stevecollins's Favorites

With Don Fraser; checking on the status of blazing stars -- there are a lot and they'll be blooming en masse in less than a month (?); a few plants were already blooming. We spent time at three sites: two along Thunder Crossing Road north of Gopher Road, and one along Gopher Road east of Thunder Crossing Road. We drove Thunder Crossing Road north to the gate at Hernando Sportsman's Club property, then turned back south. Among others, I am reporting the following animal taxa: 22 butterflies (including 8 hairstreaks and 6 yellows/sulphurs), 11 moths (including one, maybe two lifers), and 5 robber flies (including at least two lifers, I think). We also visited the area with the recently-described Snall-leaved Bluecurls (Trichostema microphyllum), an Endangered species apparently endemic to the Brooksville Ridge in Citrus, Hernando, and Pasco counties; we found 4 plants, none with flowers. The weather at the start was sunny and 77 degrees, with a light breeze. The weather at the end was sunny and 94 degrees ("feels like" 100) with a light breeze. We left at 1225 at headed to Hardee's for lunch.

A solo visit because I hadn't been here in two months. I walked the northern loop of the nature trail to the powerlines, then followed them northeast to the northern fenceline, then wound my way through the May 2023 burn to the west fenceline, then back west to Jet. The May 2023 burn was full of passionflower and other plants, which formed a dense mat above the ground -- good thing I'm not wary of snakes! I was surprised to see that the Clusterspike False Indigo plants are again blooming -- I'm guessing due to the recent burn; there was lots of insect activity on the flowers. The burn was loaded with Mocis and similar moths, various yellows and sulphurs (6 species if iNat is correct!), and Gulf Fritillaries -- I could have spent all days photographing passionflower and fritillaries. I found 5 chrysalises in the burn or attached to the barbed-wire fence to the north; I'm guessing they were all fritillaries. I again recorded Northern Flicker calls, but still have yet to see a flicker here! The best surprise was a singing male Blue Grosbeak in the northeast corner of the May 2023 burn. The weather at the start was sunny, 77 degrees ("feels like" 77), with calm winds. The weather at the end was sunny, 86 degrees ("feels like" 100), with calm winds. There was no humidity overnight; all the vegetation was dry. I left at 0957.

This Ommatius had vertical setae on the scuttelum but (not really visible in the poor pictures) but not two obvious stout ones. I'm wondering if the shape of the ventral S8 is enough to confirm it as O. gemma. robberfly.org says "The ventral margin of female abdominal segment 8 is broadly rounded and has a short point in the middle" which seems to match, as does the coloration of the tibiae.

I set up two sheets at Pinecrest Campground (no campers) in Big Cypress National Preserve for blacklighting. I originally tried Mitchell Landing Campground nearby but all of the spots with electrical sockets were taken by campers so I went to Plan B and only used my DJ blacklights connected to USB powerpacks. This observation is from the 1st sheet described below

1: Pinecrest campground, very close to the gate and in the tunnel of trees before the open area. 2 DJ blacklights running from ~11:00PM until ~12:30AM and then the batteries died. I put on a new battery later than I should have (around 2:15AM) but I was busy photographing insects at the other sheet.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2023-03-25&d2=2023-03-26&nelat=25.761806503458363&nelng=-80.91879250206762&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&project_id=blacklighting-florida&swlat=25.76067598755696&swlng=-80.92007996239477&user_id=joemdo

2: Pinecrest campground, sheet tied to large sign and tree facing open area with just one DJ blacklight connected to USB powerpack.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2023-03-25&d2=2023-03-26&nelat=25.762470660741428&nelng=-80.91913662455477&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&project_id=blacklighting-florida&swlat=25.762144553314332&swlng=-80.91953359148897&user_id=joemdo

In addition to the blacklighting, I also set up a sheet (no lights) under an oak with some low hanging branches that I was able to whack with a fallen branch I found. I didn't put a ton of effort into this but still saw some cool barklice and other critters.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2023-03-26&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&field:Entomology%20Sampling%20Method=beating

All of my observations from tonight including a little bit of walking around with a flashlight looking for spiders/insects:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2023-03-25&d2=2023-03-26&nelat=25.91366727752328&nelng=-80.78348221694716&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&subview=map&swlat=25.57411578765215&swlng=-81.10345902358779&user_id=joemdo

Here's a video showing the DJ blacklights in action at the Pinecrest campground (Big Cypress) from Summer 2019: https://youtu.be/tavmTa7WoPk

Info about the cheapy DJ blacklights I used, great for getting started with blacklighting: https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/damontighe/11836-diy-moth-light

Blacklighting project for Florida on iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/blacklighting-florida