May, 2016 ~ Chickens ?!!? As we entered the St. Augustine Road Fish Management Area, we thought we heard a rooster crow. No, must have been something else. Then another crow. Very strange – in all the years of walking in the area, we’ve never heard a rooster crow. And just as we entered a clearing, there…
St. Augustine Road Fish Management area
April in the St. Augustine Road Fish Management Area
Well, here it is the middle of May and I’m just getting back into action after being away for a while. Good news! Someone is showing the St. Augustine Road Fish Management Area some love – a few benches have been installed around the lake and the little fishing dock has a new railing. So better late…
November in the Park
November 2015 ~ It has been fairly quiet in the St. Augustine Road Fish Management Area, a.k.a, Earl Johnson Park – the wintering ducks haven’t arrived yet and all the interesting spiders are gone. There is only a little fall foliage: The little cypress tree is bright green: And the ferns were pretty happy after a…
Mating Spiders!
More excitement this summer – mating spiders! I recently posted about some of our summer spider finds in the park. The Golden-silk Orbweaver, Nephila clavipes, at over two inches, was one of the largest we’d ever seen of this species. She was surrounded by smaller males and seemed to be attracting more by the day….
Mystery of the Little Red Beetle
The mystery of the little red beetle is solved! Earlier this year, we started noticing little red beetles during our walks through the woods. We’ve been walking through these woods regularly for the past five years and never noticed them before. But I was in my lady bug phase, spending hours a day in our…
Sp…Sp…Sp…Spiders!
August was the best month for spiders! In addition to my favorite Orchard Spiders, I found loads of the little funnel weaving spiders and a few little crab-like Spiny Backed Orb Weavers. But the best were two of the largest that I’ve seen yet: The first find was the Black and Yellow Garden Spider, Argiope aurantia….
August 2015
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 – …