Polygala

I've recently been enjoying seeing the unique blossoms of plants in the genus Polygala.



Candyroot (Polygala nana)



Orange Milkwort (Polygala lutea)





Procession Flower (Polygala incarnata)



Tall Pinebarren Milkwort (Polygala cymosa)


Linear to lanceolate basal leaves of P. cymosa



Low Pinebarren Milkwort (Polygala ramosa)


Elliptic to spatulate basal leaves of P. ramosa





Drumheads (Polygala cruciata)



Showy Milkwort (Polygala violacea)



Racemed Milkwort (Polygala polygama)

Do scales and no legs always = snake?

No. There are a number of lizards with no legs (represented in North America by some members of the families Anguidae and Anniellidae, glass lizards and legless lizards, respectively), which are often mistaken for snakes. This confusion sometimes results in the stomping of these harmless lizards by highly sophisticated folks who think that "the only good snake is a dead snake" in their crusade to rid the land of the evil serpents, and other people simply miss an opportunity to recognize and appreciate a beautiful and unique lizard.

Here are a couple glass lizards, followed by some neat snakes I've recently found:


Subadult Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis)
In this photo, one can see the external ear opening just behind the jaw, which is one of the visible characteristics that distinguish a lizard from a snake.



Adult Eastern Glass Lizard



A new form of this species for me - "Yellow" Eastern Rat Snake (Scotophis alleghaniensis)



North Florida Black Swamp Snake (Seminatrix pygaea pygaea) almost ready to shed (notice the cloudy eyes)



Black Swamp Snake - with brightly-colored belly showing



A new species for me - Florida Green Water Snake (Nerodia floridana)

Of things with slimy skin

Love is in the air for summer breeding amphibians.


Amplexed pair of Pine Woods Treefrogs (Hyla femoralis)



Amplexed pair of Barking Treefrogs (Hyla gratiosa)



Amplexed pair of Squirrel Treefrogs (Hyla squirella)



Amplexed pair of Eastern Narrowmouth Toads (Gastrophryne carolinensis)



Not to be confused with a love struck pair, this photo is for anyone who in hopes of seeing an Oak Toad (Anaxyrus quercicus) tried to make a juvenile Southern Toad (Anaxyrus terrestris) into an Oak Toad. Though potentially confusing, the Oak Toad (left) will always have a well defined mid-dorsal light stripe, whereas the juvenile Southern Toad (right) will have a low contrast, poorly defined mid-dorsal stripe, often with dark "warts" breaking the stripe. There are other helpful characteristics, but this alone will do the trick.



Calling male Oak Toad



Recent metamorph Eastern Spadefoot Toad (Scaphiopus holbrookii)



Adult Eastern Spadefoot Toad



A new one for me and North America's smallest frog (they're tiny!)
Little Grass Frog (Pseudacris ocularis)



A new subspecies for me
Florida Leopard Frog (Lithobates sphenocephalus sphenocephalus)



Also new for me - larval Striped Newt (Notophthalmus perstriatus)



Calling male Cope's Gray Treefrog (Hyla chrysoscelis)



My favorite - young Pine Barrens Treefrog (Hyla andersonii) staying on the outskirts of where the big males were calling



Adult male Pine Barrens Treefrog



This video is pretty funny, with the male's calls shaking his whole perch.

Turtles, old and young

Old adult Gulf Coast Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina major)
I think this is the oldest looking one I've ever seen.



Juvenile Florida Cooter (Pseudemys floridana)
Their markings never look better than when they're young like this.



Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macroclemys temminckii)



Me holding the same turtle for scale. They get much larger than this, but to me this is still a large turtle.



Yellowbelly Slider (Trachemys scripta scripta)

Some of Florida's aquatic salamanders

I've recently spent some effort searching for sirens (only have two front legs, which are large enough to be functional, and have obvious external gills) and amphiumas (have all four legs, but legs are tiny vestigial structures which are essentially non-functional, and have gill slits instead of obvious external gills), both of which are eel-like salamanders that spend most of their time in water and mud. Because of their habitat preferences, they aren't something I would likely see without going out of my way. They're also not the easiest to get natural looking photos of, unless you have an underwater camera, or a clear-sided container to photograph through. Not sure these are all that enjoyable to look at, but they sure were neat to find and see.



Greater Siren (Siren lacertina)
These babies can grow to over three feet in length, and get pretty bulky as well. They can filter small invertebrates from soft substrates, and they will opportunistically grab any larger organisms that will fit in their mouths.






baby



baby and adult



habitat



Two-toed Amphiuma (Amphiuma means)
These toothy predators can reach a length of nearly four feet! They will sometimes sit with only their heads sticking out of the mud, waiting for prey to come close enough to grab, and other times will actively wander around in search of prey. They will eat any animal that they can hold on to and swallow, which includes a lot of things. They have all four legs, but they are tiny, and of course include two toes per foot.



Narrow-striped Dwarf Siren (Pseudobranchus axanthus axanthus)
Last and least, these sirens are tiny in comparison to the previous two species mentioned. These sirens eat tiny aquatic invertebrates.

Special Birds

Here are some memorable birds I've seen lately.



We found this unfortunate Common Loon (Gavia immer) lying on the beach. Some of the loons that winter down here end up dying for various reasons. Some of them, like this one, seem to get weak and don't feed as well, and end up washing up on the beach where they die. This one probably hadn't been doing well for quite some time, as it should've molted into breeding plumage over a month ago. We gave it to a rehab center. Sometimes they make it. Sometimes they don't.




