2009 Critters in Central Florida

The small blue heron (Egretta caerulea) and the roseate spoonbill (Ajaia ajaja)were found enjoying the waters in May. The spoonbill moves his head back and forth in the water, seining for food while the heron merely sits patiently waiting for his food to swim by. A tiny honey bee seeks the sweetness offered by the blossom on a magnolia tree by the 8th tee.

Many white ibis (Eudocimus albus) find the country club lifestyle enjoyable. They fly, they bathe, they eat, they sleep and they never leave the course until their summer vacation ends.They are a strange bird. On the ground they seem clumsy. In the air they are just gorgeous. For dinner, they will probe the mud for crustacaens and frogs.

It's June and the young raccoon was digging for food. It was most unusual to see a young creature such as this out by himself. They are out day and night on the golf course, which seems to be it's own protective preserve. The turtle was in our courtyard at home. We are not close to any water. I don't know what he was looking for. After I took the pictures, I left him alone and eventually he went on his way.

August 18, the Muscovy ducks come and go, but while at the golf course, they prefer the waters off the 2nd green. You can walk right up to them and take a picture. They aren't particular. They are a bit on the unattractive side and look mean enough so you wouldn't want to meet them in a dark alley. However, they have the most adorable ducklings.

The cute little dragonfly was on top of the hedge on the 2nd tee. We have much larger dragonflies than this little guy, but they never seem to land anywhere.

Two days later, as we came off the 7th green and drove around to the 8th tee, we found this guy out sunning. I believe the black snake is one of the good guys and I don't mind seeing them around. Not even when I find one in my courtyard.

This winged creature on the left was on our back patio screen. What doesn't show in this picture is the lizard waiting to snatch it's next meal. From other pictures on the web, this could be a cicada (Tibicen species).

The red shouldered hawk, from the same family as the osprey, was in Winter Springs and he is sitting on a basketball hoop. He was oblivious to my husband taking his picture August 20th. The next day I found this bumble bee in my rocket red crape myrtle out in front of the house. He was drinking so deeply he never even knew I was there.

At left, the ibis is by the water off the 2nd tee. I never realized what a very round eye they have until I saw these pictures.

At right, this could be a great white heron. He comes and goes, but he's a lovely bird with a lot of patience when he's waiting for his dinner to come along. I watched him for a couple minutes and he didn't move.

I googled this guy and he could be a paper wasp (Polistes fuscatus). It's very hard to identify most of these insects because the pictures on the web don't always look like yours. And, it's the same with the Audubon books I consulted. To further confuse matters, what's in the books doesn't always look like what's on the web. Adults forage for nectar, their source of energy, and for caterpillars to feed the larvae (young). They are natural enemies of many garden insect pests.

Leafcutter bee (Megachile.sp)
Two shots of what possibly could be the leafcutter bee. I've seen both bees on the 'net listed as the leafcutter. It could be that in the picture on the left, he has his tail curled down around the flower and that's why no yellow shows. Or it could be that he's not yet carrying any pollen. According to the UF website you are directed to below, When a bee is carrying pollen, the underside of the abdomen appears light yellow to deep gold in color. For another picture check this page.

For more information, check out this website by the University of Florida Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Sweat bee (Agapostemon.spp.)
This shiny green insect is one of my favorites. I'm finding it very difficult to get clear pictures of the multitude of small flying insects in my yard. But, every once in a while, the stars and the sun and moon are all in the right position and I get a picture like this one on the right.

Other pictures can be found at this website. It took several days to find the name of this pretty boy.

The back two stripes appear to be blue, and since the rest of the original picture shows true colors, I have to assume they do have a bluish aspect to them. So, unlike Kermit, he really isn't totally green. He is very tiny, the center of that flower measures about 1/4 inch and the fly is not quite 1/2 inch in length. The second picture is of the same insect on a rocket red crape myrtle.

These would be great pictures if the anhinga wouldn't have been moving constantly. He was swimming and shaking his head to get the fish off his beak and into his mouth. They spear their catch first and then whip their heads up trying to get it to fly upward. Fascinating to watch, because once he threw it free, he was right there to gulp it down. On the smaller picture, you can barely make out that the fish is skewered on the lower half of the beak.

And, just yesterday, I saw what I think is a cicada again, but in the shrubs this time. Those bulbous eyes are just downright weird.That plant he was on, the milkweed, is covered with yellow sucking bugs and I wonder if they were his dinner. I believe I read somewhere that the cicada is hard on bad-for-plants bugs, which is actually a good thing.

This dragonfly is also so tiny I had a hard time finding him with the lens, and was totally surprised to find this shot when I downloaded today's pictures.