Stump Pass - 10.08.12 - Post 5

Today I have a heron.  It's a Great Blue Heron.  They come up north in the summer, but even then are pretty rare.

Here's one standing on a sign in the bay.

But this is the shot I really like.  He's up in his nest.

Really, really UP in his nest!

Stump Pass - 10.08.12 - Post 4

It's Gopher Tortoise Day!  Actually, even cooler than that, it's baby Gopher Tortoise Day!

So this is a baby Gopher Tortoise.  You can tell by how small he looks even next to some blades of grass, but also by the amount of yellow in his shell.







Here you can see him against leaves and sticks in his habitat.  He's very wee!

You can see the sand on his back.  I've never seen the phrase "obligate burrower" before I started looking these guys up.  I know "obligate carnivore" from owning ferrets, but I've never seen "obligate burrowers".  But it's a good thing they are so driven to make their own holes.  Scientists have documented over 360 different species - everything from snakes to owls to armadillos will occupy an abandoned gopher tortoise burrow.

Here's a more grown up guy.  Actually, probably a grown up girl.  Though not a perfect science, most of the boys have a bony protrusion under their chin, jutting out from their shell.  Females don't have that and I don't see it on this one.

She does look like she's doing her tortoise best to say cheese for the camera.  Those are some bizarre teeth!

Stump Pass - 10.08.12 - Post 3

A couple of warm beach pictures from me today as I prepare to head back from the um... not-very-warm 'south' (Tennessee) to the actually frozen (6 degrees F!) Chicago tonight.

This struck me as some sort of beach art left for the next people who wandered through.  It's clearly not 'accidental' and I can't think of a reason animals would construct something like this.  So... it's just nifty beach art!





These trees break my brain. They're obviously dead now, but they were clearly once hugely thriving trees.  In the sand.  At the water's edge.  How does a tree grow like that in the salt water of the gulf?  In the sand instead of soil of a beach?  If you look closely you can see that they're now clearly woodpecker condominiums.  Didn't see any of those inhabitants that day, but there's still something striking about the dead tree, the sand, the water and the cloudy sky that looks warm to me.

More critters tomorrow, but I needed something warm today to brace me as I head into the cold Chicago winter night!

Stump Pass - 10.08.12 - Post 2

Just a quick post, because I find that these things growing in Florida amuses me...

We're brought up to believe that certain groups of plants and animals belong in certain climates.  That if you try to transplant these flora or fauna to a whole different biome that it won't work.

So cacti belong in deserts. Right?  They only grow in warm areas with very low amounts of precipitation.

Yet these guys were thriving on the key.  And Florida gets significant rainfalls *most* days.  There are these two or three-o'clock showers that come with the warming of the day very frequently.

And yet..

Prickly Pear Cactus (064 - 2012)

And just for fun... some of those amazing clouds that bring in those afternoon showers.  They start as whispy little things around dawn and build as the day goes on and more and more moisture is evaporated off the gulf (and whatever other bodies of water are around) until they get so heavy that you get about an hour of rain each afternoon during the rainy season.  And yet, the cacti seem to do just find in this environment.

Stump Pass - 10.08.12 - Post 1

So this is my New Year's Resolution... again.  I want to post every single day.  At least one picture.

I'm still wrapping up a lot of 2012 photos at this point, but that will change soon enough. :)

On my trip to Florida in October, we had a day with no major plans, so I suggested hitting one of the local beaches/parks.  It's a place called Stump Pass and it's on Manisota Key near Englewood Florida.  It's one of a million such little places in Florida and not particularly known for anything special.

But this is where I had that amazing dolphin pod siting that led to this brief post right when I got back from it.

The small park that we wandered through to get to the end of the key (where we saw the dolphins) contained a fair share of really awesome sightings as well.

Here are the two nifty butterflies I saw that I won't be seeing up in the land of ice and snow (otherwise known as Chicago.)

Mangrove Skipper  (2012 - 62)

This one is a Mangrove Skipper.  It doesn't look like the skippers I'm used to seeing in Chicago.

