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!

My Photo was Picked for the 2011 National Audubon Society Calendar!!!!!!!

by | Jan 28, 2011

I realize this post is VERY late in getting out, but due to our oldest son starting preschool this year and bringing home the plague, I’ve been suffering for most of the winter with a whole host of kiddie germs and hadn’t had the time to post this until right now. Then I wanted to wait until I got my copy of the calendar so I could take a photo of it and include the original image.

I have the great honor to announce that my whooping crane photograph taken in 2008 in Central Florida was selected to be in the 2011 National Audubon Society calendar! The representative I spoke with on the phone said hundreds of thousands of photos were looked at, and mine was one of the sixteen selected for the sixteen calendar months. I got July! 500,000 copies were made and that means my photo and name (in the photo credit) will be seen by potentially half a million people for a whole month! Suddenly all the years of hard work and struggling through a tough recession are paying off, and most of the credit goes to our followers here at Leighton Photography & Imaging/FloridaNaturePhotography.com for all your unremitting input, encouragement and friendship – without you, none of this would be possible! A HUGE thank you to everyone!

AudubonCalendarCover

 

2011 National Audubon Society Calendar (cover)

Whooping Crane

Original Uncropped Image – Whooping Crane (Central Florida, 2008)

~click to enlarge ~

 

Related posts:

Beautiful & Mysterious Florida Fall Orchid-Hunting in North Florida Part II Fall Orchid Hunting in North Florida – Part I Operation Migration – Whooping Cranes Arrive in North Florida!

10 Comments

  1. jacquee
    jacquee on January 31, 2011 at 2:19 am

    Congratulations Rich! So much deserved for all the work you do with nature.

    Reply
  2. Barb Holmes
    Barb Holmes on January 31, 2011 at 8:21 am

    Congratulations, Rich!

    You deserve this recognition. Your photos are always fabulous.

    A friend of your Mom’s,

    Barb Holmes

    Reply
  3. Anita Fayart
    Anita Fayart on January 31, 2011 at 8:10 pm

    Wow, I am impressed, such clarity and colors, just beautiful.
    Congratulations… keep it up; you have the eye and the camera.
    Blessings. Anita

    Reply
  5. Lynn Reno
    Lynn Reno on February 2, 2011 at 11:00 am

    Re the Audubon Society Calendar… What a great honor…and a tribute to your skills and perseverence! I’m so glad you are getting the recognistion you deserve.

    Lynn Reno

    Reply
  6. Jen Bacon
    Jen Bacon on February 16, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    Hey, Rich! Congrats on this well deserved and long awaited honor! You truly are an inspiration to us all to pursue our dreams. Well done and again, congratulations!!!

    Reply
  7. Rich Leighton
    Rich Leighton on February 17, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    Thank you very much Jacquee, Barbara x2, Sue, Jen, Anita and Lynn!!!! And thank you for all your support over the years 🙂 You keep looking, I’ll keep cranking photos and blogs out 🙂

    Reply
  8. Tonya Banchetto
    Tonya Banchetto on April 28, 2011 at 7:40 pm

    That is awesome! I thought it was pretty cool that 2 of my photos won a morning news photo contest and were shown to all who view that morning news show…but yours totally trumps mine…lol. Gorgeous picture.

    Reply
  9. Peter
    Peter on June 4, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    congrats! you deserve it!!

    Reply

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