.August
8-14
Thursday, August 13: Flint Pen Strand
Those Great Blue Heron juveniles just really do NOT want to leave their nest. The parent at the top of the tree seems ready to show them how to get their own food if just they would decide to leave. Later in the morning, two Great Blue Herons were at the tops of cypress trees in the middle of the marsh,but there wasn't any way of knowing if they were the two parents, one parent with the oldest chick, or both of the juveniles that finally fledged.
It was
a really quiet morning for birds, except for one large cluster of Boat-tailed
Grackles perched in a Wax Myrtle in the northeast corner of the marsh.
Only 18 species of birds were identified, but that was expected for a very
dry start to August.
Water levels are still very low and the few wet spots in the marsh that retained water have been fished out. So not only is a lot of rain needed to start to refill the marsh, but once the water rises, the prey base of small fish will take a little time to repopulate the area.
Today came close to being one of the days where the number of butterfly and moths species was greater than the number of bird species. It missed by just two with 16 species of butterflies and moths identified.
One of the moths had never been documented in the CREW Wildlife Management Area (WMA) before. It's a Scaled Haimbachia Moth (Haimbachia albescens).
Nice sightings included five Black Swallowtails, a Great Southern White, and a couple of Bella Moths. The most often seen were 36 Gulf Fritillaries (plus one Gulf Fritillary caterpillar) and 22 White Peacocks. None of the other species had numbers in double figures.
The tall vegetation in the middle of the marsh is a home to fascinating insects that aren't seen from the trails or short, grassy areas.
In addition to the moth, two other new species of insects for the CREW WMA were there. One was a Sunflower Spittlebug (Clastoptera xanthocephala). It was barely visible at first and it disappeared into its spittle shelter before I could get a photo. The other was an Orange Blister Beetle (Zonitis vittigera).
Photos of all three are below.
In addition to those insects, there were lots of the juvenile Squirrel Treefrogs, Atlantic and American Bird Grasshoppers, and dragonflies. The most frequently seen dragonfly species was the Band-winged Dragonlet.
Herps were just four gators, all in the lakes, plus Pig Frogs, the Squirrel Treefrogs, a chorus of Green Treefrogs somewhere in the cypress dome north of the marsh, and a dozen Oak Toads.
The Sunflower Spittlebug is at the left, the Haimbachia Moth in the middle, and the Orange Blister Beetle at the right.
Friday,
August 14: Pepper Ranch Preserve
The only obvious signs of Thursday's rain were water sitting in the road's potholes and the trees full of green and opened Resurrection Fern. Not much else changed.
Barn Swallows were back in even larger numbers than last week. Forty-three were definitely counted, but there were probably more. Most were foraging over the pastures and fields, but occasionally a group would settle onto twigs and small, bare plants in the fields to rest and to preen.
The
next most numerous species were 19 Wild Turkeys. They were in three groups.
Two large groups were in different parts of a pasture near the start of
Suinflower Trace Road and the third was a little south of that.They moved
methodically across the fields looking for meals.
One Snowy Egret was in the little bit of water in marsh B, but a variety of wading and water birds were below the Lake Trafford observatin platform. Those included the Black-crowned Night Heron at the left plus Great Egrets, Tricolored Herons, an immature Little Blue Heron, a Green Heron, an Anhinga, and Common Gallinules.
Three White Ibis were in the grassy field by the ranger station, and nine Black-bellied Whistling Ducks were seen but they were all flying over field M and heading west.
Field M was wonderful for insects both small and larger. The Hyacinth Glider at the left was one of approximately 41 individuals hovering in one spot over the field. A Carolina Saddlebags and a female Scarlet Skimmer wre the only other identifiable dragonflies, and they were both in field M. Other dragonflies were out, but they were high against a bright sky and not possible to identify.
Field M was also the repository of dozens of little moths and butterflies. Coffee-loving Pyrausta Moths were the most common. It was easier to count them by tens rather than mark individuals. They were only seen when walking through the groundcover scared them up, and they quickly flew back down to land on the undersides of leaves. Even that way, 79 individuals were documented.
Butterflies with nice numbers in the field included 26 Ceraunus Blues and 21 White Peacocks.
Along the road, the Scarlet Milkweed is beginning to bloom, so Queens and Monarchs were there.
A nice mammal sighting was a Florida Black Bear early in the morning near the eastern part of the Kowachobee Trail. Other mammals were White-tailed Deer and a lone Raccoon.
Herps were the regulars: six gators in Lake Trafford and one in the water at marsh B, Brown Anoles, Green and Squirrel Treefrogs, and one Black Racer.
My yard
More bears and other wildlife were regular visitors.
The "family" of bears has become almost nightly visitors, but they are individuals now rather than a family.
Big Mama Bear was in the front yard a little after midnight on Saturday (August 8) while one of her year-and-a-half old male cubs was in the side yard. It took off very quickly when its mother came around the corner of the house. He was back that night a little before 9 PM for a more relaxing visit. Big Mama showed up too, but this time around 2 AM, so their paths didn't cross.
However, on Monday night, he was in the front yard around 10:30 PM but had to make another hasty exit as Big Mama came charging around from the side of the house. I slowed down Big Mama's charge in the video so she'd be more visible.
A new Bobcat showed up Tuesday night. The one that visited several times the week before was rather lean. This one looked well fed and was stalking smaller game under the Saw Palmettos in the front yard. Then junior bear came around a quarter to 11 followed by Big Mama about a quarter after one (video)
The third member of the clan, the female cub, came just after midnight on Thursday. She had the place to herself and enjoyed a peaceful morning.
In between the Florida Black Bears and the Bobcat, Raccoons, Virginia Opossums, Southern Flying Squirrels, and Cottontail Rabbits ventured out to eat whatever the bears left behind.