 I was afraid for a long time that I was going to have to try to identify this guy from his underside, but eventually I found one right-side-up. :)

This guy is a member of the same family as the Monarchs and Queens that we get so many of up north. He's a Gulf Fritillary.

Gulf Fritillary (063 - 2012)

He's most identified by the three white dots on his forewings with the black circles around them.

So it's only two, but two I won't get home!

Brown Anoles Get Their Own Post - The Octagon, Post 3/3 - October 7, 2012

So I mentioned before that anoles in Florida are as common as houseflies up here in Chicago. Literally... you occasionally get one in your house in Florida, like we get flies in the house in Chicago.  But since I don't actually live in Florida, I find the fascinating and fun.  We just don't get free-roaming lizards in a state that freezes over for several months a year.  I've counted anoles in my list, so this isn't for that, but just fun pictures of these common little guys.

"As the insurance representative/mascot of the year, I welcome you to this gathering..."

Seriously.  Doesn't he look like the Geico Gekko getting ready to make a speech at podium?

I liked this guy for the way he showed off the coloring on his back scales.

Same guy, different view.  It looks like he has eyelashes from the way those scales above his eye are colored.

This picture is fun because it gives you an idea of exactly how small these little buggers are.  This is a standard chain-link fence.  He's not much bigger around than the wires.  I also love how his little 'hands' are wrapped around the fence.

This guy has awesome coloring.  His details are are so stark!  Also... the size of the wire fence.

This guy is 'scalier' than the others.  For lizards, the others seem pretty smooth.  This one is a bit 'toadier'.  He's also doing the splits, which lets us see the patterns on his leg.

And one of my favorites.  This lizard is a little confused.  He's not a turkey!

Wildlife at the Octagon - 10.07.12 - Post 2

So I can see that with 2012 winding down in a little over a week, I'm going to have to do massive amounts of editing and posting if I want to make my 100 species mark.  I'll try, but... it's not looking likely. :)  I'm pretty sure I've *seen* 100 different species, but getting them shot, cropped, edited and documented is another matter entirely.

But I'm going to try. ;)

Here are the critters that were not permanent residents of the Octagon, but were hanging out nonetheless. :)

Band-Winged Dragonlet Dragonfly (059 - 2012)

This is one of the larger dragonlet dragonflies.  It's a Band-Winged Dragonlet.  It's almost as big as the pondhawks, and has the same sexual dimorphism.  This is a male.

Now here's something I definitely won't be seeing here in Illinois.

It's a Southern Black Racer, and racing it was!  It was moving parallel to us as we walked, mostly by weaving itself in and out of the wires on the fence.  Unfortunately by the time I realized what it was, I was coming down from the fence.

Southern Black Racer (060 - 2012)

But then it ended up coming right at me.

Very, very good thing this guy is harmless.  My "this could puncture me, I should flee" instinct still isn't very solid.  I think I jumped when I first saw it, but then it was, "ooh, I need to chase it and get pictures!"

Turkey Vulture (061 - 2012)

Another guy who's pretty endemic in Florida - the turkey vulture.  Not what anyone would call a 'pretty birdie'.  They're scavengers and huge and just... not the friendliest thing ever.

The Octagon - Exotic Animal Sanctuary (not the Mixed Martial Arts kind) - 10/6/12 - Post 1

I seem to have fallen off the face of the internet for the past few months.  There's nothing like an insanely busy Etsy season on top of a 10-hour-a-day day job.

But I'm on break now, so I can go back to editing the seemingly billions of shots I've had waiting around since at least last October.  So with no further ado...

The Octagon!  

The Octagon in Punta Gorda, Florida has nothing to do with MMA (Mixed Martial Arts).  They're an amazing Exotic Animal rescue.  They take in animals that your typical shelter can't handle... you know... lions, tigers, bears, monkeys,  lemurs and the like.  Most of these animals come from private zoos or individual owners who either discover that these large and typically wild animals can't be controlled as pets any more or who lose them when the state wildlife or law enforcement agencies discover that people who shouldn't have these animals do.

They take in animals who have been abused, starved and otherwise mistreated.  They are a no-kill, long-term operation where animals are cared for and given medical treatment and kept in a humane environment where their well-being is the primary concern.

