Home for the holidays

We had a great time spending a white Christmas in Minnesota with Kelly's family this year. The chill in the air and snow on the ground only added to our holiday cheer. (In our opinion, 'tis NEVER the season for Christmas lights on palm trees.)










We got to meet our new niece Rowan for the first time! She's a cutie!



Out for coffee on Christmas Day, with Mary, Grandma Jones, and Kevin. Yum!



The Como Park Conservatory had a beautiful poinsettia display on Christmas. We also wandered through their other exhibits, including a jungle where we got to watch a sloth sloooowwwwly changing position:






The day after Christmas, Kelly and I went up north for a little birding. The highlight: Two Great Gray Owls and a flock of Bohemian Waxwings. We got to watch one of the owls hunt mice through the snow--it would listen for them, then swoop down on it, sticking its head and talons into the snow, with only its wings and tail sticking out. These owls are more than two feet tall--the largest owl in North America. (Kelly likes to point out that in one year's time we saw both the smallest and largest North American owls.) Check out it's wingspan as it flies from perch to perch:





Kevin goes for a spare. Nice shoes.

A place to call home.

We've had some requests for pictures of our apartment, so we thought we'd indulge. It's a teeny little place, but it's affordable and we've really grown to love it--especially being so near the water. We hope these photos give you a good idea of what it's like, inside and out. And we hope as many of you can see it in person as possible. Until then...enjoy!

First things first...Our "water view."


We know, it's just a sliver, but it's still nice to walk out our front door, or look through our bedroom window and see the sunlight sparkling on the water. This is actually the Choctawhatchee Bay, not the Gulf.


This little inlet from the bay is on the East side of our apartment. The picture is taken from our balcony. (We commonly see Belted Kingfishers, Osprey, Common Loons, Horned Grebes, Double-crested Cormorants, Laughing Gulls, Ring-billed Gulls, and Brown Pelicans in this inlet-KJ)


This is our living room. The bookshelves along the wall were here when we moved in...we supplied the books! :) (And Christmas lights!)


The reading nook.


Looking at the dining area from the living area. We have a vaulted ceiling with a skylight, which is pretty cool, although you can't see it in this picture. We recently re-upholstered the dining chairs, and we were super happy to find a rug that matched the new colors perfectly!


Our teeny tiny little kitchen. One nice thing, which you can't see from this photo, is that the right side of the kitchen opens into the living area, so it's easy to be working in the kitchen and conversing with people in the living room.


It wouldn't be Florida without beautiful sunsets. This series of photos was taken in a half-hour time span on the bay just out from our apartment.

Winter breeders in pine flatwoods

Last night, I spent a few hours in some flatwoods ponds after a much needed day of rain. I was pleasantly surprised to find eight herp species, with five that were actively calling. The two frog species below were new species for me.


Ornate Chorus Frog (in brown phase; this was the only Ornate Chorus Frog I heard all night, and it took a long time to track him down)



Southern Chorus Frog (Pseudacris nigrita)



Cottonmouth (out of water on a cool night made this a pretty docile snake)

Marine creatures

Living next to salt water, you never know what you'll see when you take a look into the water.


This is one of probably thousands of Ragged Sea Hares (Bursatella leachi) that have been grazing on algae in the water outside our place. This one was medium sized, and it was between 4 and 5 inches long. This is a gastropod molusk, and it moved pretty much like a huge snail without a shell.



These are Cannonball Jellyfish (Stomolophus meleagris). They are relatively solid and strong swimming for a jellyfish. This species is apparently quite common at times, but is not to be feared, as it has no stinging capabilities.

Thanksgiving in the land of Hoosiers!

Sarah and I had a great time with family and friends in Indiana. It's always uplifting to spend time with such great people that care more about us than we deserve. As a major bonus for me, my friend Ben and I joined some folks who capture and band Northern Saw-whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus) as they migrate south into Indiana during the winter. I had never seen this owl species before, so it was a fantastic treat for me when we caught three owls! I got to hold and release two of them after they had been banded, aged, and sexed. They were soft and cute, and I kissed one on the head (lucky owl).

Rattlesnakes!

My first Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus). I've been looking forward to this for a long time. I got the whole rattle threat display and everything. You can hear it on the video. It was great! It was as fat around as the thickest part of my forearm (not exactly popeye, but still...). Below is the diamondback's little cousin, the Dusky Pigmy Rattlesnake (Sistrurus miliarius barbouri). These heavily persecuted species elicit fear in many people, which I think leads to the hatred. They certainly deserve a fearful type of respect, but they don't really want to bite people much more than people want to get bitten. The whole point of the rattle is to give us the option of avoiding conflict.

Fall Salamanders in Virginia

I had a meeting in Virginia, so I went a day early to go poke around for salamanders and see the beautiful fall colors that are lacking in Florida.


This is a Peaks of Otter Salamander (Plethodon hubrichti). Its entire range is limited to the small Peaks of Otter region of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There was a good deal of variation across individuals that I found, but they all had the nice brassy flecks on their dorsum (top).



This is one of the most common and widespread salamanders in the eastern US. The Redback Salamander (Plethodon cinereus) is aptly named, although some individuals lack any red coloration altogether.



This beauty is a Northern Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber ruber). It's the northern subspecies of the red salamander in the photo from my last post. The intensity of their coloration fades in older individuals, but they sure are striking at this age.



This is a Southern Two-lined Salamander (Eurycea cirrigera).



This is a Northern Dusky Salamander (Desmognathus fuscus).

More fun herps

Our friend Brendan visited from Texas this weekend, and we had a pretty productive time herping. All told, we observed about 15 species of amphibians and reptiles. I've included the two new species for me first, followed by a few other highlights.


This is the first and smaller of two Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) that we found in conveniently clear water. Their size is intimidating, but they are far less "snappy" than their smaller cousin, the Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina).




This is a Southern Red Salamander (Pseudotriton ruber vioscai). We found four under logs in a wet lowland area.



Above is a Florida Bog Frog (Rana okaloosae), and below is a young Banded Watersnake (Nerodia fasciata fasciata). These watersnakes are commonly seen in bog frog habitat, and are a known predator of that species.




I was pleasantly surprised to see some Eastern Spadefoot Toads (Scaphiopus holbrookii holbrookii) on the roads. This species is an explosive breeder that typically remains underground except on nights immediately following or during heavy rains. They get right down to business, and their larvae develop quickly in ephemeral pools of water. Apart from their interesting natural history, I think they just look really unique with that face and those huge eyes.



For those of you that don't know, Sarah has a real knack for seeing cryptic animals, whether it's a Least Bittern hiding in the reeds 150 m away, or this tiny juvenile Rough Green Snake (Opheodrys aestivus) whose head could fit in a drinking straw, and whose body is clearly even thinner.

Unto us a neice is born...

...and her name shall be called Rowan Olivia.

We're so excited to welcome this beautiful, talented, smart, and spunky little girl into the Jones family! Congratulations Alex & Megan!

Recent herps

Sarah and I went out to check nests with an endangered species biologist who works on sea turtles. Unfortunately the photo quality is poor, but we had to share with the world that we got to see baby sea turtles.



In total, we got to see nine hatchling Green Sea Turtles (Chelonia mydas), and Sarah got to turtlesit while we were recording data. It might sound easy, but you can't really hold onto nine at a time, and they just got faster and faster.

A couple of days ago, I was happy to see my first Florida Pine Snake (Pituophis melanoleucus mugitus). It was a pretty young one, so its markings were relatively well defined.

In this photo, you can see how the markings go from being clearly defined near the tail, to being very vague and indistinct toward the head. It isn't because of that part of the body being over the tire mark.