What happened to spring? It seems the robins were just passing through and the wild azalea tree was blooming. Now it’s hot, most of the visiting birds around the lakes at the St Augustine Road Fish Management Area are gone, and by afternoon we’re having to close up the house and turn the air con…
Earl Johnson Park
February at the St Augustine Road Fish Management Area
February is only half over and has been pretty warm, prompting lots of blooming berries at the St Augustine Road Fish Management Area. Hope the forecasted cold snap doesn’t do everything in. Not that we ever get any of the berries – the animals know exactly when to eat them – always the day before we get there. We had…
January at the St. Augustine Road Fish Management Area
This cool (and rainy) January made for pleasant walks through Earl Johnson Park, a.k.a., the St. Augustine Road Fish Management Area. The usual coots and gallinules were there and last week, we saw one of my favorites, a Wood Stork! We see them in other ponds in the area but rarely around these lakes. There is always…
Good to be Back
October 2014 ~ It has been a while. Travel and family kept us occupied all summer. It seemed that every time we had the time to make our trek through the woods, rain made it impossible to cross the little stream that allowed access to the park from our home. Good to see the St….
Spider with Egg Sac
This week’s Photo Friday challenge is “Structure”. Last week I mentioned small structures on the Bald Cypress trees around the pond at the St Augustine Road Fish Management Area (a.k.a, Earl Johnson Park). They are galls, produced by the Cypress Twig Gall Midge, Taxodiomyia cupressiananassa. One had a tiny spider on it and now that spider has woven…
Cypress Twig Gall Midge
We had never heard of a Cypress Twig Gall Midge until last week. When we stopped for Quinn to take his photo of the sunning turtle, I took a closer look at the Bald Cypress growing at the edge of the pond at the St. Augustine Road Fish Management area. There were quite a few gray growths all…
Photo Friday: What I Found
This week’s Photo Friday Challenge, “What I Found” is perfect for this week’s images from our walk around the ponds at the St. Augustine Road Fish Management Area. Quinn found a turtle sunning itself on a log in the South pond and took quite a photo – the turtle (a cooter or a slider – we…