University of Florida | Range Tracking

Lovebug Invasion

2019/05/03 by terranovabay

Warm weather is settling on east-central Florida with an almost vengeful humidity and along with this change of seasons come Lovebugs swarming everywhere, especially the roadways where they die in incalculable numbers smashed against speeding cars. The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences explains the reasons for this carnage on the highway: Lovebugs are attracted to irradiated automobile exhaust fumes (diesel and gasoline) when the ultraviolet light incident over the highway ranges from 0.3 to 0.4 microns […]

Categories: Nature • Tags: IFAS, Lovebug, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, Plecia nearctica, University of Florida

Cattle Ranching In Florida

2018/08/20 by terranovabay

An old but deserving project got dusted off a bit when the University of Florida asked if they could use images from my photo series on Florida cattle ranching and the wildlife found on ranches in a short video about Treasure Hammock Ranch narrated by Sean Sexton. Watch the short video above, it is very good. And then visit the old Florida Cattle Ranch website where I photo documented the wildlife and the work on Treasure Hammock Ranch at http://www.floridacattleranch.org

Categories: Dog's Tail • Tags: cattle, Florida Cattle Ranch, ranch, Treasure Hammock Ranch, UF, University of Florida

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Recondite Greenhouses

2018/07/05 by terranovabay

A rare midweek holiday – July 4th – allowed me to pay an early morning visit to the Demonstration Garden at the University of Florida’s IFAS facility outside of Ft. Pierce in a quest to find insects and other small critters for my bug program currently in production. What I remembered as a beautiful walk through native plants and their habitats from a few years ago is now an overgrown morass of invasive exotics with native plants struggling to survive. […]

Categories: Scenery • Tags: Demonstration Garden, Ft. Pierce, IFAS, Institute of Food and Agricultural Services, St. Lucie County, University of Florida

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Mosquito Lab

2016/02/23 by terranovabay

The University of Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) and Pelican Island Audubon conservation stewardship class ended this past weekend after six Saturday afternoon sessions. The class featured a tour of FMEL where the latest in mosquito research was showcased and where I channeled my inner Rod Serling to cast the tour photos as sixth dimensional cousins of the The Twilight Zone. In the FMEL Boathouse, Dr. Nathan Burkett-Cadena, a research scientist at FMEL, gives an introduction to FMEL prior to […]

Categories: Dog's Tail • Tags: Florida, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, FMEL, Indian River County, mosquito, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, Pelican Island Audubon Society, Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone, University of Florida

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Insects in the Teaching Garden

2015/09/11 by terranovabay

A variety of insects were enjoying the sunny morning in the Teaching Garden of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) research center in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Hawaiian Stripe Bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris vittata) Dragonfly basking in the Sun. Bees everywhere attracted to the myriad flowers. White Peacock butterfly (Anartia jatrophae) A knife-edge view of the White Peacock butterfly. A hasty shot resulting in a rather blurry White Peacock depositing a little orange egg on a leaf.

Categories: Nature • Tags: Anartia jatrophae, Bambusa vulgaris vittata, bees, butterfly, Dragonfly, Florida, Ft. Pierce, Hawaiian Stripe Bamboo, IFAS, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, St. Lucie County, Teaching Garden, UF, University of Florida, White Peacock

Hanging out with Apalone ferox

2015/02/22 by terranovabay

Dr. Jon Moore’s talk on the herpetofuana of the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area to Saturday’s FMEL-ORCA conservation stewardship class included a reference to the long neck of the Florida Softshell Turtle (Apalone ferox) that it extends while underwater. Something seen below in the last image. Another trait of these creatures is its long nose that it effectively uses as a snorkel allowing the rest of its body to stay underwater or covered in mud while it lays in wait for […]

Categories: Nature • Tags: Abalone ferox, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, Florida Softshell Turtle, FMEL, herpetofuana, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge, PINWR, Softshell Turtle, UF, University of Florida

Backyard Bird Talk Ends the Series

2015/02/20 by terranovabay

The 21 February 2015 FMEL-ORCA conservation stewardship class ends my five week stint doing Saturday bird talks for the group. I had a lot of fun doing it and will miss it though I am sure the students would have something different to say — probably happy to be taking a break from my droning on endlessly. Tomorrow’s talk is on Backyard Birds and features this female Painted Bunting (Passerina ciris) clinging to the wire of a bird feeder, along […]

Categories: Nature • Tags: Bunting, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, FMEL, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, Painted Bunting, Passerina ciris, University of Florida

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Searching for the Rivulus

2015/02/15 by terranovabay

Dr. George O’Meara, professor emeritus of Physiology and Ecology at the University of Florida’s Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area (ORCA) in Vero Beach, Florida, was the guest speaker at the 14 February 2015 FMEL-Pelican Island Audubon conservation stewardship class. His talk on Life in the Pits and the Treetops focused on critters that live in the water that pools in epiphyte plants — the treetop part — and those that live down in the burrows […]

Categories: Nature • Tags: Cardisoma guanhumi, Crabhole Mosquito, Deinocerites cancer, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, FMEL, Great Atlantic Land Crab, Mangrove Rivulus, mosquito larvae, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, Pelican Island Audubon Society, Rivulus, Rivulus marmoratus, UF, University of Florida

Eagles over Audubon House

2015/01/25 by terranovabay

Those who stuck around long enough after the field trip portion of Saturday’s Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory-Pelican Island Audubon Society conservation stewardship class were treated to the sight of two adult Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and a juvenile Bald Eagle soaring overhead above the Audubon House located at the Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area. Juvenile Bald Eagles, like the one pictured above, don’t attain the classic Bald Eagle appearance until four to five years of age when they molt into their […]

Categories: Nature • Tags: Audubon House, Bald Eagle, Eagle, Florida, Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, FMEL, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, Indian River County, ORCA, Oslo Riverfront Conservation Area, Oslo Road, Pelican Island Audubon Society, PIAS, UF, University of Florida, Vero Beach

Harvest Moon Crab Migration

2014/09/11 by terranovabay

This week’s Supermoon has spurred the annual migration of Blue Land Crabs from their burrows inland to release their eggs into the ocean. According to the University of Florida’s IFAS Extension: “Blue land crabs reach sexual maturity in approximately 4 years. Peak reproductive activity occurs during full moons in summer. After mating, an adult female lays her eggs but carries the egg mass beneath her body for approximately 2 weeks prior to migrating to the ocean and releasing the eggs […]

Categories: Nature • Tags: beach, Blue Land Crabs, Cardisoma guanhumi, dog, Full Moon, IFAS Extension, migration, Pepper, Sam, Supermoon, University of Florida

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Range Tracking

Photography by Bob Montanaro

Tag: University of Florida

Lovebug Invasion

Cattle Ranching In Florida

Recondite Greenhouses

Mosquito Lab

Insects in the Teaching Garden

Hanging out with Apalone ferox

Backyard Bird Talk Ends the Series

Searching for the Rivulus

Eagles over Audubon House

Harvest Moon Crab Migration