To that end, they are less concerned with how well a certain enclosure allows for photographs.  They have visitors come to see the animals as a way to generate revenue, but they really aren't a *zoo*, so to speak.

I know exactly what they mean, but I get this mental image of some kids trying to break out the Scrabble board and get the lemurs to take a turn.  I think they'd spell "We Are Not Monkeys".

 So they warn you in many places that these are not domesticated animals.  They are not pets.  Do not try to touch or feed them.  And in case you missed it... YOU COULD LOSE A FINGER!

Speaking of lemurs...  

Like I said, this place isn't set up to be a Brookfield or Lowry Zoo.  The enclosures are for the safety and comfort of the animals.  Not photographers.  So I don't have a lot of pictures of the actual animals worth sharing.  It was incredibly hot the day I was there, so most of them were hiding in shade boxes or just sleeping somewhere in their space.  This lemur was interested in what was going on around him, but he was pretty much the only critter who was.

There's something just amazing about a tiger's eyes, isn't there?  This is Rajee.  She was abused by her former owner - hit with a garden hose.  Needless to say, she's not too keen on people now.  After hearing about someone doing something like that to an animal that depends on them, I'm not too keen on some people either. 

So this guy had no interest in people, but I had to get a picture of his coat.  I've never seen a tiger with anything other than black stripes.  I've seen white with black Siberian and orange with black Amur tigers, but this was very new to me.  How beautiful!

One of the things I found kind of funny about this trip was the amount of uncontained wildlife I was able to shoot there.  So in my next post I'll have dragonflies, a snake, some anoles and a few others that weren't *kept* there, but seemed to really like hanging out with the permanent residents!

And if you have a few extra bucks laying around (and if you're in the US and still looking to make a charitable donation for your 2012 taxes), the Octagon has a donation link on their website.  Please think of helping them out with this incredible mission they've undertaken.

Corkscrew Swamp - 10.07.12 - Post 6/6

Last Post for Corkscrew.  Then I'm going to do the shots I took of the effects Hurricane Sandy had on Chicago.  Then I'll go back to the rest of the Florida trip.

So... last of the Corkscrew Critters. :)

Pig Frog (054 - 2012)

 I believe this is a Pig Frog.  Pig Frogs, as a docent we ran into on the trail was telling us, were responsible for the *incredibly* loud croaking we heard through certain parts of the swamp.  He's about a foot long back toes to nose.

American Green Tree Frog (055 - 2012)

By contrast, this guy is about one inch long.  He's a little tiny American Green Treefrog.  The white line running under his eye from his jaw is the big clue.  So cute!

Green (Carolina) Anole - (056 - 2012)

 This is a Green Anole.  It's also called a Carolina Anole.

 As long as I moved really slowly and carefully I could sneak up on him and get a better shot of his coloring.

Brown Anole (057 - 2012)

This, on the other hand, is a Brown Anole.  The Greens are native to Florida, but the Browns are an invasive species brought up from Cuba and the Bahamas.  And they are *everywhere* in the state.  Like, we're used to getting the occasional fly in the house up here in Chicago... my parents are used to getting the occasional lizard in the house.  I kept stopping as we walked and going "Oh look!  A Lizard!"  And my dad would say something like, "Around here that's like going, 'Oh look an ant.'  Nobody stops to point them out here."  Anyway, this guy was basking in stripe of sunlight he found and if you look carefully, I think he was smiling at me.

Alligator Flag (058 - 2012)

And then there was this one plant for the trip.  Unfortunately, unlike last time it wasn't Iris season.  There were Ghost Orchids out there, but I couldn't find any.  Not even the ones they had great big signs pointing to.  Apparently Ghost Orchids grow on the sides of trees... about 25 feet up!  But this is called Alligator Flag.  I have no idea why.  There wasn't an alligator near by and the one gator we did find wasn't in the Alligator Flag plants. But I did like this shot for the dew on the leaves.  The little purple flowers reminded me of tiny orchids.

So those are the notables from Corkscrew Swamp in the Everglades in Florida!

