My wife and I just returned from a two-week vacation during which we had the opportunity to stay for about 10 days at a house near the beach on Sanibel Island, FL. This was our first visit to that area and I was ready and primed to turn our adventure into an ad hoc BioBlitz of sorts. We took three days to drive there from Austin and two gruelling days to race back home. Even at those freeway speeds, it has been intriguing to watch the steady shift of habitat types across the breadth of coastal southeastern U.S.
I managed to collect some iNat observations during the numerous fueling/restroom stops along the highways but the bulk of my uploads will be from our time on/near Sanibel. I’ve already uploaded a subset of easily identified and interesting observations from the trip, starting with a new moth record for Louisiana,
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1971110
along with tidbits from the first few nights of blacklighting at the house, such as:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/1981816
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2001051
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2002554
and a series of simple images of the tame birds on the beach and island like these:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2000629
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2005705
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2021293
But I actually took over 1,800 pics over the course of the trip and am just now organizing, cropping, and sorting through them to begin the main upload covering the journey. As I complete some of those uploads, I’ll add links to a few more interesting or characteristic items here in this journal entry, but I’ll introduce all of them with some general observations. I’m not sure in what sequence I will upload all the images; I may do some chronological uploads as I go through them, but I may concentrate on uploading a bunch of images in one taxonomic group and then move on to another group. The biggest upload will probably be the shells which we collected and which I documented thoroughly with photos. We identified at least 65 spp of mollusks and there are still more shells to sort through. Lastly, I’ll have a batch of plant images, some of which are common and obvious species and others I’ll need to get ID help with before or after uploading. It’ll be a long process over the next few weeks.
The “Convenient” Truth
As mentioned above, I took a few moments at each of our innumerable stops en route to glance at the windows and around the outdoor lights at convenience stores, rest areas, and at a few motel stops. Since many of these are 24-hour venues, they often have outdoor lighting or advertising signs that are on routinely and those provide a concentrating effect for a local array of insects. I always have my point-and-shoot camera on my hip while traveling (like any good Texan) so I’d occasionally alert the clerk at the convenience store with a brief phrase like, “I noticed some bugs at your windows there. I’m a retired wildlife biologist; would you mind if I took a few pictures of them?” I get curious, funny looks at times, but I’ve never been refused. A few times I’ve even gotten eager hints on which lights attract the most bugs, or someone directing my attention to an unwanted bug inside the window that they’d like removed. I’m not shy about wandering around a building with my camera in hand, but for obvious reasons I demur from hunting, photographing, or stalking around the women’s restroom side of any rest stop! I avoid pointing the camera at any customers inside or outside a building so as not to freak anyone out. I’ll also announce myself with the same introductory phrases to any security personnel at those interstate rest areas which have such staff. They have always been intrigued and helpful.
The results of this iNatting at roadside stops ranged from zilch to bonanza. They provided a minimal sample of the local fauna and of course were highly dependent on surrounding habitats, recent weather patterns, etc. For me as a traveler, such efforts provide the briefest of introductions to some of the regional fauna and flora as well as reminders of those species which are truly widespread and abundant such as the Armyworm Moths and Straggler Daisy.
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2086053
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2084414
Undoubtedly the biggest haul was a fortunate gas stop on our way home along Alt US 27 at a crossroads named “Tennille, FL” between Perry and Chiefland on Sun., Oct. 4, in the Big Bend of that state. The 24-hr convenience store there had many outdoor florescent lights and advertising signs in the windows. I immediately found 3 Imperial Moths, an Io Moth, two spp of sphinx moths, and a couple dozen more species. I photographed over 20 spp of moths, of which at least 15 to 16 were new to me. What a treat:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2084865
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2084867
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2084870
’Tis The (Best) Season
The opportunity to stay at a beach house on Sanibel arose in part because this is their off-season and the rainy season. We thought this was the PERFECT time to visit! Many of the resorts were near-empty, and most of the beaches were sparsely populated at any time of day. We missed out on just one restaurant (The Mucky Duck) which was closed for renovations at this season but all other venues were available, if sometimes on reduced hours. Sanibel is known not only for shelling but also for being one the most bike-friendly communities on the continent. We left the car behind on many of our jaunts (within 3 or 4 miles of home) and had bike paths mostly to ourselves. I hiked the Bailey Unit of J.R. Ding Darling NWR on a Saturday morning and had it all to myself for my two hours there.
