The Giant mosquito, a.k.a. Gallinipper, lives up to its name.
It was hot and rainy but wow, did we find some interesting things. I have never seen a giant mosquito. This thing was huge – like an inch long. It looked exactly like a mosquito but I didn’t believe it was until I got home and looked it up. The common name is Gallinipper – read all about it on the University of Florida site: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in967
The vernal pool comes and goes with the rains.
The vernal pool is back, created by the heavy rain, and the little red tubifex worms are reappearing. The clumps aren’t big enough yet to get a good picture but I’m watching.
Ant hill after the heavy rain
The ants are having to dig themselves out daily. The soil is so wet that they are creating the strangest shaped mounds.
Ants forming a living bridge across the puddle
One of the most amazing sights was an ant bridge. For whatever reason, the colony was moving across the road and instead of going around the puddle, they were building a living ant bridge across it. This went on for two days. We left town for a few days so never got to see the final outcome.
Great Blue Heron sitting on fish feeder
The Blue Heron is still hanging around the fish feeder. We used to see and hear the feeders go off, scattering fish food. Some of the feed would land on the base of the feeder and remain there but we haven’t seen that in a while so wonder if the FWC is still maintaining the feeders.
A Banana Spider – Golden Silk Orbweaver, Nephila clavipes
Banana Spiders! We saw her set up housekeeping right along the trail and in less that 24 hours, two males had appeared on the periphery of her web. You can see one of the small males just above her.
Florida Water Snake
Closing with another favorite: a Florida water snake. We’ve been startling this little small snake all month long. Evidently the fishing is good in this spot or it would have abandoned its haunt and gotten the hell away from these stomping human invaders.