Corkscrew Swamp - 10.7.12 - Post 5

One last creeper, and then, a truly weird thing... the only bird for this trip. 

Spotted Orb Weaver (053 - 2012)

This is a Spotted Orb Weaver.  They were *everywhere* in the swamp.  Which makes sense since their endemic in the southeastern U.S. - again, something I won't find in Illinois.  The neat thing about this shot is that you can see that the first segment of his legs are red where as the rest are black and white.

This is not a shy spider.  They make huge webs you could see from the boardwalk and then sit right in the middle of them.  Sometimes you'd find them or their web hanging right in front of you.

I like this shot because even though the web is hard to see, the spots (from his name) are easier.  Look at the white stripe right down the middle of his abdomen.  He has gray spots down the white line.

Pileated Woodpecker (054 - 2012)

And then there was my one major bird find for this trip.  There were a few other birds, but none of them photographed well.  I may fight with them later, but for now, there's this Pileated Woodpecker.

These guys have the weirdest range.  Up the U.S. West Coast, through a swath of lower Canada and then down through the northern Midwest and Eastern states all the way down to the top of Florida.  But nothing through the Southeast, most of Texas or the Northern U.S. around Wyoming, the Dakotas and Montana area.  And he was drilling and drilling and drilling.  I hope he found some awesome bugs for all the work he was doing.  They are in Illinois, but I don't think I've seen one here yet.

Okay, reptiles and amphibians are next and last.  For this shoot.  There were many, many, many more pictures taken while I was in Florida.

Corkscrew Swamp - 10.7.12 - Post 4

OkayI think this is the last group of true insects for this trip.  I have some spider shots to do soon, but as we all know, spiders aren't insects.

Ruddy Daggerwing Butterfly (052 - 2012)

This is a Ruddy Daggerwing.  And it was ruddy difficult to Google!  This is probably due to the fact that when you Google "orange butterfly with black lines" you get Monarchs up the ying-yang.  It's not helped by the fact that this particular species has a pretty small habitat so there just aren't a lot of pictures of them or articles about them out there compared to the Monarch or Red Admiral or a Sulphur, which are everywhere and much easier to find on the net.  South Florida and the Florida Keys seem to be about their whole range.  So, totally one I wouldn't be able to get up here in Chicago!

Paper Wasp (053 - 2012)

I'm still waiting for my "That can puncture you; you should FLEE" response to return.  Instead, when I saw this, I was all, "Oh look!  A *brown* wasp!"  We have yellow-jackets-o-plenty up here, but this was new.  It's one of the 22 types of Paper Wasps we have in the US. Anyone care to tell me which wasp I witnessed? :)

Female Yellow Dasher

Remember the blue dragonfly in the last post?  Here's his girlfriend.  Well, I don't know if it was *his* girlfriend, but this is the female of that species.  I called attention to the yellow spot on the male Blue Dasher's abdomen... the female takes that to the extreme.  She's pretty much all yellow.  And as you can see, she was pretty mellow. :)

Corkscrew Swamp - 10.07.12 - Post 3

Okay, now that the dolphin detour is over, I can get back to Corkscrew Swamp.

Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar (050 - 2012)

Near as I can figure, this is a Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillar.  It's a lot like the White-Marked Tussock that I showed the other day.  Obviously, this one is white and the 'hair' patterns are different, but the over-all effect is pretty similar.

Here's another one.  Like the White-Marked, these caterpillars tended to travel in herds and also they can do you some damage if you think "oh cute, little fuzzy guy!" and try to pet him.

I thought this is a plain old Eastern Pondhawk, of which we have a ton in Chicago.  But it was awfully small, so I dug a little deeper and it turns out that it's a Blue Dasher.  You can tell by the yellow on the thorax and the lower part of the abdomen.

Phaon Crescent Butterfly (051 - 2012)

There are a truly ridiculous number of small orange and brown/black butterflies in the world.  Best I can figure this is a Phaon Crescent.  It's about an inch and a half across, when the wings are spred, it has white antennae with black tips.  (If I've got this wrong, feel free to correct me. :)







I didn't realize how many bugs I had from this trip.  So... more insects tomorrow. :)