Shells, Shell, Shells!
Sanibel Island is known as the shelling capital of North America and the reputation is well deserved. We went shelling a time or two, either casually or seriously, just about every day. It was the most popular activity along the many miles of beaches among residents and visitors. Even a slow day of shelling on Sanibel will net upwards of 20 or 30 common species, always with the possibility of turning up something unusual.
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2277245
It is said that shelling is best during the few hours before a low tide and/or after storms. I’ll add that it is a virtual necessity to be out on the beach at dawn since the early shellers find the best prizes. On the morning of Tues., Sept. 29, my wife (and puppy) and I took advantage of a special shelling opportunity at Bowman’s Beach on Sanibel. This was right around the time of that Super Moon, so the tides were “extreme” for Sanibel. Moreover, there had been a strong line of thunderstorms which churned up moderately high surf the previous night. And the low low tide for the day was right after dawn. So we went trudging up the beach, getting drenched in the last waves of pouring rain—which our dog did not appreciate—and headed up to a section of Bowman’s Beach where the highest energy waves had thrown up a long, wide, and deep row of shells (a “tidal wrack” if I’m using that term correctly).
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2278355
Shelling was phenomenal and it was coupled with an ad hoc wildlife rescue effort as hundreds of live Florida Fighting Conchs had been thrown up on the beach with all the dead shells. We sorted through millions of shells over a half-mile of beach, nearly throwing out our arms as we pitched the living conchs back into the surf.
Butterflies? What Butterflies?
Undoubtedly the biggest (negative) surprise of the trip was the derth of butterflies in South Florida. Aside from the occasional passing Cloudless Sulphur, I can almost count on one hand the total number of species we saw in 13 days in the area. Most days were at least partly to mostly sunny and there seemed to be at least sufficient floral resources in yards, along roadsides, and in the innumerable preserves to support populations of adult leps. Yet we were seeing maybe one or two species a day and there were few photographic opportunities:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2003596
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2039213
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2039284
I got goods looks at a single life butterfly (Monk Skipper) and probably glimpsed a Mangrove Skipper dashing by, but had no photo ops with those species. Local biologists attributed this lack of butterflies to it being the “rainy season”, a phenomenon I can understand. But still, even on our slowest days in Texas, we can dredge up 5 or 10 common species. I’ve had more butterflies on a Central Texas Christmas Bird Count in late December than what we found in SoFlo.
Similarly, blacklighting produced only modest results. I blacklighted with a small light and a white sheet on three nights in the backyard of the house where we stayed on Sanibel. The yard and surroundings are well vegetated with a mix of native and non-native tropical shrub and tree species with a weedy field adjacent and a freshwater canal immediately behind the yard. Yet I managed to attract probably less than 10 spp of moths over the three nights and precious few individuals. There were other bugs showing up (including the dreaded “no-see-ums”) but all-in-all the blacklighting was another disappointment.
Some Useful References
For a first-time visitor who didn’t want to shell out (…sorry…) big bucks for encyclopedic treatments of mollusks, etc., I found the following regional works particularly useful for helping to identify shells and other elements of the fauna and flora of Sanibel Island:
Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum. Undated. Seashells of Sanibel and Captiva Islands. (Laminated field card.)
Sobczak, Charles. 2010. Living Sanibel, A Nature Guide to Sanibel & Captiva Islands. Indigo Press, Sanibel, FL.
Witherington, Blair and Dawn. 2007. Florida’s Seashell’s, A Beachcomber’s Guide. Pineapple Press, Sarasota, FL.
Not as geographically relevant or comprehensive but still useful were these:
Gulf Coast Shell Club. 2014. Seashells of the Florida Panhandle, 2nd ed. Gulf Coast Shell Club Publ. 2, Panama City, FL.