While our friends Ben and Joy were visiting, we got to see some Burrowing Owls, which have an isolated population on Eglin Air Force Base on the bombing ranges.



Eastern Gray Squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) have chewed through the fuel lines on two of our work trucks to sharpen their teeth. This Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) made sure that this individual wouldn't be doing that again. I actually like watching the squirrels, but also don't mind nature taking it's course like this.



I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go see this Greater Sand-plover (Charadrius leschenaultii) that showed up near Jacksonville, FL at Huguenot Memorial Park for 12 days (he's the one alone next to the water in the middle). Below, you can get an idea of how people were "flocking" to see the bird. This is only the second time this species has been recorded in the Western Hemisphere. It was neat to see him catching fiddler crabs (probably Uca pugnax) and eating them.

Florida has great herps

Here are some nice lizards, snakes, and turtles I've seen recently.


Adult Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis)



Juvenile Eastern Glass Lizard



Eastern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus)



Southeastern Crowned Snake (Tantilla coronata)



Peninsula Crowned Snake (Tantilla relicta relicta)



Adult male Common Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus)



Juvenile Common Musk Turtle



Juvenile Peninsula Cooter (Pseudemys peninsularis)



Juvenile Striped Mud Turtle (Kinosternon baurii)



Adult female Florida Softshell Turtle (Apalone ferox) (photo by Ben Hess)

Pitcher plants of Eglin

I've been really enjoying seeing our beautiful pitcher plants in bloom this Spring. I thought I'd put up some photos of some of the pitchers (modified leaves) and their flowers. We're fortunate to have at least five species in the area.



Sarracenia leucophylla flower



Sarracenia leucophylla flower with two pitchers below



Sarracenia leucophylla pitchers



Sarracenia flava pitcher



Sarracenia flava flower



Sarracenia rubra flowers



Sarracenia psittacina flowers



Sarracenia purpurea flower



Sarracenia purpurea pitchers



Sarracenia flava pitchers with a couple very red Sarracenia leucophylla pitchers

I've always thought that the pitcher plant flowers are unique and interesting. Click HERE to see a clearly-labeled diagram showing all the flower parts.

An ode to the toad eaters

Yesterday, I found North America's rarest and most secretive toad-eating specialist, the Southern Hognose Snake (Heterodon simus). It may not look all that different from its more common relative, the Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platirhinos), but it occurs in a much narrower range and in much lower numbers.

Southern Hognose Snake:




This last one is a video:



Now I'll include some examples of the more common and more variable Eastern Hognose. A photo and a video have been included on my past blog posts, but I like them and felt like reusing them.



juvenile doing some impressive displaying



juvenile playing dead (if you try to flip them over, they'll flip back to belly up to continue playing dead)



adult displaying

Here's a video:



I've also recently been seeing individuals of the black (or melanistic) morph of the Eastern Hognose



Here's a video:



And now to make good on the "ode"

Oh stocky serpent with upturned nose,
unarmed with weaponry, but with bravery you bluff.
Capable of consuming toxic toads,
you're a behavioral wonder; what great stuff!

A Tale of Two T-Shirts

Those of you who see me regularly or know me well might recognize my favorite T-shirt, since I wear it all the time.



This T-shirt has a special story behind it, which, aside from it being an awesome shirt, adds to the reasons why it's my favorite.

I got this T-shirt when Kelly and I lived in Oregon. It's from a vendor called Cretin Art that sells T-shirts with hand-drawn designs at the Portland Saturday Market. While most of the drawings are a little fantastical for my taste, he had this amazing scraggly tree that Kelly and I just fell in love with. Unfortunately, they didn't have any shirts with this drawing on it in my size, so they offered to make one specially for me. I got to choose the color of shirt and the ink color, and they mailed it to me since we didn't live in Portland and wouldn't be back at the market the following week. Since then, it's been my favorite T-shirt ever, and Kelly always loves when I wear it.

So as you can imagine, it was a sad day a few months ago when I had to pack up my "tree shirt" along with the other clothes that won't fit my growing belly anymore. I know it's a temporary condition, but even a few months -- and hot, summer months at that -- when I can't wear my favorite shirt are sad ones.

That is, until the other day, when I opened my closet to pack clothes for our recent anniversary get-away to St. Augustine, and discovered a white T-shirt mysteriously back in place after having gone missing for about a month. Where had it gone? How had it returned? Did Kelly find it somewhere and quietly hang it back in its place without mentioning it to me, even though he knew I had been confounded by its disappearance for weeks?

I moved the surrounding clothes back to take a look at the shirt, and what did I find? [GASP!]



Evidently, a couple of months ago, Kelly had secretly contacted the makers of my original shirt, asking them if they sold maternity T-shirts. They didn't, but said that if he could send them one they would print on it, or if he found one online, they would buy it, print it, and just charge him the total price. So my sweet husband, who loathes shopping, tried to shop for a maternity T-shirt online, but to no avail. When I happened to purchase one, he stole it from my closet, sent it to Oregon with a special request for the tree, and then returned it to my closet for me to find! Happy pregnancy to me!! My favorite shirt now comes in maternity size! It was the sweetest, most thoughtful gift ever! I just had to share my excitement, and brag on Kelly for being so amazing.