Florida anise, growing in a ravine. This flower always surprises me; it doesn’t look to me like a flower that would be on a tall woody shrub.

There are two streams called River Styx in Florida. This is the one in the Panhandle, running out of the Apalachicola National Forest into the Apalachicola River.

I’m changing the rules of the ID-a-Day project a bit. For one thing, it’s obviously not going to be every day. (Was it ever?) For another, the subject doesn’t have to be something I don’t recognize. It can be something I do know, but if so, I’ll look it up and find out something about [...]

And we all know what that means: photos!

The first comes from the Apalachicola Bluffs and Ravines Preserve, and in this photo you can see all the elements of its name: the Apalachicola River, big and muddy from a recent rain; Alum Bluff, on the eastern bank, from which the photo was taken; and the mouth [...]

And here’s the yellow flower I mentioned in my last post. Turns out it’s showy rattlebox — Crotalaria spectabilis. It is not native to Florida; it was originally imported as a cover crop. Now it grows wild here and there in disturbed areas.

Holy crap there are a lot of diamondbacks on Camp Blanding. Here’s number five in all its creepily awesome glory. (The white thing is a paper towel my teammate was trying to get it to strike at.)

And sort of in time for the Friday Ark, too!

Not the bird itself, although I heard several1 in the same area, but its nest:

1. The white-eyed vireo’s song is often represented as “Chuck! Pick up your beer!” but there are variations.