This pretty dragonfly was photographed on the Pinelands Trail in the Everglades. I was not familiar with this one, but after getting home, I found it in my dragonfly book; it is a female Eastern Pondhawk (the male is almost completely blue). There were quite a few dragonflies in the various marshes and swampy areas I birded in Florida, but they seldom sat still long enough for photographs, especially using a camera with a lag in shooting. I was happy to get such good views of this one. 5/17/22 www.sparhawkphotography.com
This is a Common Gallinule with three of her five chicks, swimming around in the water at Green Cay Wetlands and Nature Center in Boynton Beach, Florida. I had never seen the chicks of this species before, so it was a real treat. Green Cay is a wonderful marshy area with about two miles of boardwalk trails throughout the wetlands, giving good views of many birds. 5/16/22 www.sparhawkphotography.com
One hot afternoon in Florida, we were driving back to Fort Lauderdale, and stopped at a roadside rest stop. I was amazed to see all the signs, posts, light standards and bushes covered with these Lubbers. The yellow-brown ones are Eastern Lubbers and the black ones are Horse Lubbers. We had apparently run across a mass migration of these large grasshopper-type insects. (A few years ago I saw a similar phenomenon in Arizona, with the Horse Lubbers and another type, the Prairie Lubbers.) Naturally I spent a few minutes shooting them. A funny story: About an hour later we were driving down the freeway in Fort Lauderdale, and one of the Horse Lubbers came crawling down my arm! After a mild scream and brushing him off, he eventually was deposited in the bushes at the motel. I guess he had jumped onto me while I was shooting in the foliage, and apparently was attached to me for over an hour while driving. He sure startled me by showing up that way; maybe he appreciated the air-conditioned leg of his journey! 5/15/22 www.sparhawkphotography.com
