Eastern Amberwing

 The Eastern Amberwing Dragonfly (Perithemis tenera)  is a small and very wary specimen found near fresh water ponds in the Eastern U.S.  The males have amber wings....the female's wings have brown spots.  Both have reddish pterostigma.  Above is a male.

 

Great Eastern Amberwing link

 

 

The scientific name, tenera, means "delicate" and alludes to it's small size....the second smallest dragonfly in North America.  The smallest being the Elfin Skimmer.

 

Elfin Skimmer

 

 Here is a female with brown wing spots.  These photos were taken on Gasparilla Island, Florida.  The Amberwings were resting on Sea Grape trees (Coccoloba uvifrea).

 

Sea Grape link

An interesting behavior for this small, stubby dragonfly is it's imitation of a wasp.  Here is the posture it uses to fool potential predators.  Birds may well predate on small dragonflies, but don't wish to tangle with a 25mm wasp!

 

 

 



Killdeer

 The Killdeer (Charadrius vociferous) is a medium-sized plover that can be found inland on open, grassy settings.

All About Birds link

 



North America's most common shore-bird, the Killdeer is seen more in suburban settings than on the shore.

 

National Geographic link

 

 



Sinuos Bee Fly (Hemipenthes sinuos)

 

The Sinuos Bee Fly (Hemipenthes sinuosa) is a member of the Bombiliidae family, whose members prey on solitary bees.  The Bee Fly lays it's eggs in the  nesting tunnels of solitary bees, and then it's larvae prey on the bee larvae.  They do not prey on Honey Bees.



Seaside Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax berenice)

Female Seaside Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax berenice).  Year round resident of peninsula Florida.  This one seen in a grassy area, near a fresh water pond and marsh....and also near a mangrove forest.  Small and easily missed at 1.3 inches. 

 

Seaside Dragonlet behavior

 

Here's a nice piece about their behavior from the "Northeast Naturalist," and my friends at Eagle Hill Institute.  If you are in Maine this summer, be sure to check out all the wonderful activities there.

 

Eagle Hill Institute



Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), Florida's iconic wading bird.

Striking, beautiful, bizarre, fascinating.....all are adjectives used to describe Florida's iconic Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja).

 

Spoonbill wiki link

The pink color of it's feathers is diet-derived, from carotinoid pigments.

 

What are carotinoids?

  

 



Spoonbills wade through the shallows, swishing their spoon shaped bills from side to side...feeding on crustaceans, aquatic insects, frogs, newts and small fish.

Hunted almost to extinction by "plume hunters," spoonbills have made an impressive recovery.   Feathers were worth $80 an ounce and Florida's birds were hunted unmercilessly.

 

Plume Hunter video

Spoonbills are a neo-tropical species with the northern edge of their range in Mexico and Florida.

 

 

Audubon Society link



Florida's wading birds are indicator species for mercury contamination in the Everglades.  In the last ten years this has improved thanks to better agricultural practices, protective regulations and accurate monitoring.

 

Less Mercury in the Everglades!

photo by Olivia Scott

Good places to look for Roseate Spoonbills....Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Myakka River State Park, and The Celery Fields in Sarasota.

 

Ding Darling NWR

 

Myakka River State Park

 

The Celery Fields

photo by Olivia Scott

Always something interesting to see in our "Natural Florida."



Spiney Orb Weaver Spider



Spiney Orb Weaver Spider (Gasteracantha canciformis).  Found here in Florida most often around citrus trees....both in groves and suburban yards.

 

Spiney Orb Weaver wiki link

Known locally as the "crab spider" due to their crablike carapace,  they belong to the family of orb weavers, Arneidae, and are quite harmless.

 

Harmless Backyard Spider, the Spiney Orb Weaver

The Spiney Orb Weaver spins a large and strong web (like the Barn Orb Weaver  Araneus cavaticus  in Charlotte's Web) with a distinctive curiosity....random tufts of silk, which entomologists speculate are there to warn birds and flying insects not to fly into the web.

Green Heron

 The Green Heron (Butorides virescens) is one of six herons found in Florida, the others beign the Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Tricolor Heron, Yellow-crowned Night Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron.

 

Birds of Florida

 This small wading bird (19 inches) is a still hunter, found waiting in ambush on the edges of marshes, ponds, lakes and rivers...both fresh and salt water.

 

Here's a great video of a Green Heron using a piece of bread as bait in order to catch small fish....what an intelligent bird!!

 

Green Heron fishing

 

A year round resident of the Sunshine State, Green Herons are found all throughout the Eastern U.S., on the West Coast and into Mexico, Central America and the Northern tip of South America.