Proctor, Noble S., and Patrick J. Lynch. 2011. A Field Guide to Southeast Coast & Gulf of Mexico.
The standard field guides such as Morris’s Peterson series, “Field Guide to Shells of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts and the West Indies” proved to be too comprehensive and confusing. The Witherington guide, above, was well focused for our needs.
Two of these were at night lights at a convenience store off of I-10 near Monticello, Jefferson Co., FL.
Photographed at a porchlight at the Royal Inn in Perry, FL. Just a single individual.
This juvenile plover was about as tame as any plover I've ever seen.
Thus far, we are only seeing and hearing Fish Crows on Sanibel. This murder of FICR was harassing an Osprey that had perched on the lighthouse. (IDed by their nasal voices.)
At blacklight in residential neighborhood on Sanibel Island.
A group of 5 or 6 oystercatchers came foraging up the beach near me.
This Calico Box Crab (aka Dolly Varden) had recently expired on the beach. We have seen occasional pieces of the carapace of others as well.
This medium-sized Horseshoe Crab had become entangle in some fishing line on the shore of the causeway island near Sanibel, FL. We managed to untangle it and send it on it's way. Note the curled up defensive posture in one photo; it just didn't enjoy being turned upside down, even if it was necessary to get the fishing line off.
We rescued this box turtle off of Rabbit Road on Sanibel early this morning in a tropical downpour. Fairly large individual; carapace was probably 6 to 7" long. I couldn't take much time to measure or photograph it since it was in the middle of the road at rush hour in a rainstorm.
This was yet another wildlife rescue today: I hurded this tiny (4") softshell turtle off of a rather busy bike trail along Tarpon Bay Drive on Sanibel in the evening rush hour.
Storm tossed onto the beach at Blind Pass, Sanibel, and returned to the sea. Max. diameter about 6 cm or 2.5 in.
Another storm-tossed individual at Blind Pass; this one was found by a lady named Carolyn (from the Carolinas) who graciously let me photograph her echino-find. The max. diameter of this animal was about 19 cm or 7.5 in. This one was also returned to the sea.
These sand dollars virtually paved the surf zone offshore just below the low tide level. This large individual is 12 cm (4 in) in diameter. Innumerable smaller individuals (2 to 4 cm diam.) were abundant under foot in that zone. Numbers of them washed ashore after a strong rainstorm.
This is likely to be Mellita tenuis which was originally described from off of Sanibel Island, but I don't know if M. quinquiesperforata also occurs here. M. tenuis was originally described as a subspecies of the latter.
This imm. YCNH was foraging very close to a boardwalk along the Wildlife Drive at Ding Darling NWR.
This immature YCNH was drying out (?) and panting in the morning sun along the Wildlife Drive at Ding Darling NWR.
Some more images of this abundant species here on Sanibel. These were on red mangroves along the Calusa Shell Mound Trail at Ding Darling NWR.
We saw 3 or 4 of these on the Bent Alligator Flag (Thalia geniculata) at Corkscrew Swamp. I managed these "miracle images" from about 15 ft away, zoomed to the max.
We saw about 4 of these beauties in the cypress swamp. The first images was taken from about 30 ft away and the second from about 20 ft away with my point-and-shoot.
We encountered this LOWA about 30 minutes after also finding a migrant Northern Waterthrush at Corkscrew Swamp. If you download the two images (taken from about 30 ft away) and switch rapidly between them, you'll see the tail bobbing motion he was doing constantly!
This rather large (10+ ft) animal was resting on a fallen log in the cypress swamp (near the Lettuce Lakes) at Corkscrew Swamp.
Photographed just behind the beach at Blind Pass on Sanibel Island. Based on the size (TL ~5 cm), I think this is a male; we'd seen a much larger individual at Corkscrew Swamp earlier in the day which was presumably a female.
Another common roadside rest plant in the manicured lawns.
These small (3 mm) orange ants were building perfectly symmetrical little "volcano" mounds in the sandy terrain under pine woods next to the I-10 Rest Area near Crestview, FL. I don't know if the habitat, nest structure, or these images will help narrow this ID down any better.
