Monday, December 10th, 2012
Pictures from Fort De Soto in mid October. Mike converted these photos to blog format.
sea oats
beach sunflower
There were many shorebirds, most of which I can’t tell the species of.
oystercatcher
ruddy turnstone (Mike took this picture)
Taking the Arrowhead Nature Trail, mosquitos again kept me from getting the camera out. Mike took this picture of a large grub. We later saw a stingray in an inlet to the mangroves.
Sunday, December 9th, 2012
Continuing our mega park trip in late September, the day after Juniper Springs through Ocean Pond, we went back to Alligator Lake Park.
Common mud turtle in early morning light
This bird was singing from the top of a cypress, probably an Eastern Phoebe
A mockingbird watching us watch it
juvenile ibis
We saw two snakes, both probably black racers
This marsh rabbit didn’t seem particularly concerned about us
common buckeye
eastern tiger swallowtail
viceroy
Common green darners, male latched to a female. This year we’ve seen this species pretty frequently.
The guidebook doesn’t say that eastern pondhawks hunt other dragonflies, but I think that is the species of the attacker. The victim looks like a blue dasher. It was kind of gruesome. We did not see the capture, but when we arrived the pondhawk was decapitating the dasher. This was right after noticing a spider with a butterfly wrapped up in its web.
Earlier, we saw this dragonfly struggling and failing to fly.
Saturday, December 8th, 2012
After Juniper Springs/Fern Hammock Springs we headed a bit north, still in the Ocala National Forest, to Bear Swamp Trail in the Salt Springs Recreation Area. The park ranger at the pay station seemed surprised that we were there just for the trail. Camping, boating and swimming are the main attractions.
The trail is fairly short, a 1.3 mile loop, with a nice boardwalk on the far side. The mosquitoes were pretty bad. I had on my new permethrin jacket. I think it may help a little, but impenetrable force field against mosquitoes it is not. And although the jacket is made from a lightweight mesh material, I think it was still keeping me warmer than I otherwise would have been and I ended up getting dehydrated. So Mike took all of the pictures on this trail, using the Sony Cybershot.
red bellied woodpecker
bess beetle
southeastern lubber grasshopper
southern pearly-eye butterfly
After recovering (with sweet tea), we headed up to Ocean Pond (lots of parks!) with the intent of watching the sunset. It ended up being too overcast for any pretty colors. There was a black couple fishing from the public dock. The man had a lovely North Florida accent, thick enough that I couldn’t understand a lot of what he said to Mike. But he called dragonflies mosquito hawks.
A blue dasher
pond cypress balls (cones)
floating hearts
narrow-leaved sunflower