July 18-24
Tuesday,
July 21: Flint Pen Strand
A very early start to the morning, 20 minutes before sunrise, didn't find any late night birds or even early morning birds. Northern Cardinals and Northern Mockingbirds called, but that was it.
The pair of Great Blue Heron chicks were still in their nest. Both are adult size now and have most of their adult plumage, but they are still hanging around. One ventured out on the branch nuder the nest but walked back.
The Green Heron at the left was having a really bad feather
day. There was a nice breeze blowing from the rear, but its feathers were
out of alignment all around. 
It did some preening, removing one unruly feather in the bottom
photo, but it flew off before straightening out the rest. It was one of
two Green Herons seen during the morning.
The end of July and most of August are usually slow times for birds. The water levels haven't risen sufficiently for the prey base to be large enough to attract a wide variety of birds. So today the focus was on finding insects.
That turned out well with 16 species of butterflies/moths
identified and three new species of other 
insects found and photographed that had never been documented
in the CREW Wildlife Management Area before.
Two of them were true bugs and the third was the wasp at the right. It doesn't have a specific common name but is one of the potter wasps. It's much easier to call it a potter wasp than to try and pronounce its scientific name -- Parancistrocerus fulvipes.
The two bugs were a White-margined Alydid (Alydus pilosulus) and an assassin bug (Zelus cervicalis) that also didn't have a specific common name.
The most often seen of the 16 species of butterflies and moths were 34 Gulf Fritillaries, 15 White Peacocks, and 14 Coffee-loving Pyrausta Moths.
There were almost as many species of butterflies and moths as there were of birds. Just 20 species of birds were identified. The most frequently encountered of those were 13 Red-winged Blackbirds and nine each of Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Common Ground Doves. The young Northern Flicker in the above photo was the only other woodpecker seen or heard.
There may have been quite a few more birds because most of my time was spent walking through tall vegetation in open areas of the marsh and looking down for insects.
Additional little creatures on or close to the ground
included young Squirrel Treefrogs, Oak Toads, one unknown little mammal
in the grasses and reeds that darted away before it could be identified,
and one Florida Chicken Turtle. The turtle paused while crossing the trail
and then hustled as rapidly as a turtle can hustle into the deeper water.
Friday,
July 24: Pepper Ranch Preserve
It seemed a little hazy for most of the morning, but it was because a thin cloud covered the sun. The cloud didn't go away until late in the morning. There had been a prescribed burn Tuesday on the Tuscawilla trail, but there was no smoke in the air other than a few small hot spots, and no smell of smoke anywhere.
The filtered sunlight created an almost pastel look to the sunrise. The Great Egret in the photo glided over Lake Trafford while closer to the observation platform, Common Gallinules, a Green Heron, Black-crowned Night Herons, a Tricolored Heron, a Least Bittern, and Anhingas stayed close to the shore.
Alligators
drifted aimlessly but were also closer to the shore than to the open water
in the lake.
The hotspot for wading birds was in a swale along the eastern edge of the preserve.
The Snowy Egret in the photo was one of five there along with four Wood Storks, a Black-crowned Night Heron, three Great Egrets, a Tricolored Heron, the Roseate Spoonbill, and several White Ibis.
It was still drier in the preserve. Marsh B was mostly mud with just a few spots of water. The only birds there were a Little Blue Heron, a Tricolored Heron, two adult and one juvenile Black-crowned Night Herons and one juvenile Black-crowned Night. A Great Blue Heron arrived later in the morning.
The Crested Caracara family shared a pine branch along Pepper Road. Junior is at the left in the photo. The only other raptors seen during the morning were 10 Red-shouldered Hawks.
The most often seen of the 36 species of birds identified were 17 Cattle Egrets, 11 Wild Turkeys, and the 10 Red-shouldered Hawks.
Insects were not as frequently encountered as last week because Field M had been mowed during the week. All of the little wildflower blooms, insects, and spiders were gone. The only butterflies seen there were three Ceraunus Blues and seven Hawaiian Beet Webworm Moths.
The nice place for butterflies was in the butterfly garden near the ranger station. Firebush and Blue Porterweed were lush with lots of blooms. They mostly attracted the bright yellow Orange-barred Sulphurs plus a few Orange Sulphurs and White Peacocks. Overall, White Peacocks were the most common.
Mammals were just White-tailed Deer, which included some nice bucks with handsome antlers and some yearlings who have lost most of their spots.
Herps were just Alligators, Brown Anoles, Green Treefrogs, and Squirrel Treefrogs. The only gator not in Lake Trafford was one mid-sized gator in the mini marsh before Marsh B.
My
yard
Swallow-tailed Kite numbers at their pre-migration roost were lower this week, which is typical. Only 61 kites were counted on Sunday and 80 on Tuesday.
The kite at the right was one of Sunday's birds and found a perch on a cypress limb that also hosted a small colony of Butterfly Orchids.
Nighttime critter activity was relatively quiet with just Virginia Opossums, Raccoons, Cottontail Rabbits, and Southern Flying Squirrels appearing on the trail camera with any consistency.
Sunday was an exception. A little after 2 AM, the Bobcat showed up and caught something that had been perched in a small American Beautyberry plant. That plant is very tiny and spindly, so the prey was probably a mouse. Anything larger would have bent the twig over.
The Bobcat was back on Wednesday but it just passed through without stopping.
Then just before 5 AM on Sunday, the juvenile female Black Bear passed through. She sniffed around a Sea Grape tree which had green fruit but nothing ripe, took a drink of water, and continued on her way. She is putting on weight and is looking very healthy.
Daytime mammals that were observed were Gray Squirrels, more Cottontail Rabbits, and Hispid Cotton Rats. Birds were Northern Cardinals, Blue Jays, White-winged Doves, Mourning Doves, Red-bellied Woodpeckers, and a Common Grackle.