Subject: Nature Shots

Clyde Butcher Photography 

This oak tree was dedicated to Mr. Fairchild, of Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Miami. The tree is 2000 years old! Imagine all that it has lived through.

Clyde Butcher 

I took this photograph at the mouth of the Suwannee River where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. It was a calm, clear day that made for a sharply defined reflection.

SUWANNEE WILDLIFE REFUGE 6 © 2013 | North Florida

I took this with my phone through my window 

Our neighbor’s cat is a total lard butt. And totally needs grooming. Look at those claws! 

I was probing around trying to find the best exposure for the Northern Lights, supposed to be at a relative high. While using a three-second exposure, a meteorite shot across my field. 

Nice "meteor" (but I'm sure you know that 😉).

Ugh. Yes, I know better. 🫣🤦‍♂️😱

Ha!Ha! What was it?                                                                                                                                                                       Speaking of sky things,the entire east is shuddering & thundrin (1545 EST) now. Finally way cool north but sweltrin in FL. Florida can be made out from above simply from the thunderstorm activity from JaX straight to Homestead. Its all one giant electric blob from Gulf of Mexico to Atlantic. Before noon, temp at (much better now) Boca was 91 felt like 108 while Ft. Laud was 90 and felt like 111. 

See the sunny spot smack in the middle of N Central FL that's me ☀️ 

Rainstorms and walking in them were the only refreshing summer times I recall when there: "warm rain" or not, it was what was necessary to stave off near heatstroke...

U could run thru the sprinkler 

>>Date: Mon Jul 6 15:54:31 2026
>>User: .l.
>>Message:  Ha!Ha! What was it?

It was a meteor. That particular shooting star fizzled before striking the ground, thus never becoming a meteorite. 

hey brew, i went to glenridge junior high school, the blue jacket was across the street and orange groves were next to the school. we got air conditioning installed my last year there. later, we used to yell "squid" as we drove past the parade grounds. and yeah, definitely not there anymore.

I think "the grinder" was what we called that large paved area...like doing exercises on it "ground" up your skin...

Our elementary school playground was sand,  and full of sandspurs. There were a couple monkey bars, one of those dangerous merry-go-rounds, and a slide or two. They all got too hot to touch. And we had zero a/c. 

Sure, "no state income tax" sounds nice...

The palmetto bugs will rearrange the furniture. There's a big snake in the house right now, unless he went out the window I left open. I realized I must be of a different breed. 

BuzzClik-Makes sense. Cant get nothing by TNmountainman. outskirts-your deer foto (with the freaky bald man) kind of gives me the EB-GBs.

Whatever 

Is that a photo you took? With your phone? That would be impressive in terms of clearly and resolution as well as getting a fly to sit still for a closeup. 

This is my one and only attempt:

Telephoto lens from about 8 feet away. 

Yes I took it with my phone this morning. It was smaller than a regular house fly. I was in my truck and it kept sitting there on top of the door. It's an older pixel 6a phone. Smart phones and their cameras are wondrous things. 

That tiny fly kept landing there on the door next to me. I would wave it away and blow on it, but it kept coming back. It wanted it's picture taken. We had a regular photo session and I got several pictures, all pretty much the same.

To .!.: Frankly I didn't have a clue what you meant by "freaky bald man" & so I just figured you were nuts or something. Now I finally see it. That picture, I took many years ago with some old camera. But I always liked it and it showed up as a fb memory, as I've posted it many times on fb and even had it as a profile picture before. But I never saw the freaky bald man til today. 😊 

Here's the whole fly shoot

Canadian tiger swallowtail. 

Find the John Deere 

Nice. Whats the fuzzy furball on lower right.

“Ball moss”? Tillandsia recurvata, a parasitic plant that grows on larger hosts in warm, humid regions. 

It's called Spanish moss. 

Ah. Thought it was a wild bugs nest.

Well….

Spanish moss is the long, graceful stringy green beard hanging from the branches of trees: Tillandsia usneoides on crepe myrtle

Small ball moss, Tillandsia recurvata, grows in clumps, usually in the lower branches of dense trees and shrubs to get the low-light shading they require. Here is a closeup:

(I was incorrect about them being parasitic. They are independent of the host.)

@.!. :” Ah. Thought it was a wild bugs nest.”

Actually, they are fantastic habitats for insects. 

Lol wrong. U are confusing Spanish moss with air plants. 

BTW the one with the tractor is crepe myrtle. 

And the tree in the very first picture in this thread is covered in Spanish moss. 

These pics are difficult using a macro lens (built-in for phone or SLR accessory). But it is far easier with my modest telephoto lens to avoid making the bees nervous or getting the shot in focus as the bee scurries about. 

I generally despise spiders, but this beauty stays outside and keeps the population of flying nasties at bay. 

Awesome pic.

One time I was doing a weaving in an art class, and I would not tell anyone what it was, even though they kept asking. As the weaving slowly progressed from bottom to top, most folks thought it was a bird. I told them it was not a bird. Then one day, the teacher shouted from across the room "I see it! I see it!" And indeed she did see it. It was a face. 

This little hummie bird loves his spot on the tiny twig on the cypress tree near where the feeder hangs. How cute is that.

Cat dragged one inside the other day. Wasnt hard to catch and could hardly feel its presence. Theyre filled with Helium it seems.

They are a wonder to hold in your hand. I've had them fly inside many times & I had to catch them. Many times they just sat on my hand before they decided to fly!

Yes,and quite beautiful. Cat (same one) brought a mouse this time. Lost that. Funny,theyre supposed to get RID of them not BRING them. Found this friendly mouse trap at Ace that catches,you release. Got its mark a while ago. Everyone loves this thing. No SNAP! and cleanup needed. Under $10 to boot.

Four species of hummingbirds lived around a previous house. I put up some feeders, and it was great at first. Always lots of activity. Then a little alpha shows up standing guard over the feeders. Any other bird that showed up was immediately attacked. It turned the scene on its ear. After a week of this, I took them down.