Nature Appreciation

[John Roberts]

It truly is. I fell in love with it while living there, and now that I'm in NY miss it rather desperately.

I like the new photo of the lizard. I use to try and make friends with the ones that would sun on the rocks in Australia ... but most of them were much to skittish. But, there was this one, that I swear came to meet me almost everyday. He/she (?) used to climb to the nape of my neck, and sit as close to my scalp as possible ... guess it was warm there. Sounds kind of unpleasant if you don't like lizards ... but I didn't mind it. We enjoyed many quite afternoons together, soaking in the beauty of the outback.

I love intereacting with wildlife, as long as I am not a part of the food chain I feel pretty comfortable........but not with centipedes.....er.....or slugs...gad Have you ever stepped on one while barefoot?

When we were kids we used to catch the native anoles and entice them to latch on to our ear lobes.....they would for they were feeling fiesty and threatened.......they were tenacious enough to hang on a while.....there is a picture of my brother somewhere with an anole hanging from each ear lobe.......don't do it with a cuban anole.....they have a much stronger bite.....um......unless you like pain....<grinning> I found out the hard way........
You may ask yourself.....why in the world?!!......I plead that it was a long time ago....but once in a while I get a strange urge......um....never mind.

 

[TamedTiger]

I love intereacting with wildlife, as long as I am not a part of the food chain I feel pretty comfortable.

Yes, not being part of the food chain is a key part! But, I do love interacting with wildlife as well. Always have. Though, when I was 6, I had a very unpleasant experience with a porcupine ... it just looked so adorable that I had to cuddle it. Bad, bad, bad - can't stress this enough - bad idea.

You may ask yourself.....why in the world?!!......I plead that it was a long time ago....but once in a while I get a strange urge......um....never mind.

No worries, I did the same thing. Often had the problem of them trying to crawl into my ear, though.

But, once in a while, I also get the same urge .... to .... uh ... well ... you know.

 

[TamedTiger]

And, yes, I have certainly stepped on slugs and centipedes while barefoot. Not pleasant ... but infinitely more appealing than hugging a porcupine. Again, I cannot stress what a bad idea that is!

 

[jacuzzigal]

thunder & lightening...

We're getting thunderstorms here now, and I love listening to them... seeing the lightening light up the sky... it's electric, a little scary, exciting, beautiful, amazing...

 

[John Roberts]

Re: thunder & lightening...

We're getting thunderstorms here now, and I love listening to them... seeing the lightening light up the sky... it's electric, a little scary, exciting, beautiful, amazing...

I love watching an electric storm at night.

 

[John Roberts]

More stuff from the garden. Lantana is a wonderful nectar plant and comes in a variety of colors. This one is a nice shade of orange

 

[John Roberts]

Here is another.....Pentas the first is "Ruby Red"



Lets see if I can load the pentas up on the same page.......

 

[John Roberts]

Nope, did not work....here is another penta

 

[John Roberts]

And another

 

[jacuzzigal]

And another

These are all gorgeous, John... thanks for sharing.

Been watching and listening to the thunderstorms for a couple of hours... they are amazing...

 

[John Roberts]

These are all gorgeous, John... thanks for sharing.

Been watching and listening to the thunderstorms for a couple of hours... they are amazing...

Thank you jacuzzigal. Here are some more from today.....the first a purple dragonfly I do not know my dragonflies so I cannot give the species.

 

[done_got_old]

Thank you jacuzzigal. Here are some more from today.....the first a purple dragonfly I do not know my dragonflies so I cannot give the species.

What a beautiful picture. Thanks for sharing.

 

[John Roberts]

Here is a Skipper, I have to look it up....now where is my butterfly guide.....a lot of these skippers look alike.
My guess is a Sachem's Skipper but I am likely wrong.

 

[John Roberts]

Jatropha is a good butterfly and I guess a hummingbird flower from it's bright red color.

 

[John Roberts]

Here is another Lantana shot.....different color from the first.

 

[jacuzzigal]

Here is another Lantana shot.....different color from the first.

all beautiful, John. Did you take all these photos?

 

[John Roberts]

Not part of the butterfly garden but still eye catching is a Dendrobium orchid in bloom.....tag....where is the tag?.....durn!

 

[John Roberts]

all beautiful, John. Did you take all these photos?

Thank you jacuzzigal,
Yes,....just got a digital camera(Nikon Coolpix 4300) recently...mainly to take pictures of my little boy but I am having fun in all sorts of ways... I have a lot of out of focus shots of the small things.....the auto focus has a hard time on small objects, larger things like my boy are no problem. My next camera I want a manual focus on it though.

 

[jacuzzigal]

Thank you jacuzzigal,
Yes,....just got a digital camera(Nikon Coolpix 4300) recently...mainly to take pictures of my little boy but I am having fun in all sorts of ways... I have a lot of out of focus shots of the small things.....the auto focus has a hard time on small objects, larger things like my boy are no problem. My next camera I want a manual focus on it though.

You're a good photographer. Thanks for sharing.

 

[John Roberts]

You're a good photographer. Thanks for sharing.

My pleasure jacuzzigal. I have been talking about the butterfly garden for a while, now I have something in which to make it a reality for others and to have photos for later. I will try for some dolphin shots in the future from the Indian River Lagoon where there is a sizeable population that lives there and they come close to shore frequently.

 

[slowndeep]

[Though, when I was 6, I had a very unpleasant experience with a porcupine ... it just looked so adorable that I had to cuddle it. Bad, bad, bad - can't stress this enough - bad idea.

I hear you!! I live in Southern Africa and our porcupine is the size of a mdium sized dog! It's quills are about 18 inches long and loosely attached - the animal loves driving them deeply into it's attackers. Young and inexperienced lions often die from infections caused by porcupine quills - they're an animal it's best to steer clear of!

There are plenty of comments here about sunsets and sunrises - I've travelled a great deal and NOTHING comes close to an African bush sunrise/sunset - just truly stunning!!

Oh , and the wildlife is pretty good too!!

Pete

 

[John Roberts]

[Though, when I was 6, I had a very unpleasant experience with a porcupine ... it just looked so adorable that I had to cuddle it. Bad, bad, bad - can't stress this enough - bad idea.

I hear you!! I live in Southern Africa and our porcupine is the size of a mdium sized dog! It's quills are about 18 inches long and loosely attached - the animal loves driving them deeply into it's attackers. Young and inexperienced lions often die from infections caused by porcupine quills - they're an animal it's best to steer clear of!

There are plenty of comments here about sunsets and sunrises - I've travelled a great deal and NOTHING comes close to an African bush sunrise/sunset - just truly stunning!!

Oh , and the wildlife is pretty good too!!

Pete

I've not had the pleasure of an African sunset, I have seen some spectacular photos of them though......mind boggling.

We do not have porcupines here in Florida....but if I head to northern climates....,er south if to Africa, I will resist any such impulse.....

 

[John Roberts]

More from the Butterfly Garden.....at last other Butterflies are showing up other than Long-tailed Skippers......here are some photos of Gulf Fritillary butterflies.....the first one was shy....here she is peering out at me.

 

[John Roberts]

Here is another......she got bolder with time when she realized I was not a predator

 

[John Roberts]

Here is another Lantana shot...purple variety.