January 7, 2020

Location: Jim Woodruff Dam, Gadsden and Jackson counties, Florida/Decatur County, Georgia

I am known as a Pine Warbler
I am a short distance migrant
In the south in the fall
I don't migrate at all
And I'm male so my yellow's more vibrant.

Sources: (1)

Photo and text © 2020 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 6, 2020

Location: Jim Woodruff Dam, Gadsden and Jackson counties, Florida/Decatur County, Georgia

I am an Eastern Bluebird
I'm tired and in a bad mood
If I lived in the west,
That would be the best
My kids would stay and help me to raise the next brood.

Sources: Animal Diversity Web Sialia sialis Eastern Bluebird

Photo and text © 2020 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 5, 2020

Location: Jim Woodruff Dam, Gadsden and Jackson counties, Florida/Decatur County, Georgia

I am known as a Lesser Scaup
I'm swimming around with a few of my buddies
If I start to act crazy and do a ballet
It could be amphipods are stuck to my tummy.

Sources: Cornell Lab All About Birds - Lesser Scaup

Photo and text © 2020 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 4, 2020

Location: Private residence, Blountston

This is Sunshine Mimosa
It can be spread through cuttings or seeds
It is host plant to the Little Sulphur butterfly
And it's pollinated by bees.

Look closely at the Google map screen shot. Our amazing friends Karen and Travis build a labyrinth in their back yard, you can see it on the right hand side of the screen shot. This Sunshine Mimosa was right smack in the center of the Labyrinth. Too cool for words. 

Sources: Florida Native Plant Society - Mimosa strigillosa

Photo and text © 2020 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 3, 2020

Location: Private residence, Blountston

This is Ilex vomitoria
Its name is intentional, not a fluke
Native Americans used it in a ceremonial tea
Which was consumed in large quantities then puked.

Sources: LiveScience - Caffeinated 'Vomit Drink' Nauseated North America's First City

Photo and text © 2020 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 2, 2020

Location: Private residence, Blountston

This is Shining Sumac,
You might remember it from a few weeks ago
It's winter now and this plant is further north
So its leaves have a rosy red glow.

Sources: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Plant Database - Rhus copallinum 

Photo and text © 2020 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 1, 2020

Location: Private residence, Blountston

I am a type of paper wasp
In Florida, I am a native
I'm most likely a Polistes dorsalis
I live in a hive that's cooperative.

(Note: In addition to the Wikipedia article, check out this scientific paper on which some of the Widipedia article is based. It descr)

Sources: Wikipedia - Polistes dorsalis

Photo and text © 2020 Dee Fairbanks Simpson