Wearin’ o’ the Green
Green is the color of the day (sure and begorrah!) and here are some views of the new greenery coming up at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Featured: Virginia chain fern and white water lily pad. I think there was a leprechaun in the pitcher plants, too.
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Okefenokee Tapestry
Sunset at the first shelter
Even though I don’t work there anymore, I am able to stay after hours at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge because of my friend Marilyn who volunteers there. She loves recording nature’s beauty with a camera, too, and even if we don’t plan a trip on the boardwalk together at sunset, we sometimes encounter each other there. Here she is with a Houston friend who went paddling with her this week.
Water reflections
Photography helps us focus attention on things often overlooked. I, for one, dilly-dally, looking high and low for some interesting treasure. Abstractions and semi-abstractions often catch my attention. Read the rest of this entry »
Not-so-Mellow Yellow
Yellow Butterwort
There are several yellow-flowered plants in and around the Okefenokee swamp that don’t quite act like you’d expect a plant to act. The yellow butterwort, like its relatives the dwarf and purple butterwort, eats BUGS!
Yellow butterwort leaves
The flower itself is not the carnivorous part. Instead it is the whorl of leaves at the base, often covered in dead pine needles or other vegetation. If you look very closely, you will see little beads of sticky sap that both entice and snare ants and other small denizens of the ground. The leaf’s enzymes will digest these little mites to extract minerals that are absent from the boggy soil. Read the rest of this entry »
February’s End in the Okefenokee Swamp
Red swamp maple Swamp Island Drive
A gorgeous way to end the month of February in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. The red maple’s winged seeds in spring are just as pretty as their leaves are in fall. Read the rest of this entry »
A Warm February Evening at Okefenokee
Backlit fern
It was my first trip back to Okefenokee after my job ended. I was to meet friend Marilyn, who volunteers there, to watch the sunset from the boardwalk and share dinner afterwards. I also had to send my best Nikon for a sensor cleaning, and I was happy to know my big telephoto would work with my older Nikon D80. Of course, that overall quality isn’t as good due to much lower resolution, but I was happy to give it a road test. Read the rest of this entry »
Prescription for a Healthy Forest
http://okefenokee.tumblr.com/post/67981447333/why-does-okefenokees-fire-crew-purposely-set-fire
I did this video for Okefenokee National WIldlife Refuge. A three-minute lesson in why we purposely set fire to a perfectly good forest!
November Critters in the Okefenokee Swamp
Male common yellowthroat and titi shrub along the Suwannee Canal
Fall in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge means an influx of migratory birds from up north, as well as greater visibility for the resident avians. The frogs are mostly gone (hibernating?) and visible insect life has dramatically decreased, but alligators will be more prominent since they stop feeding in cool weather and bask in the sun to stay warm.
Alligator lurking
Along the Suwannee Canal there were catbirds galore, generally in pairs, mewing their displeasure at the intrusion of two kayakers. I had a pair that nested in my yard every summer when I lived in Maine. They loved the grape jelly I set out for them in little bowls at the feeder. Read the rest of this entry »
November in Okefenokee
Dewdrops decorate spider web made in a clump of tickseed sunflowers
November might herald snow and frostbitten landscapes in northern climes, but it is the last hurrah of fall color in the Okefenokee Swamp. While the diversity of flowers peaked in September and October, the abundance of flowers definitely define November. Gone are the white water lily blooms. Gone are the lavender blazing stars. Gone are the swamp sunflowers and coreopsis and goldenrod. Now the wetlands are dominated by the “tickseed sunflower” – (Bidens spp.)
Mizell Prairie
They decorate the banks of the Suwannee Canal, but to see a knock-me-over profusion, paddle into Mizell Prairie on the Cedar Hammock trail. Read the rest of this entry »
Sunset Moon – Nov. 16, 2013
This is what I call the Photographer’s Moon. It is the evening before the true full moon and rises just before sunset, so that it is positioned nicely when the eastern sky turns pink. There is often haze that obscures its rise, but if you’re in the right place at the right time, it will be positioned perfectly when the light is right.
Taken in Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Folkston, GA
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No moon, but lovely evening on the boardwalk
Dragonfly at sunset
It was the night of the Photographer’s Moon (as I call it) – when the moon rises at sunset. But there was a pile of clouds to the east, and I never saw it (or the partial eclipse). But the Chesser Island Boardwalk at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge had some lovely surprises on this late evening walk.
Coreopsis and burned cypress knees
First of all, there is the riot of coreopsis (also known as tickseed sunflower) in the swamp right now. After two weeks of Government Shutdown, the difference in scenery is amazing. Truly autumn is a wonderful season for flowers here. Read the rest of this entry »
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