Nature at Goose Pasture, Suwannee River Water Management District, Florida

Goose Pasture offered so many opportunities in nature. I am so thankful for our solar system on our trailer so we can have these natural experiences away from the hustle and bustle of regular parks.

"Those who find beauty in all of nature will find themselves at one with the secrets of life itself"... L.Wolfe Gilbert

There were a large variety of butterflies in the flower patch beside us as well as in the forest areas and out on the trails.

Palamedes Swallowtail

"Until you spread your wings you'll have no idea how far you can fly"...unknown

Cloudless Sulpher? and another Palamedes Swallowtail I believe.

I thought this next one was a Wood Satyr but I am not positive and the next is a Buckeye 

 

I chased this Zebra Swallowtail for 1/2 an hour trying to get a half decent picture and this was the best I could get.

"Important lesson: Look carefully; record what you see. Find a way to make beauty necessary; Find a way to make necessity BEAUTIFL"...Anne Michaele

 There was lots of other wildlife too like damsel flies and dragonflies.

"We spun our dreams like spider webs across the globe, casting webs through countries, spanning gaps over oceans, hoping one day our silk-thread vision would weave the life we always wanted"...board of wisdom

Lots of spiders...

Sierra really wanted to catch this little baby turtle and the Black Racer below but she had no luck.

"Don't let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was"...Richard L. Evans

"Courage is not the absence of fear. It is doing one thing despite the presence of fear"...Michael Hyatt

That didn't stop her from happily trying.

She was so excited to spot this Five Lined Skink but he was way too fast to even think of catching.

So she settled for this Green Anole Lizard and one of his friends.

We kept these two lizards overnight and it was such a beautiful experience. You may think he looks stressed in this picture as he is turning brown but he was actually brown when we saw him, before we caught him. Probably because he was moulting.

You can see in this next picture where his skin is coming loose. He is also eating one of the damselflies Sierra caught for him showing he isn't stressed at all to eat. Catching food, providing water and setting up a natural habitat (sometime that requires some research) is a requirement for even just one night. If Sierra wishes to observe her "pets" for a night or two she must make them a home and be able to feed them or else they will be let go of right away. Luckily we were able to catch many damselflies for these two Green Anole's while we observed them.

"One reason people resist change is because they focus on what they have to GIVE UP, instead of what they have to GAIN"...unknown

In the morning when we came outside to check on the Green Anoles we had quite the surprise. Apparently when Sierra dipped some water out of the river inlet area by our campsite, she scooped up a nymph. We (OK I may have been the most excited) were so excited to see a nymph had crawled out of the water and this beautiful dragonfly emerged. Learn about the dragonfly life cycle HERE.

Then it was time to let the lizards go and pack up the trailer. 

I showed you the alligators in the last post but I have to add one in here too as we enjoyed visiting with them everyday. Watching to see if he left, when he arrived...over and over each day.

So much nature, so much natural beauty and so much fun was had here. We hope to return again someday.

"Time in nature is not leisure time; it's an essential investment in our chidlren's health (and also, by the way, in our own)” ...Richard Louv