3-1-09 Pine Island Ridge
So you guys have inspired us to get out of the water and see what there is to see on dry land. We feel pretty confident on the reef but complete neophites on land. So we went out and purchased a butterfly field guide to florida and took a stroll through the local park and the "natural area" that connects it to our neighborhood.
Gotta give it to you guys, insects are way harder than fish. I think we correctly identified all the butterflies we ran accross this day but flipping through the pages, the differences in some of these guys is pretty subtle. I mean there are six pages of grass skippers that look exactly the same to my untrained eye. Zebra (heliconian), Julia (heliconian) and Atalas were plentiful. We also observed all three members of genus Danaus in the state of Florida.
Outside of butterflies, there were quite a few insects I probably naively call dragonflies. Can anyone recomend a good field guide for insects. I'm sure nothing can be particularly comprehensive given the number of species, but we've gotta start somewhere.
We also saw a southern ringneck snake and an unidentifiable brown snake that refused to smile for the camera. We didn't get any bird pics , but did see a couple of youngish Great Egrets, an unidentifiable hawk, and of course the everpresent American White Ibis.
We also observed a few species of spider. I got a few good pics of a banana spider and a spiny-backed orbweaver but the gruesome spider highlight of the day involved a species that I have yet to identify. I was searching some low bushes for spiders and saw a mating pair of dragonflies bumble into a web. They were still attached to each other so one thrashed around in vain while the undersized spider cautiously took care of the other. Just the idea of waiting around mid-coitus while watching your mate being wrapped up for dinner kind of freaks me out a little. I got some video but I didn't have a tripod with me so its pretty weak footage. If I can piece together something that doesn't induce vomiting maybe I'll post it later.
All in all, a fun day. Evidently you don't have to pack up loads of gear and drive to the beach to have a good time. Who knew?