This was one of three Imperials among a plethora of other moths on the windows and walls of a convenience store in Tennille, FL, along Alt US 27.
One Io Moth was found among a diversity of other moths at a convenience store at Tennille, FL, on Alt US 27.
This was a life sphinx moth species for me at the convenience store at Tennille, FL.
This recently-expired katydid was found at a window of a convenience store in Chiefland, FL. The species is identified by its large size (about 7 cm here) and the two angular bends on the top side of the forewings. This is apparently about at the northern edge of its range, per the range map in Capinera et al. "Field Guide to Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets of the U.S." Also uploaded to BG:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/1151899
Found among the storm-tossed shells on Bowman's Beach on Sanibel. I thought this might still be alive so I tossed it back into the surf. Seems to most closely match Ophiolepis elegans but I don't know what the other possibilities are. Compare:
http://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/293050-Ophiolepis-elegans
We studied many of these on the roots of red mangroves at high tide on this particular afternoon. The carapace on this individual was about 1 to 1-1/4" wide. They are quite camera shy so I was fortunate to get this image. They almost invariably move/rest on the roots with their head pointing downward towards the water; this image was rotated for a better presentation.
I hasten to add that I got this ID from an invaluable reference: Charles Sobczak (2010), Living Sanibel, A Nature Guide to Sanibel & Captiva Islands. This is a superb introduction to a wide array of flora and fauna of the area.
Photographed on the frond of a young cabbage palm at the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation HQ on Sanibel.
Attracted to a blacklight in a residential neighborhood on Sanibel Island. I'm waiting for confirmation on BG but this appears to be Parilexia proditata, a species reported from Florida but for which BG has no images and there is a cautionary note about identification on the MPG page for the species. See,
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=6712
and my notes on this same observation uploaded to BG:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/1152828
I'm having trouble deciding if this pennant which came to a blacklight is a young Four-spotted (B. gravida) or a Tawny Pennant (B. herbida). Presumably, the close-up of the wing venation will show the diagnostic pattern, but as other have indicated, the descriptions of "3 rows" vs "4 rows" of cells beyond the triangle aren't as obvious to interpret as the taxonomists woud have us believe. Compare:
Four-spotted: http://bugguide.net/node/view/430388
Tawny: http://bugguide.net/node/view/140095
Here is a more vividly colored individual which came during my last night of blacklighting.
This is one of the "no-see-ums" that pestered us in the mornings and evenings in the out-of-doors at Sanibel. Photographed at a blacklight. This is the best I can do with my little point-and-shoot camera. I've actually counted and measured the stitches in the weave of this white sheet to use as a yardstick and can tell you that this insect is 1.6 mm long (antennae to wingtips).
They pack a pretty good wallop for a tiny biting midge but the good news was that the bites don't seem to itch or persist like a mosquito or chigger.
BG suggests there are at least 603 species of no-see-ums in North America. I'm pretty sure this is species #493, or perhaps in immature female of #571. I can never tell those apart. Opinions would be appreciated. ;-)
http://bugguide.net/node/view/19768
Found in an a yard next to a convenience store and photographed on the pavement at the store. This matches details of this local species on the Orthoptera Species File here:
http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1133814
and is within the documented range of the species listed for specimens on that site and on the map in Capinera et al's 2004 Field Guide. See BG upload (same images) here:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/1154608/bgimage
Attracted to a blacklight. Two species of Loxa occur in south Florida. I have concluded this is L. flavicollis, apparently the more widespread species. See my discussion here on BG:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/1154742
This is a large pentatomid, TL 21+ mm.
Attracted to a blacklight. TL 12 mm.
I'd previously photographed this giant katydid on our way down through the northern part of FL*. This individual was attracted to a blacklight at the house on Sanibel Island.
I had previously uploaded a few observations from our journey home from south Florida including a few "teasers" from a very productive stop at a convenience store along Alt US 27 at Tennille, FL:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/2084865
I've now finished ID-ing most of the other items from that part of the trip. Here's a Laugher--literally--to start the parade of additional sightings.
