Florida Fall featuring the 'Littles'!

 

We really don't have a problem seeing little things when we hike. We walk really slow! lol

Palm Warbler (thanks hubby for the photo!)

And we are constantly looking about!

Tiny wasp on Dotted Horsemint (it smells incredible, minty sweet!)

It's been perfect hiking weather here this past week and we even took one afternoon hike with it only in the 70s! 

So here's a few of the 'littles' we saw on the trails.

Grasshopper

Shiny beetle

Hover fly (hard to photograph but so much fun to see)

Probably a Hornet and not as neat to see!

And not little! For a wasp, it was huge! lol

A teeny tiny moth!

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

We're seeing a lot of these birds right now!

Feay's Palafox at top with honey bee, Cypress vine is the tiny red flower and a small purple morning glory.

Even this horse at Halpata Tastanaki Preserve was small!

Has your weather been nice too? Do you love getting outside in the Fall? The birds are returning to Florida so we've had some good sightings too! Lots of photos to sort through! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

I’m joining Saturday’s critters HERE

and I’d Rather B Birdin’.   

March Hikes

 I thought I would get my hiking journal out and share some of the 'stats' for the hikes I've made this month. I might not always share how long it took me to go whatever distance I went. It always depends on how much I see to photograph. When we are at Blue Run Park, we stop every few steps to look at the birds and wildlife. When I walk on the Florida Trails, I cover more distance in a shorter amount of time.

Blue Run Park

March 1st Blue Run Park

Hike #34, 2 miles

71 degrees 53% humidity

list of sightings: alligators, Anhinga, Tri Color Heron, Ibis, Little Blue Heron, Turtles, Grebes, Moorhens, Warblers, Pileated Woodpecker, Hawks, Limpkin, River Otter, wildflowers, dragonflies

Florida Trails East

March 3rd Florida Trails East

Hike #35, 2 miles

66 degrees 53% humidity

HTP

March 5th Halpata Tastanaki Preserve (SR 200)

Hike #36, 2 miles

67 degrees, 81% humidity

Florida Trails West

March 6th Florida Trails West (CR 484)

Hike #37, 2 miles

73 degrees, 73% humidity

49th Ave Trailhead

 

March 8th Florida Trails 49th Ave Trailhead West

Hike #38, 3 miles

75 degrees, 89% humidity

So you can see the weather has been ideal and I've seen a lot of neat things! 

I hope you have some nice parks and trails that you can enjoy when the weather is good!

Happy Hiking!

I'm joining Angie for Mosaic Monday HERE . 

I’m joining Thankful Thursdays and

I like Thursdays HERE too!

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.