4617 Formby Ct, Kissimmee, FL 34746
AirBNB - 7/18 - 7/22 - 2022
My lifer! Found the big fella basking on some fallen palmetto fronds. I gently placed it on the path for pictures. It had multiple scars, but it seems like they healed up.
Finally found an adult Eastern Spadefoot for the first time in 2 years! Not very colorful, but super cute. Found at Lake Jesup Conservation Area near where I found 2 baby Spadefoots last week. Location a guess, not exact.
Found two little babies in part of the trail with sand. Didn't expect to see these here! Location is not exact but close to where they were seen.
tiny black frog, about the size of a thumbnail, jumping quickly
First Chicken Turtle I've seen since 2020! It was walking up a road near the Chuluota Wilderness Area, so I decided to relocate it at the Wilderness Area where it would be safer. It's left eye was deformed, not sure if it was an injury or just born that way. It was a female.
Green Swamp Wildlife Management Area, Florida, USA
The smallest fellow I ever did see
There was another nearby, a female most likely.
With Don Fraser, Clint Gibson, and John Reynolds; a trip mainly for John to get lots of lifers, but also another chance for me to search for Berry's Skipper and/or Brazilian Skipper, and a chance for all of us to get unexpected lifers -- we all got at least one lifer dragonfly that Don found and identified. There were lots of blooming Pickerelweeds in the ditches and marshes, so we concentrated on those areas; we searched some extensive Carolina Redroot stands but we found far fewer butterflies there. Blooming goldenrods, blazing stars, and thistles were almost non-existent. Overall, I am submitting records for 2 amphibians, 48 skippers, 12 other butterflies, 6 moths, 4 dragonflies, 2 grasshoppers, several other invertebrates, and 14 plants. I was bad about keeping notes (and there is no cell-phone coverage in the Preserve), but I think we made four or five primary stops, along Cumpressco Grade and Levee Road, before exiting at the gate at Cumpressco Grade and County Road 471. The weather at 1530 for Webster was sunny and 94 degrees ("feels like" 108) with a light breeze. I drank two gallons of Gatorade in 5 hours ... We left at 1442; I headed to Withlacoochee State Forest for my lifer Orange-fringed Orchids, while the others headed home.
I again used my Panasonic Lumix FZ80 with a non-functioning exposure dial rather than the loaner Lumix FZ200 with functioning exposure dial that Don loaned me a month or so ago. On a bright day, the lack of adjusting the exposure is not really an issue on my FZ80 -- the exposure dial broke at a very convenient setting -- plus I am much more familiar with the FZ80 compared to the FZ200, and the FZ80 has a much longer zoom (60x vs. 25x), which makes quite a difference. I soon need to decide whether to give up my FZ80 for a few weeks while I send it in for replacement, or whether I keep it and learn to live with not having a functioning exposure dial.
Saw eight total nerodia all in about 1.5 hours walking around. They were very active & all were seen in grass on edge of lakes/ponds. This is the second baby I've seen recently