Florida Wildlife Calendar: October
Florida Nature Facts: Updated Daily
Featured Gallery of the Month: Red and Orange Wildflowers!
Latest Photos, Videos and Recordings
Frequently Asked Questions
Florida Wildlife Calendar: October
- Vultures return to the Miami Courthouse and other areas in South Florida (Turkey Vultures, that is).
- Northeast Florida: Look for migrating Peregrine falcons in natural areas, especially along the coast as they follow shorebird prey.
- Warbler migration peaks early this month.
- Peak in chimney swift migrations in South Florida.
- Sandhill cranes that nested in more northern latitudes begin to move down to join our resident birds.
- Ducks begin to arrive for the winter.
- Grosbeaks, warblers, tanagers, orioles, and thrushes begin migrating south for the winter.
- Flying squirrels will be raising their second litters and moving into pecan groves as the nuts ripen.
- Black bears feeding heavily in preparation for winter.
- Gray foxes begin mating this month.
- Deer mating season begins in northeast and central Florida.
- Flatwoods salamanders breed with the first heavy rains of October.
- Sea turtles emerge from their nests and head for the ocean.
- Monarch butterfly migration nears its peak along Florida’s Gulf coast. Many can be seen at St. Marks Wildlife Refuge.
- Redfish and trout move up creeks and rivers in north Florida.
- Fall spawning of redear sunfish.
- Largemouth bass active in cooler waters.
- Plant trees and shrubs, like holly and dogwood, that produce berries to feed wildlife.
- Blazing star, summer farewell and other wildflowers bloom in pine uplands.
- Northern and Southern oval ladies’-tresses begin to bloom in North Florida forests.
- Lawn orchids begin to appear along roadsides, gardens, and yards across the state and will continue to appear until the end of winter.
Latest Photos, Videos and Recordings
Green Iguana
The green iguana, also known as the American iguana is a large attractive and often strikingly-colored lizard in the Iguanidae family that is native to the Caribbean Islands, Central America and most of the northern half of South America. Although they are are...
Florida Nature Facts #161 – Florida Scrub Jay
The endangered and endemic Florida scrub jay is a cooperative breeder. When the offspring leave the nest, they stay with their parents and help them raise next year's brood instead of going off to raise young on their own. VISIT THE BIRDS GALLERY MORE FLORIDA NATURE...
Florida Nature Facts #156 – Garter Snakes
Most people know garter snakes as common and mostly harmless, but they are in fact mildly venomous. These beautiful snakes are what is known as rear-fanged, meaning they have enlarged back teeth connected to what is called the Duvernoy’s gland that they use to help...
Frequently Asked Questions
1 - Fine Art Prints, Canvases and Other Printing Options
I have an automated ordering system for fine art prints that not only makes ordering easier, but gives you more options. Choose luster (my personal favorite – it’s a cross between matte and glassy), old-fashioned glossy, classic black & white or even have your images printed on metallic paper or canvas. As always, all my printing is done on ultra-premium museum-quality, acid-free professional photography paper with commercial archival inks that won’t fade or “yellow” over time. I care enough about my work to have it only printed on the best materials possible.
Next to every image in our gallery there is an “Add To Cart” button that will give you all the options available for that image in a very user-friendly format, and will make ordering a breeze. There is even an option at checkout for custom cropping.
And as always, if you have specific questions that aren’t answered on this page, please contact me and I’ll be more than happy to talk to you over the phone or by email, or even walk you through the ordering process. When in doubt, contact me before ordering.
All final orders will be double-checked and verified personally by me to make sure every order looks absolutely perfect before going to print.
2 - Image Licensing and Stock Images
I am pleased to announce that every single image on this website is available for instant download to your computer – no waiting involved! An ever-increasing amount of our business these days has been electronic image sales for bloggers, web-designers, news media and those who want the image in electronic format only. Many of these are publishers, editors, and other media specialists who do not require the printed image for their work or project.
