Florida Jacksonville Mission: A Sample of Flora and Fauna

We have wanted to include a sampling of some of the flora and fauna we've enjoyed as we've traveled

about in our mission in central and northern Florida.

Azaleas and roses blooming and a garden full of flowers greeting us Christmas week.

Lemon and Orange trees loaded with fruit during the month of December.

We have no idea what this particular specimen is, but it was a huge blossom hanging from a very long stem from a very tall tree!

It seems that nearly half of the trees in this part of Florida has Spanish Moss hanging from them, which no doubt gives the whole area a spooky eerie atmosphere-especially on days when there is also fog.

There is an abundance of life in our wonderful mission. Here are some of the ones we have encountered that crawl, swim, and fly.

These little guys are everywhere! We just call them lizards, but technically they are anoles and are the fastest moving critters around. They only grow to maybe 3-4 inches long (the baby ones are so tiny and cute). It took a couple weeks of living here before Sister Wolff wasn't jumping, hollering and shuddering every time she saw one. (especially when they managed to sneak into the apartment!!)

This adorable little frog turned up one day on our patio sitting on one of our planters. It was only about 1 1/2 inches long and spent an entire day with us before disappearing the following morning.

These fellows are enough to make you pause for a second look! They are about 6-8 inchs long and if you look really close you'll see a baby piggybacking on the bottom half of the adult.

Yep-that's a spider! The biggest ugliest one we've ever seen. And we've seen more than one of them!

Turtles, and alligators about anyplace there's fresh water.

Not surprising, there are unlimited amounts of birds everywhere! We really aren't familiar with the names of most of them, but they are beautiful and different and enjoyable to watch.