On the wall of the convenience store at Tennille, FL.
One of two sphinx moths at the convenience store in Tennille, FL.
I think this ID is correct. Compare to MPG:
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=4642
This species is much more richly colored than the Florida Flannel Moth, L. lacyi:
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=4643
This is a tough genus of Notodontids. MPG has records of 10 spp in Florida, of which some can be eliminated by color, pattern, or wing shape. Based on the Peterson Field Guide to Moths (of n.e. US), I can probably narrow this down (from images) to either D. contracta or integerrima. IMHO, my moth most resembles some pics of contracta, but I'm not willing to hazard a guess here.
Another moth which was perched a bit high on the wall of the convenience store at Tennille, FL, thus the odd perspective. I didn't get a wing measure on this one but it was not particularly tiny, just small. The similar non-native P. diminutalis would be even smaller, I believe.
Compare:
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=4764
http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/species.php?hodges=4765
I haven't had to deal much with adult tussock moths. I've narrowed this down to O. detrita, but O. leucostigma appears pretty similar.
I found this saddlebags dead on the pavement at a gas station in Perry, FL. It was probably a road-kill and its real origin is unknown but hopefully not too far away from where I documented the specimen. As I understand the distinctions, this is a Carolina as opposed to a Red Saddlebags.
Photographed at a convenience store along I-10 at FL 57 near Monticello, FL.
Photographed at the westbound I-10 Rest Area in MS, 2 mi W of the Alabama state line. My thanks to Bob Zimlich for reminding me of the ID for this little moth (on BG); I can't seem to keep the Nolidae in my consciousness.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/1156623
Photographed at the westbound I-10 Rest Area in MS, 2 mi W of the Alabama state line.
This example was photographed at the westbound I-10 Rest Area in MS, 2 mi W of the Alabama state line. It looks a little more purple than most of the examples I've seen in CenTex but I can't seem to make it into anything else.
Seen at the westbound I-10 Rest Area in MS, 2 mi W of the Alabama state line. I could have documented this species at virtually every rest stop and convenience store across the s.e. US.
Comentarios
Thanks for sharing... INat wherever and whenever!
Fantastic writing, Chuck. I went to Sanibel years back after reading of it in Robert Michael Pyle's butterfly Big Year book "Mariposa Road" ( highly recommend )
Nice to know I'm not the only freak lurking around liquor store lights. :)
I love it! Thank you so much for sharing this adventure with all of us on iNat. :) I can't wait to see all of the observations!
Also, remember that you don't have to upload everything all at once. It might be good to wait for a bad weather day that you can't play outside to do some major uploads. I have lots of photos from an outing in Palo Duro that are just waiting for a 'snow day' where I can't go out and catch bugs. :)
Great stuff, Chuck. :)
Great summary! I enjoyed reading it. Do you know that you can attach observations to journal posts?
Great post and photos!
By far the best guide to Sanibel shells is the free one on the shell museum website:
http://www.shellmuseum.org/shells/southwest-florida-shells
In the interest of full disclosure... 20 of my finds are currently displayed on those webpages, for example, the second and third species of keyhole limpets.
Most people on Sanibel do not get down on hands and knees to shell, so, over the last few years of annual two-week visits I have have found many small species that no-one else has put the effort in to look for, especially small bivalves, which a lot of people find hard to ID.
I do, it must be said, always wear very good quality knee and elbow pads, and also magnifying glasses. :)
I still have about 3 quart jars of fine shell debris sitting here on my desk at home waiting to be sifted through! Collected in a last ditch effort at Blind Pass on our last afternoon on the island that September. Sadly, Santa didn't bring me the binocular dissecting scope I'd put on my wish list for Christmas. Somehow, the lump of coal I received instead just doesn't do the trick! ;-)
You made me laugh, Chuck. :)
A really bright light and a cheap head-mounted visor-type magnifier (which offers several different levels of magnification) go a long way towards being able to at least pick out things to identify.
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