We have a system in place for instant downloading of high-resolution (.TIFF) images for both personal use and commercial use. Just choose the size you want and it’s yours instantly, and we’ve tried to make this new system easy and simple to use and understand. There are two types of downloads available for you to use immediately. Read more about uses and downloading options.
Commercial Royalty-Free:
This type of download is for use in business or enterprise. This can include editorial work, blogging, sales material, non-profit, pamphlets, brochures, inclusion in a website, or any other commercial application. If you are not sure, ask yourself, “Am I planning on making money with this image or using for a business-related project?” If this is the case, then this is the right type of license needed. This does not include printing images for resale, print publication, or digital resale. If you do need an extended license for commercial work that requires use in mass printing, television, film, or other related commercial uses, contact us at your earliest convenience so we can discuss and we’ll get you a fast and reasonable quote.
Personal Use:
This type of download is for an individual using the image for personal use only. This includes classroom usage, school projects, personal prints, screen savers, usage for painters and artists to create derivatives that aren’t commercial in nature, etc. Essentially for uses that you aren’t trying to make money from our work. If you have any questions or extra information regarding uses please contact us and we’ll get you pointed in the right direction.
3 - More Information about Customized Fine Art Prints and Special Orders
Ordering prints from our galleries just got even easier! Now we are offering not only prints, papers, metal prints, acrylic and metal wall displays but a whole new range of customized frames, mats, and other accessories! Most prints are shipped within three business days and come with a no questions asked 30 day return policy. (I’ll discuss the details with you directly before you order – some of these materials may not be listed in the galleries, and I will take those orders personally – contact me for more information)
Through our partnership with Fine Art America we offer the most customizable and easy way of providing you with the very best professional prints for your office, home or gallery.
Custom frames and mattes – design it with amazing online tools! (Contact us so we can set it up personally with you)
Metal Prints (printed directly onto high quality aluminum)
Acrylic Prints (looks amazing with float mounts)
Stretched canvas prints
Museum wraps
Gallery wraps
Choose from over 230 high-end frames and 100 mats
Specialty fine art papers – including watercolor and luster!
Even greeting cards! Many more options, and we’re adding more every week!
4 - Usage Guidelines: Copyright Notice
We appreciate that you would like to use our photographs and/or images for your own projects. Please ask if you would like to use photographs for a blog or any other specific use. We offer exclusive rights to some of our photographs and it is important that you contact us, as this can then get us into legal troubles.
You may not copy images for paintings, drawings, or in any form or derivative without written permission. Your easiest option would be to purchase a “personal use” discounted download.
You may not sell or resell any photograph/image that Rich or Galina Leighton has taken or created. We have in our employ two competing copyright violation services searching out illegal usage of our work. Legal steps will be taken if misuse of our copyrighted material is detected.
If you want to use one of our images, you are required to purchase or license, which is easily and instantly available for every image through the shopping cart. Either contact us for your needs or use the automated pricing option for each image when viewing individual images (“Add to Cart” button). Every image you see in our online galleries is registered with the United States Copyright Office, and we do follow up on every single infringement case, all around the world. If you have any questions about any of this, please contact us.
You may not copy images for paintings, drawings, or in any form or derivative without permission.
We work really hard to create these images. Please respect our copyright. Thank you.
So Common, So Rarely Seen – The Florida Ghost Crab
Recently while on a trip along the St. Joseph Peninsula I stumbled into one of my very favorite of shoreline critters - the ghost crab. Even though they are very common all over Florida's sandy coasts, the ghost crab is the master of camouflage and quite often never...
Deep Forest Creek
For the past week in the Tallahassee area where I live, it's been wet, gray, often rainy and generally not good for nature photography. In times like these I either stay indoors working on the editing stage of my photography, writing about Florida's natural history,...
The REAL Snowbirds!!!!!
As Spring has already sprung – I’m going to hurry up and get my winter seabirds of Northeast Florida photos from the past couple of months out to you. We are making some additions to the website tonight, and as a break – I’m going to do a simple and quick blog. Being...