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!