by terranovabay
A Cuban Brown Anole climbed to the top of my tripod to get closer to the Sun for what warmth it could get on a bleak day while I was waiting for the launch of the Es’hail-2 communications satellite aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at Kennedy Space Center.
Categories: Nature • Tags: Brown Anole, Es’hail-2, Kennedy Space Center
by terranovabay
A thread-waisted wasp. These strange-looking and numerous insects feed many pesky garden insects to their young making them helpful to have around.
Categories: Nature • Tags: ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, Thread-waisted Wasp
by terranovabay
A male halictid bee with a striped abdomen seen at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area. These solitary bees are also called green metallic bees or the more memorable sweat bee for their attraction to sweaty skin, presumably to gather salt from the perspiring human host.
Categories: Nature • Tags: Green Metallic Bee, halictid bee, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, sweat bee
by terranovabay
An adult Black-crowned Night-Heron seen at left accompanied by a juvenile wing their way through the skies over Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge early one morning. From the OspreyWatch project.
Categories: Nature • Tags: Black-crowned Night-Heron, Nycticorax nycticorax, OspreyWatch, Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, PINWR
by terranovabay
The brown cryptic patterns on this Cuban Brown Anole provide almost perfect camouflage while resting on an oak tree trunk along a trail at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area. This is a non-native lizard brought to Florida with rather devastating effects on the local unique lizard population.
Categories: Nature • Tags: Anolis sagrei, Cuban Anole, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area
by terranovabay
A honey bee hard at work collecting pollen at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area.
Categories: Nature • Tags: Honey Bee, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area
by terranovabay
The beautiful but deadly, at least for the scarab beetle, tiphiid wasp [According to IFAS, Myzinum maculate – “Myzinum contains 26 species in four genera that are found throughout Florida…” with 140 species in North America] are pollinators that feed on plant nectar. In this case, nectar from plants in the Audubon House pollinator garden at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area. The male has a dangerous looking claw at the end of its abdomen, but this is more for show […]
Categories: Nature • Tags: Myzinum maculate, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, Parasitoid, Scarab Beetle, Scarab Hunter Wasp, Tiphiid Wasp
by terranovabay
A juvenile Little Blue Heron tugs vegetation out of the water in its search for a meal at Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge. From the OspreyWatch project.
Categories: Nature • Tags: Egretta caerulea, Little Blue Heron, Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, PINWR
by terranovabay
A Red-bellied Woodpecker alights upon a pine tree with a nut it has found at Treasure Hammock Ranch. From the Florida Cattle Ranch project.
Categories: Nature • Tags: Cattle Ranch, Melanerpes carolinus, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Treasure Hammock Ranch
by terranovabay
A female Pileated Woodpecker seen hard at work foraging for insects by tearing the bark off the old oak trees in front of Audubon House. Her raucous pounding and all the debris falling to the ground were hard to miss, which made her easy to find. Dryocopus pileatus about to fly away.
Categories: Nature • Tags: Audubon House, Dryocopus pileatus, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, Pileated Woodpecker
