iamashark's Identifications

There are SEVEN giant swallowtail caterpillars on my tiny orange tree. They really do look like snakes and they kind of give me the willies.

The orange tree is cultivated. The terrifying caterpillars are not.

What I have here is an Eastern Giant Swallowtail found trying to eat at Al Lopez park. This giant butterfly has a beautiful diagonal band of yellow spots on its back on top of it’s black skin. This butterfly is an arthropod which one can tell from its exoskeleton, segmented body and the jointed appendages it has for wings. Due to being an arthropod, this butterfly is apart of the protostome clade.
references: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/citrus/giantswallowtail.htm

Protostome

Description: Specimen had a wingspan of about 3-4 inches. Specimen was a dark brown or black color with yellow markings on its wings. Defining characteristics were its swallowtail and yellow markings along the bottom and middle of its wings, with the wings being predominantly black or dark brown in color.

Habitat: The Palamedes Swallowtail is found along the southeastern United States from Virginia all the way to Texas. They live in wet woodlands or near rivers.
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/palamedes_swallowtail.htm#:~:text=The%20Palamedes%20swallowtail%20is%20found,mainland%20Florida%20(Figure%202).

References:
University of Florida IFAS
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/palamedes_swallowtail.htm#:~:text=The%20Palamedes%20swallowtail%20is%20found,mainland%20Florida%20(Figure%202).
Butterflies and Moths of North America
https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Papilio-palamedes

Description: It stood around 4 feet tall and was all white except for it's yellow beak and black legs. It had a slender, oval shaped body and a long neck. It also had a straight, pointy, narrow, yellow beak and slicked back feathers.
Habitat: I was in a parking lot where it was standing in some tall grass right next to a man made pond. The pond was next to a board walk that ran over a marsh. The area also had a lot of natural fauna and shade from trees and bushes.
Range: The Great Egret can be found year round in Florida and has 4 subspecies that live in North, Central, and South America, East Europe, Africa, and North Asia.
Defining characteristic of higher taxon: The Great Egret is in class Aves because it has feathers.

Reference: Central Florida Bird Identification
https://www.blog.catandturtle.net/backyard-bird-identification/

"My everyday feathers are white and boring... I’m one of the more common white birds that you’ll see in Florida’s marshes...Most Likely Found: In a pond, In the marsh."

Description: Stood around 3-4 feet tall and had a white underbelly, a dark brown back, and black feet. His body was shaped like a football and it's dark gray-brown beak was a bout 10 inches long. It had two small black eyes, a fuzzy brown head, and it's neck was resting in an s-shaped position. The pelican was alone; there were no other pelicans nearby at the time.
Habitat: He flew out from a dense forest of mangroves and landed in the sand at Clam Pass Beach. The area where he landed was about 10 feet away from where the ocean started. There were about 20-30 people nearby when I spotted the bird. Surrounding the beach were forests of mangroves and marshlands.
Range: The brown pelican can be found year round on U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the southeastern coast. But can be also found spending the winters in central California and their summers on the Northwest and mid-Atlantic coasts
Defining Characteristic of Higher Taxon: The brown pelican is in the class Aves because it has feathers

Reference: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Brown_Pelican/id

"Brown Pelicans are huge, stocky seabirds... thin necks and very long bills with a stretchy throat pouch used for capturing fish...wings are very long and broad."