Observations by bsimonm

I observed this grasshopper when I was eating dinner with some friends. A friend of mine and I were about to go inside when my dad said to me that it was a grasshopper outside. I ran outside to take a picture. It was brown and it was a little shy. When I took the picture it was standing still, but then it jumped away after a couple of seconds. It was approx. 1” long.

I observed this snake in a garage in my neighborhood. It was black with an orange circle around its neck. It was around 12 inches long and very skinny/thin. It was going crazy when i took the picture. It tried to move away from us with fast movements, but the garage floor was so slippery that the snake was almost standing still. We had to carry it out ourselves, using a stick.

I observed this little flock of small grasshoppers on a sidewalk. They were approx. 0.8” long. Their bodies were black, with a blue and yellow stripe along their backs. They had six legs and two short antennas. They were walking slowly across the sidewalk, and didn’t bother before I came very close to one with the camera. It then increased its speed, and finally started to jump. The other grasshoppers also jumped, but their leaps were not longer than 5-10”.

I was walking down the street by a small lake, and I saw two ducks. I’m pretty sure they were male. They were brown with some dark spots. Their bill was yellow. They were approx. one foot long. It seemed like they were looking for food. They didn’t care too much about me, since I observed them from a distance (10-15 feet) and didn’t frighten them.

I observed this moth in my neighborhood. It was brown with one beige and grey spot on each wing, and a black spot on its wingtips. When i looked closely, I could see two pairs of wings. It had black horizontal line along the lower part of its wings and beige lines at the upper part of its wings. It was probably going after the light on the ceiling, as it was standing on the ceiling right by the wall. The moth was big; it was around 6 inches wide between its wingtips. There was two of them there.

I observed this bird onboard a cruise ship i was on, right before departing Tampa. We were having lunch outside and this bird was obviously hungry. There was a lot of similar birds around. The bird had black head, black bill and a black tail, its chest and abdomen were white, the wings were gray, and it had yellow feet. It was around 15 inches long. It was not shy at all. But it was standing there like a statue, waiting for a passenger to throw some food at it.

I saw this cockroach when i was with my mom in the neighborhood. We observed it underneath a flowerpot. It was very shy and ran fast. It around 1.5” long. Its color was brown, and it had two big spots on its back near the head, and two black eyes. It had two antennas. It was not alone; there was another cockroach there, too. They both had six legs and the rear legs were the biggest ones. The legs were hairy.

I observed this needlefish when i was walking with my mom to se the sunset. It was approx 15” long. It was standing still until we came close to it. It was very narrow body and had a silver color. It was eating very small fishes. The needlefish swam quickly near the surface

I observed this spider and its web between some trees. Its size was around 1 cm. It’s color was white with black spots in a symmetric pattern. It had six red horns/spines and black legs.
When I observed it, it didn’t move.

Is observed this bird on a bank of a canal. It was white with blue/gray stripes on its wings. The head was black and light yellow. The bill was black and its legs were yellow. It was around 18” tall. When we passed the bird, it froze and didn’t move until we were gone.

I saw this toad in my street when i was walking with my mom. The toad jumped out of the grass and onto the sidewalk. It was not very shy so it was easy to take the picture.
It was around 2 inches long. It had brown skin, and it had some spots that was dark brown. Its back legs were a lot bigger than the front legs. The skin seemed moist.

I observed this armadillo in the Weedon island preserve. He was looking for food in the grass, and used its nose to search for food. It was around 20” long. The shield on its back was brown with a variety of brown colors, like a belt. It had big ears that were standing up, and its nose was very long. It had four small legs with sharp nails, and it was using them to dig with. He was not scared, so i could easily take the picture.

I observed this heron juvenile while it was looking for food in a small stream.
It was approx. 12 inches long, and light brown with grey and white spots on its back and wings. The head was grey with white stripes. The bill was black and its feet were yellow.
It didn’t react to our presence. We were standing approx. 10 feet away.

This alligator was resting on a pile of reed on the bank of Peace River, Florida. It was approximately 6 feet long. The color was pale gray.
It didn’t react while we slowly passed it on an airboat, 20 yards away; it only observed us carefully.

I observed this heron on a boat’s mooring. It was sitting quietly, waiting for fish to come close to the surface. When a small fish came close enough, the bird quickly charged for it with its long bill. It looked at me, but it wasn’t afraid, since I was too far away.
The bird was around 16” long. The back and wings were green and gray, with some white stripes. Its neck was brown/red/chestnut colored. It had a long, black bill.

I observed this bird at the Oceanfront Boardwalk in Virginia Beach, VA. It was white with grey wing feathers and some small grey spots on its back. It had a yellow and black beak (it looks like a black ring on the beak/bill). The bird was approx. 18” long. It was sitting calmly on a fence and looked at me as I was taking pictures. When I got really close, it flew away.

I observed a flock of these birds in Lynnhaven, near Virginia Beach. They had a long black neck, black head and a white spot on their cheeks. The back feathers were grey and dark/light brown striped, and the under tail feathers were white. They were around 2 ft long. The flock was on its way away from us, but we threw some food into the water, and then they turned around. They were not afraid of us, so it was easy to take pictures.

I found this so-called stink bug at Jamestown, VA. It was around 0.7” long and had 6 legs and 2 feelers. It was dark brown with black, grey and light brown spots on its shield (back). I observed it on a glass door and put a light jacket in the background to get a good picture. It walked slowly across the glass and didn’t seem to bother about me while taking the picture.

I found this woodlouse under a rock at a dock. I lifted it and put it on a piece of wood, in order to take the picture. It moved slowly away from the piece of wood to get under a rock again. It was around 1/3 inch long, with brown and black colors. It had feelers and several pairs of short legs.

I observed this crab at the Westshore Yacht Club pier. It was approx. 2” long and light brown with black spots on the shell. It had two claws and seven crawling legs; it had most likely lost one leg. It walked sideways very quickly to get away from me.

I found this ladybug at the pier at Westshore Yacht Club in Tampa. It was around 0.4”, or 1 cm. The color of its elytra was strong red with 18 black spots. The head was black with some white patches on each side. After i took the picture it flew away.

This green darner was around 3” long, and the width of the wingspan was around 3.1”. It had a blue tail with black markers and the rest of the body was green.
It had two wings on each side. I don’t now if it is a male or a female.
It didn’t move while I approached it and when I took the picture, but it flew away right afterwards.

Observed these in a small pond at Westshore Yacht Club.
They were approx. 18” long, and had black, brown and grey stripes on their heads and spots on their sides of the bodies. Their bills were black and yellow.
They were swimming calmly together, and did not care too much about human beings in the area.

I observed this crow at the Clearwater Beach.
It was approx. 16” long and all black.
The bird seemed to be looking for food. When I approached it, it stared at me, as if it wanted to see if I would attack it. It didn’t fly away.

I observed this pigeon at the beach.
It was approx. 15” long. Its colors were pale gray with dark gray head/neck and tail, and two dark gray stripes on the wings.
It was looking for food and didn’t care about human beings in the area. When it walked forward, it moved its head back and forth.