June at the St. Augustine Road Fish Management Area is hot and steamy. The June rains have created a vernal pool that hosts all kinds of interesting critters. A vernal pool is a temporary body of water – this one is created when the summer rains fill ruts in a dirt road and once filled, remains for a good part of the summer. Even in the heat of the day, the frogs were croaking so we’ll see tadpoles soon. We’re fascinated by tiny red tubifex worms – I went straight for the pool to look for them – none yet, but here is a photo from last year:
I caught a tiny spider scurrying across the wet ground. I should call this blog “Photos on the Fly” because my walking buddies are moving fast and don’t give me much time to snap pictures – I have to move quickly. Sorry spider, this is the best I could do:
The gallinule seems to be the only bird around in the summer heat. This one was calling a lot so maybe it has babies hiding in the reeds:
There are a lot of tiny red beetles around but I don’t know if they are eating the leaves or eating whatever is eating the leaves. Doesn’t matter – the lacy patterns are pretty:
