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!
Florida Nature Facts #46 – Hawks

Florida Nature Facts #46 – Hawks

Nov 5, 2018

Normal vision for people is 20/20. A hawk's vision is equivalent to 20/5. This means that the hawk can see from 20 feet what most people can see from 5 feet. MORE PHOTOS OF BIRDS OF PREY MORE FLORIDA NATURE FACTS Florida Nature Facts is a series about interesting...

Florida Nature Facts #45 – Great Blue Heron

Florida Nature Facts #45 – Great Blue Heron

Oct 31, 2018

The great blue heron has a huge wingspan, but still 8 inches short of the bald eagle's 80-inch wingspan. MORE PHOTOS OF BIRDS MORE FLORIDA NATURE FACTS Florida Nature Facts is a series about interesting facts about the flora, fauna and places that make Florida so...

Florida Nature Facts #44 – Vultures

Florida Nature Facts #44 – Vultures

Oct 26, 2018

Why don't we see a lot of dead animals in the wild? You can thank the reviled vulture. They eat the dead as fast as they can be found, protecting all of us from disease and sickness. MORE PHOTOS OF CARRION BIRDS MORE FLORIDA NATURE FACTS Florida Nature Facts is a...

Florida Nature Facts #42 – Raccoon

Florida Nature Facts #42 – Raccoon

Oct 16, 2018

A raccoon can rotate its hind feet a full 180 degrees, giving it the ability to climb down from trees head first. MORE PHOTOS OF RACCOONS MORE FLORIDA NATURE FACTS Florida Nature Facts is a series about interesting facts about the flora, fauna and places that make...

Florida Nature Facts #40 – Fiddler Crabs

Florida Nature Facts #40 – Fiddler Crabs

Oct 6, 2018

Fiddler crabs are the most common crab in a salt marsh and they play an important role in the salt marsh community. They eat detritus (dead or decomposing plant and animal matter) and are themselves food for a number of wetland animals. In Spanish, the fiddler crab is...

Florida Nature Facts #39 – Honey Bees

Florida Nature Facts #39 – Honey Bees

Oct 1, 2018

Bees have two stomachs: one regular stomach and one stomach for storing nectar. When full, the bee doubles its weight. MORE PHOTOS OF INVERTEBRATES MORE FLORIDA NATURE FACTS Florida Nature Facts is a series about interesting facts about the flora, fauna and places...

Florida Nature Facts #37 – Forests

Florida Nature Facts #37 – Forests

Sep 21, 2018

Sound fades in forests, making trees a popular natural noise barrier. The muffling effect is largely due to rustling leaves — plus other woodland white noise, like bird songs — and just a few well-placed trees can cut background sound by 5 to 10 decibels, or about 50...

Florida Nature Facts #32 – Venus Flytrap

Florida Nature Facts #32 – Venus Flytrap

Aug 27, 2018

The Venus flytrap is a small carnivorous plant. The trap at the end of a leaf snaps closed on its prey, usually an insect, when sensitive hairs inside the trap have been triggered twice within 20 seconds. This way the plant does not waste energy on non-food objects....

Florida Nature Facts #30 – Woodpeckers

Florida Nature Facts #30 – Woodpeckers

Aug 12, 2018

With roughly 20 species of native woodpeckers and their sapsucker relatives found across North America, woodpeckers are nature's loudest headbangers. Woodpeckers slam their beaks against wood with a force 1,000 times that of gravity. That’s 20 times more force than a...

Florida Nature Facts #28 – Trilliums

Florida Nature Facts #28 – Trilliums

Aug 2, 2018

Trilliums use ants for seed dispersal. Ants are attracted to the elaiosomes (external "food bodies") on the seeds and collect them and transport them away from the parent plant. MORE PHOTOS OF TRILLIUMS MORE FLORIDA NATURE FACTS Florida Nature Facts is a series about...

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