Range Tracking

Keeping Order in the Insect World

2017/05/26 by terranovabay

Dragonflies in the pollinator garden at Audubon House. As predators they perch on high waiting for their prey to wander by. Amazingly, they spend most of their lives, months to years, underwater in another carnivorous form called a nymph before metamorphosing into the short-lived — a few scant months if they don’t have the misfortune of being eaten themselves — dragonfly. A prehistoric form of the dragonfly had a wingspan up to three feet across!

Categories: Nature • Tags: Audubon House, Dragonfly, Florida, Indian River County, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, pollinator garden

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Stained Glass Wings

2017/05/24 by terranovabay

A Gulf Fritillary makes the breakfast rounds in the first light of the day in the pollinator garden at Audubon House. In many of these images the wings are backlit by the Sun highlighting their scales, which give a grainy appearance to the wings. The topside appearance of Agraulis vanillae is less complex than the striking underside.

Categories: Nature • Tags: Agraulis vanillae, Audubon House, butterfly, Florida, Gulf Fritillary, Indian River County, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, pollinator garden

SpaceX Falcon 9 launches INMARSAT-5 F4

2017/05/16 by terranovabay

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the INMARSAT-5 F4 commercial communications satellite from Space Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 7:21 p.m. on 15 May 2017. INMARSAT-5 F4 is the fourth satellite in the Global Xpress constellation; the world’s first globally available, high speed, mobile broadband service for users on land, at sea, and in the air. The satellite was built by Boeing Network & Space Systems. Due to the weight of the satellite, the first stage did […]

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Boeing Network & Space Systems, Falcon 9, Global Xpress, INMARSAT-5 F4, Kennedy Space Center, Roseate Spoonbill, Space Launch Complex 39A, SpaceX

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Green

2017/05/13 by terranovabay

A Green Anole stalks its insect prey in the thick greenery of the Audubon House garden. This once ubiquitous native of Florida is being pushed out by the prolific breeding of the Cuban Brown Anole that has only starting making its way around the state in the last century or so after hitching a ride here from its Caribbean home. Remembering the Green Anole was everywhere in my childhood growing up in Florida, now they are a rare delight to […]

Categories: Nature • Tags: Anolis carolinensis, Audubon House, Cuban Brown Anole, Florida, Green Anole, Indian River County

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Southern Belle of the Landscape

2017/05/09 by terranovabay

At first it seemed like something entirely different. A much larger, stranger insect than the little beauty that it is. Probably due to the presence of false antennae at the rear of its wings coupled with the constant side-by-side, up-and-down motion of its wings which made the back look like the front of some larger, very active, fearsome bug when, in reality, it was just a little butterfly that has developed a scary masquerade to ward off predators. This is […]

Categories: Nature • Tags: Audubon House, butterfly, Florida, Indian River County, pollinator garden, Satyrium favonius, Southern Oak Hairstreak

Garden View

2017/05/07 by terranovabay

Started today shooting video of the garden life. Obviously, at the beginning of the learning curve though there is a certain peacefulness to watching the video – and being there in person!

Categories: Nature • Tags: Audubon House, Bee, Blue Jay, Florida, green orchid bee, Indian River County, Monarch Butterfly, pollinator garden, Skipper

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Blues for the Great Southern White

2017/05/06 by terranovabay

There is something melancholy about the Great Southern White butterfly with its turquoise-tipped antennae. Perhaps it was today’s gusty wind that made photographing the butterflies difficult. Perhaps it is the Great Southern Whites appearance in great numbers foretelling summer is coming, with the summer heat soon to follow. Perhaps this prophesy of the hot and humid future is its preternatural misfortune. Regardless, the Great Southern White is nice to see flying haphazardly around the landscape like these individuals in the […]

Categories: Nature • Tags: Ascia monuste, Audubon House, Florida, Great Southern White, Indian River County, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, pollinator garden

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Up and Down for National Security

2017/05/03 by terranovabay

A SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage booster makes a succesful landing at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after sending a classified satellite (NROL-76) into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff was at 7:15 a.m. on 1 May 2017 from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A with the landing happening a little over eight minutes later. Click to view the gallery of NROL-76 launch and landing photographs.

Categories: Rocket Launch • Tags: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Falcon 9, Kennedy Space Center, Landing Zone 1, Launch Complex 39A, National Reconnaissance Office, NROL-76, SpaceX

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Exotic Visitors from China

2017/04/29 by terranovabay

Brought from Asia in 1905, the air potato has been smothering native Florida vegetation for over a century now with its long vines sprouting grasping tendrils and large leaves. Nothing in its new found land has an interest in eating this all-encompassing interloper until recently when a small red beetle, called the Air Potato Leaf Beetle, was brought over from China to take on the daunting task of eating its way through this exotic pest plant. The Oslo Riverfront Conservation […]

Categories: Nature • Tags: air potato, Air Potato Leaf Beetle, Dioscorea bulbifera, Florida, Indian River County, Lilioceris cheni, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area

White Peacock Watching

2017/04/27 by terranovabay

Portraits of White Peacock butterflies in the landscaping around Audubon House at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area. The garish Gaillardia flowers draw the White Peacock’s attention the most as a place to stop and feed on nectar. Note the coiled proboscis. Surprise! This bee flew by just as I was taking the photo. Nice catch that I did not even notice till I got home and looked at the photos. Anartia jatrophae sucks up the nectar.

Categories: Nature • Tags: Anartia jatrophae, Audubon House, butterfly, Florida, Indian River County, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, White Peacock

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