Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area ( Three Lakes WMA) in Central Florida is a former ranch, the eponymous Three Lakes Ranch, comprising 63,000-acres that today protects one of the largest extant Florida dry prairie ecosystems. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Three Lakes WMA is “a mosaic of dry and wet prairie, ephemeral depression ponds and marshes, mesic (moist) flat woods, hammocks, and cypress ponds and sloughs. Diversity, both in plant and animal life, distinguishes Florida’s dry prairies from the vast grasslands of the Great Plains of North America and the steppes of Asia.”

The following photographs represent what was seen only on a brief visit one morning.

Sunrise

Sunrise

A foraging Northern Mockingbird



After finding a bite for breakfast, the Mockingbird sang its heart out to the rising Sun.

The road through the prairie.

Wildflowers along the roadside

Juvenile (fawn) White-tailed Deer




Summertime rain has filled the prairie with water.

White Ibis (Immature)

Red-winged Blackbird

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper


Wildflowers along the roadside

Go to Three Lakes WMA – Part 2 of 2