Withlacoochee Bay Trail, buggy but beautiful!

 We've been anxious to drive back over to the Gulf Coast, weather permitting. It's been hot and humid and pop up showers are hard to predict. (and they usually come from the warm Gulf waters) 

So when we saw it would be low tide, we took a drive.

More chance of seeing shorebirds when there are exposed sandbars at low tide.

And the water was glassy and the views were amazing!

But there were deer flies buzzing all around. We didn't get a single bug bite but they were annoying to say the least!

Do you see the one that photobombed this photo? He was right on the lens of the camera for crying out loud!

But it was a good day for sightings!

Osprey

Tricolored Heron and Great White Egret.

Are you following me?

The Heron just wanted to hang out with the Egret! 

And here's proof that the earth is FLAT!

Don't go out too far and fall off! lol

This Swallowtail Kite might take a photo of you and post it on his blog! hahahaha! Straight out of camera with his catch of the day!

He has his camera focused right on YOU!!!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.  

Extraordinary Insects

I tend to post photos of the amazing birds I see and the beautiful wildflowers!

And sometimes the insects get left out! And we do see some really odd insects here. (Red Wasp above)

One of the reasons I thought about doing this post was because of what happened to me a few days ago. I hiked on the Florida Trails from the Pruitt trailhead. It's about 15 miles from my house. As I was driving home, I noticed a deer fly was on my driver's side window....right in my view. I drove down a hwy going 55 (OK...I drive a BMW...I was going a little over! lol) And then through the slow twists and turns of the neighborhood where we live and guess what! I called my hubby to meet me in the driveway with a fly swatter! The fly was STILL hanging on to my window when I got home. SWAT! lol Thanks hubby! They can really bite a hunk out of you as we say in the South.

So here are some oddities I've seen the past couple of weeks. 

Robber Fly also known as Assassin Fly that eats all kinds of other insects. 

It was big, around 2 inches long.

And I still see this Robber Fly that we remember is called a bee killer because it preys on honey bees.

They look like little miniature bumble bees but they are flies.

We saw the biggest wasp looking insect that I thought was a hornet.

It turned out to be a Cicada Killer Wasp and was over 2 inches long. Not good pics but good enough for an ID!

And now I've sunk to a new low and I'm showing you wild animal 'poop' on the trail.

Can you see it's covered in dung beetles? How do they all know to come and congregate here? Social media?

And then there are the caterpillars in the webs along the trail.

And thanks to my blog buddy from It's All About Purple I learned this Gulf Fritillary Butterfly is emerging from it's chrysallis. I couldn't figure out what was going on here. There are 2 butterflies in the photo. Thanks Debbie for your help.

A pretty pic of a harmless wasp to end this creepy crawly post! 

Thanks for staying on the trail while we get past killer wasps and assassin insects (and dung)!
 Where's the bug spray? 
Watch where you walk!!!

We can all be thankful we survived this hike AND this post!

I’m joining Thankful Thursdays and I like Thursdays HERE!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE.