Observations by amberricketts

I found this millipede in my garage in my suburban neighborhood last night. It was crawling around and slowly began turning onto its side as I walked towards it to take this picture. I believe it’s this species due to similarities in its common region and coloration. It was around 70° and dry outside.

I found this fern while jogging along the trail in flatwoods park. There were a lot of clusters of this type of fern coming off of the same branch and multiple others in the surrounding area. It was pretty deep into the woods so I had to use my zoom a lot to be able to take its picture. It had identical leaves coming off of each side of its main stem and there were about 11 leaves on each side on all of the surrounding ferns as well. It was are 85 degrees when this picture was taken. The ground in the woods where this fern was located was still wet from all the rain we had received earlier in the week. The ground was almost flooded. I could not find any ferns like this one anywhere else on the trail where the ground was higher up and thus drier.

I saw this alligator walking across the street as I drove to my moms house in our suburban neighborhood. The alligator was huge, probably close to 7 feet across and had a very thick tail at the end. This type of tail is common in this species of alligator which helped me identify it as so. While alligators are commonly seen in Florida, I was shocked to see it walking across the street. They are usually just seen near lakes or ponds. Alligators this big are usually the biggest predators in their area which is why they are able to calmly walk around without much fear of being attacked. When this picture was taken it was in the high 80's and had just finished raining. Since the road was still wet, I assumed this is why the alligator was walking around in it.

I found this deer in my mom's backyard in a suburban neighborhood. I was very surprised to see the deer in the middle of the day as you can usually only see them at night or very early in the morning. It almost seemed as though the deer was lost however as it was all by itself and they typically are seen traveling together in families. Its huge ears and tiny white tail are what allowed me to identify it as this species. It was walking around the woods in my moms backyard however it kept popping back out into the flatter land, which is where I took the picture. While it was very calm and graceful, when it saw me taking the picture it seemed to get very scared and perked its ears and stared at me. It was around the high 80's when this picture was taken and was a pretty dry day outside as it had not been raining.

These Sandhill Cranes were found in my friends suburban neighborhood. They were walking around the grass of the neighborhood and kept pecking their beaks into the ground to get any worms, which is what they eat. They followed each other around when they walked and it almost seemed as though the one on the right (the taller one) was watching over the one on the left. Even just as I tried taking this picture it was looking at me as if it was protecting the other bird. I was able to identify these birds as they are pretty common to the area and I see them a lot, especially in suburban neighborhoods. When this picture was taken it was in the high 90's and was the middle of the day. It had rained the night before so the ground was still slightly moist which is why the cranes were looking for worms in it.

I found this bright green lizard on my friends car sitting in the driveway of her suburban neighborhood. The lizards bright green coloration really stood out against the red color of her car. It was very still when it saw us trying to take a picture of it, however right when we started walking away from it, it jumped off of the car and ran into the grass. Its bright green color allows it to effectively blend in and hide in the grass from predators, even we were unable to find it. It was a bit larger than a typical lizard you would find in the area, its tail was extremely long. In all, it was probably about 7 inches across. When this picture was taken it was around 10:30 am and was in the low 90's outside. It was a very dry day with barely any wind.

This lizard was found on the porch of my suburban neighborhood. It can be identified as belonging to the Brown Anole species due to the characteristics of the design on its tail and legs. This species has a pale brownish color and typically darker brown random lines across its legs and tail which help it blend in with its surroundings. Rather than being bright green like some species, this lizards darker brown color helps it blend in with the bark on trees and allows it to hide from predators. It was running around my entire porch very fast making it difficult for me to take a picture of it. This picture was taken in the morning, around 10:30 am, which is probably why the lizard was running around and not hiding as it would if it were a bit later in the afternoon. It was very hot and humid outside however, the temperature was in the mid 90's.

I found this frog on the door of my grandma's house in the suburbs. It had just finished raining right before I took this picture which is probably why the frog was out. They usually come out after it rains in order to eat any flies or mosquitos that also come out. It was in the high 80's and extremely humid when this picture was taken. The Cuban Treefrog is actually an invasive species of frog, and knowing this is what helped me identify it. This species was most likely brought into the United States on cargo from Key West, which is why they are most commonly found in central and southern Florida--where this frog was found. Its eyes were bulging and it had a greenish-yellow skin tone with a slight design on its back in brown. These characteristics are common among this species of frog.
I identified this species with help from: http://www.northwestfloridaoutdooradventure.com/2012/04/02/invasive-frogs-in-florida-cuban-tree-frogs/

This moth was found in my grandmas suburban neighborhood in Temple Terrace. The moth was completely brown in color, almost the color of bark. This is probably an adaptation that helps it hide from predators. When I saw the moth it was quite still except it did slightly flap its wings once as though it was going to fly away. It had a smooth rather than fuzzy body which is why I identified it as this species of moth. When this picture was taken it was in the low 90's and humid outside. There were a lot of people around the area so I was surprised that the moth was not flying away.

I found this moth hiding inside of a sign on campus near the College of Education building. The moths bright orange color could signify to predators that it is potentially poisonous. It had a very fuzzy body and was not moving at all when I saw it. When this picture was taken it was in the low 80's and was very windy outside. The moth was very small and probably very light so it is possible it was hiding inside of the sign so the wind would not pick it up or make it fly off of a flat surface. Its forewings had little white spots on them which could also help it scare off predators, similar to eyespots on other species.
To help identify this species I used: https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Anisota-senatoria

This protostome was found near my grandmas house in a suburban neighborhood in Temple Terrace. When this picture was taken it was extremely hot outside, low 90's, and humid. The moth has a light green color all over its entire body, this helps it blend in with its environment and hide from predators. It was about 4 inches across and was sitting on the wall completely still. Other than its green color, the Luna Moth is very recognizable due to its black circular "eyespots" that can be seen on the back wings. This also helps it scare away predators. I was surprised to find this moth sitting out in the daylight as they are usually seen more commonly at night.
I found information on this moth at: https://owlcation.com/stem/Lunar-Moths

This Saw Palmetto was found growing in the woods near the park of a suburban neighborhood. It was in the high 80's when these pictures were taken and was very muggy and humid outside. The Saw Palmetto had a lot of bushes near and around them in the surrounding area. This is due to their edible fruit that can be found within their spiked leaves. The fruit allows their seeds to be dispersed by animals in the area and keeps their population typically very high in a close area. I determined that this was Saw Palmetto over all other species of palmetto due to the fact that Saw Palmetto is typically very common in the Tampa area, and also that they both had extremely small little spikes on the tips of their leaves.
I got information for this palmetto from: https://nccih.nih.gov/health/palmetto

This angiosperm was found in my backyard in my suburban neighborhood. There were a lot of clusters of these plants found in a very close vicinity. This is probably due to its very brightly purple colored berries which attract animals such as birds and deer to them and helps them spread their seeds across the area. It was in the low 80's when this picture was taken and it had just rained so the grass and leaves were still wet and it was very humid outside.

This banana tree was found growing in my suburban backyard suddenly over the summertime. We had never planted nor purposely grown a banana tree in our backyard so we believe that the seeds must have somehow traveled, either by wind, water, or animal, to this spot in our backyard. The tree has a bright red/purple flower hanging from under the fruits which is the most identifiable aspect of the banana tree. While it does not appear that any animals have been eating the fruit off of the tree, it is possible that when it becomes ripe we will see an increase in animals such as deer who eat fruits like bananas. When I took this picture it was almost 90 degrees and very humid outside.