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!
Green Iguana

Green Iguana

Jan 1, 2022

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

Florida Nature Facts #161 – Florida Scrub Jay

May 20, 2021

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

Florida Nature Facts #156 – Garter Snakes

May 15, 2021

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...

Florida Nature Facts #153 – Pierid Butterflies

Florida Nature Facts #153 – Pierid Butterflies

May 10, 2021

Pierid butterflies (also known as the sulphurs and whites) are very common light-colored yellow or white butterflies that belong to the Pieridae family, which are often found feeding energetically on the nectar of wildflowers. It is believed that the English word...

Florida Nature Facts #152 – Skippers

Florida Nature Facts #152 – Skippers

May 5, 2021

Skippers are a group of butterflies in the Hesperiidae family that are often mistaken for moths, as most of them are drab brown to orange. They have short wings and stubby bodies, but you can always tell it’s a skipper because they have their thin antennae clubs...

Florida Nature Facts #145 – Drone Flies

Florida Nature Facts #145 – Drone Flies

Nov 12, 2020

While bees are the current darlings of the invertebrate world, drone flies deserve a lot of credit as well. Not only do these cousins to mosquitoes, houseflies and horseflies live in almost complete obscurity in the public eye, these bee-mimicking insects play an...

Florida Nature Facts #144 – Eastern Kingbird

Florida Nature Facts #144 – Eastern Kingbird

Nov 7, 2020

The Eastern kingbird mostly eats flying insects during the summer in North America and maintains a breeding territory that it defends vigorously against all other kingbirds. In the winter along the Amazon, however, it has a completely different lifestyle: it travels...

Florida Nature Facts #143 – Dragonflies

Florida Nature Facts #143 – Dragonflies

Oct 20, 2020

Roughly 300 million years ago, dragonflies were among the first insects to take to the air. While modern dragonflies have wingspans of only two to five inches, fossilized dragonflies show that they once had wingspans of nearly two feet! VISIT THE DRAGONFLIES GALLERY...

Florida Nature Facts #142 – Monarch Butterflies

Florida Nature Facts #142 – Monarch Butterflies

Oct 15, 2020

Monarch butterflies use thermals (updrafts of sun-warmed air) to help them ride air currents as they migrate across the United States to Mexico and back. MORE PHOTOS OF FLORIDA BUTTERFLIES MORE FLORIDA NATURE FACTS Florida Nature Facts is a new series of nature photos...

Florida Nature Facts #141 – Downy Woodpecker

Florida Nature Facts #141 – Downy Woodpecker

Oct 10, 2020

The smallest woodpecker in North America? That would be the downy woodpecker, which barely weighs over one ounce, and can be found in every state and province of the continental United States and Canada. Interesting note: this tiny woodpecker has special feathers...

Archives

0

Pin It on Pinterest