cats feed on milkweeds, but unlike monarchs, queens do not migrate. #insect #nature #butterfly 🦋

One of the skippers seen in north Florida that I find so difficult to identify based on only a photo. They can be a challenge to photograph since they are so active. 🦋 #butterfly #butterflyweek #skipper ##wildlife #nature

Brown-shaded gray moth for #mothmonday #moth #bugs #insects 🦋

Coneflowers are still attracting new pollinators, such as feather-legged scoliid wasps. #wasp #pollinator #insects #invertebrate

Cut leaf coneflowers are attracting a bevy of insects. Now it's a black stink bug. #insect #bug #native #🐛

Found in large numbers in north Florida: Rhexia species, the meadow beauty. This one found in a moist area. #nativeplant #bloomscrolling #wildflower

Cut leaf coneflowers are attracting a lot of attention. My best guess for this #insect is a red and black mason wasp. It's not what most people find attractive, but I find it very interesting. I would welcome a correction from an entomologist. #wasp #entomology #nature

Common angle moth. At first glance, it's a rather drab moth. But upon closer look, there are some delicately intricate patterns there. This one found in Florida #mothsmatter #mothmonday #insect

Visiting a cut-leaf coneflower is a brown-winged striped sweat bee (my best guess).🐝 🌼 #bee #bloomscrolling #nativeplant #pollinators #insect #pollinator

Halberd-leaf Rosemallows are in bloom right now. #flowersonfriday #bloomscrolling #nativeplant

Noticed this fiery curcuma ginger blooming while i was cleaning up the yard today. #bloomscrolling #ginger

Regal moth, the adult does not feed due to vestigial moth parts and spends it's life reproducing. It is the adult of the hickory horned devil caterpillar previously posted. #mothsmatter #mothmonday #insect #nature

Florida bark mantis on a window screen. Notice the front legs tucked in alongside of the body. Found on trees, normally hunting prey head down. AKA the grizzled mantis. #mantis #insect #nature #wildlife🪰

Yelloweyed grass is a native wetland monocot of the genus Xyris. #grass #bloomscrolling #yellow #nativeplant 🌿🌼