Beaches and Coasts

Lakes and Rivers

Forests

Inland

Everglades

Panoramas

Black and White

Florida is world-renowned for its beautiful landscapes. With over 1350 miles of coastline from the Atlantic Ocean to the Florida Keys to the northern Gulf of Mexico, there are an incredible number of unique and beautiful habitats, especially in the Florida Everglades. We also have thousands of islands, lakes and rivers (many of those are spring-fed) and of course our unique forest habitats from Central and Northern Florida down to our oak and scrub pinelands. The following galleries have a little bit of everything that the best of Sunshine State landscapes have to offer.

Brushfoots

Gossamer Wings

Swallowtails

Skippers

Sulphurs and Whites

Moths

Did you know that Florida is home to over 1,320 species of butterflies and moths? That number is still growing with careful and painstaking research, more new species are being discovered all the time!

Anhingas, Cormorants

Birds of Prey

Carrion Birds

Coots, Rails

Cranes, Limpkins

Ducks, Geese

Egrets, Herons

Gulls, Terns

Shorebirds

Songbirds

Spoonbills, Storks

Woodpeckers

When it comes to birds, the Sunshine State is fantastically rich in species diversity. The geography of Florida’s Peninsula creates a natural migratory route for millions of birds each year as they head south over the Caribbean towards Central and South America (and back). While some species are found all around the world, we are lucky to have 196 species of birds that live and breed in Florida.

Deer

Pigs

Rabbits and Hares

Manatees

Squirrels

Raccoons

Armadillos

We mammals have come a long way since the time of the dinosaurs. Since those times, we’ve conquered the land, sea and air. Florida has at least 99 species of mammals living, breeding and thriving today.

Crustaceans

Dragonflies

Grasshoppers, Locusts

Spiders

Snails, Mollusks

Other Invertebrates

96% of all currently living animal lifeforms alive today are invertebrates. Included are all the insects, arachnids, worms, crabs, shellfish, starfish, corals, and more! One thing they all have in common? No backbone.

Alligators, Crocodiles

Lizards

Snakes

Turtles, Tortoises

Long before the first dinosaur walked the earth, reptiles ruled the world. 65 million years after the last dinosaur drew its final breath, North America’s modern crocodiles, alligators, snakes, lizards, and turtles and tortoises are still keeping our Florida natural history alive!

Tree Frogs

Toads

Did you know the word “amphibian” means “two lives”? All amphibians start their lives in the underwater, but after they go through a series of metamorphosis stages to adulthood, most trade gills for lungs and live the rest of their lives out of the water. Florida is home to 33 native and non-native species of frogs and toads, and many more species of salamanders, newts and sirens!

Arethuseae

Calypsoeae

Cranichideae

Cymbidieae

Epidendreae

Malaxideae

Maxillarieae

Neottieae

Orchideae

Pogoniinae

Polystachyeae

Triphoreae

Vandeae

Vanilleae

One of the largest families in the plant kingdom with nearly 28 thousand species around the globe, orchids are also one of the most popular and most sought-after flowering plants in history. In Victorian times, entire foreign expeditions were sent around the world at great personal risk led by fearless (and often ruthless) orchid hunters to acquire the next new unknown exotic species from the most distant corner of the Earth. Luckily for us, Florida is rich with unique native species found nowhere else in the world!

Wildflowers by Color

Wildflowers by Family

By far our largest collection of galleries, these wildflower image sets are arranged by both color and by taxonomic family for use as a casual identification tool or field guide, or for more thorough scientific research for deeper understanding.

Pitcher Plants

Venus Flytraps

Bladderworts

Butterworts

Sundews

Sometimes called insectivorous plants, these amazing plants have adapted to a life in places where the soil is so poor in nutrients, that they’ve gained the ability to grow by trapping their food with modified leaves. By taking root in a harsh habitat, they have eliminated most of their competition from other plants.

Bromeliads

Mushrooms

Plants

Saprophytes

This last and final collection of galleries include all the non-wildflower images such as our native trees, ferns, palms, fruits and berries, cacti, saprophytes, mosses, bromeliads and more!

A Florida Oddity……

by | Aug 27, 2009

This is more of a quick note with a bizarre photo, rather than an actual post.

We’ve been working out hearts out trying to get the new FloridaNaturePhotography.com upgrade out, and it has more or less taken up all of my writing time. Every photo and page is in the process of being re-edited for a much more streamlined and beautified look, and some photos are being removed, while others are being added.

Lots of new features coming up – including much more information about Florida nature, a customizable frame builder, faster gallery uploads, cool links, and lots of other goodies I’m keeping secret for now – so far it’s got more cool stuff for both nature photographers and nature lovers than I’ve ever seen on any other website. We are also starting a new gallery – CARNIVOROUS PLANTS! As many of you may have noticed – this new blog design is part of the upgrade.

We are looking at going online with this new upgrade in the first week of September.

That said, here is one of the strangest photos I’ve ever taken….rediscovered on one of my hard drives while re-editing for the website upgrade….

A couple years ago, I was driving through Hendry County in the Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest, which is in a very remote inland area of South Florida, just south of Lake Okeechobee and between the coasts. I was hurtling along at an unspecified velocity when I passed something in the road that caused me to think I was hallucinating!

An alligator head in the middle of the highway, with a vulture eating its brains!

 

I had to turn around for this one, and after shooing off the vulture, I confirmed my own mental stability and had a good, close look at an adult alligator’s head. Searching around, I didn’t find the body, so I’m guessing it was thrown out by a poacher. Unfortunately it still happens a lot in rural Florida.

Not much of story to go with this one, but I thought it intriguing enough to share it with all of you!

Sharing and commenting via the social media links below will help me greatly, and is much appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

ALL IMAGES AVAILABLE FOR PRINT OR DIGITAL DOWNLOAD!
 

Related posts:

Orchid Hunting in the Florida Everglades A Face only a Mother Could Love The Forgotten Coast – Unforgettable Florida Wild Florida!

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