My Nature ID Rocks

Leave me a comment if you've found and liked my rocks! And visit my daily blog or like me on Facebook if you want to know more about birds and the critters around here.

Nature ID Rock #1 - Painted Bunting

Front

Back

Nature ID Rock #2 - Northern Cardinal  (Male)

Nature ID #3 - Pileated Woodpecker (Not Ivory Bill)

Nature ID Rock #4 - Coming Soon!

Nature ID #5 - Coming Soon!

Unidentified Bugs

Not Positively Identified

Some kinda moth on Saltmarsh Mallow (Kosteletzkya virginica)  (ID courtesy of Jim Stahl)(Fellsmere, Goodwin WMA)

Positively Identified

Black Horse Fly (Tabanus atratus) (ID courtesy of Jim Stahl)

Scarlet Skimmer (Crocothemis servilla) male. (Fellsmere, Goodwin WMA) (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)

Scarlet Skimmer (Crocothemis servilla) male. (Fellsmere, Goodwin WMA) (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)

Halloween Pennant (Celithemis eponina) female (Fellsmere, Goodwin WMA) (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)

Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) male (Fellsmere, Goodwin WMA) (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)

Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) male. (Fellsmere, Goodwin WMA) (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)

Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus) male (Fellsmere, Goodwin WMA) (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)

Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) female (Fellsmere, Goodwin WMA) (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)

Four-spotted Pennant (Brachymesia gravida) immature female (Fellsmere, Goodwin WMA) (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)

Golden-winged Skimmer (Libellula auripennis) femalec Playlinda Beach. (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)

Seaside Dragonlet, Female. Playalinda Beach.  (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)


Seaside Dragonlet, Male. Playalinda Beach. (ID Courtesy of Jim Eager)

Bastard False Indigobush

I found this at Goodwin Wildlife Management Area. Thanks to Jim Stahl, I now know these are Amorpha fruticosa, commonly known as Bastard False Indigobush

The underside is a duller green than the top (first picture). The tops are shiny.

Steampunk Spider

I made this a while back. It was a reject from the series that I did for the ELC. Maybe just be being a goof but I thought it was funny that I made her brass goggles have 8 lenses.

Coontie Hairstreak (aka Eumaeus atala) at the Environmental Learning Center

I had the pleasure of joining Heather for a walk at the ELC this morning. Saw the most amazing thing. They have a zillion Coontie Hairstreak butterflies breeding there, and I was able to take pictures of them in many stages of development. I also took a few pix of the other cool stuff there. Click the pictures to view full size. Enjoy!

Make sure that you click to enlarge this one.
These are some eggs of the Atala butterfly. Note the little hairs. Those are from the mom's anal tufts - she leaves behind the hairs to warn predators not to eat the eggs.

This is a caterpillar. Note the bite marks around the edge of the leaf. Coontie is the favorite plant of the Atala, hence the common name "Coontie Hairstreak"

Notice the slightly translucent look and the lack of spots on the head. This caterpillar is the pre-pupa stage.

Now notice a caterpillar that has attached itself to  a leaf and is mostly a pupa now.

You can still see some spots from when he was a caterpillar here, but he is starting to look more chrysalis-like now.

Notice here that the spots are almost gone now.

Many of these chrysalises are in different stages.

You can see the start of the butterfly here on the left.

Here you can see the wing starting to emerge from the lower chrysalis.

There are few different stages shown here. In the center, the butterfly has almost fully emerged. Butterflies have already left the more brown chrysalises. The one on the far right is just starting to emerge.

A chrysalis that has been recently vacated.

A bunch of butterflies hanging around with different stage chrysalises.

One Atala fully emerged.

Two just hanging around.

I'm not entirely sure what the little orange droplets are behind this one. Maybe he just peed?

A beautiful example of a Coontie Hairstreak.

Miss Heather with an adult Coontie Hairstreak.

As always, there is so much to see at the Environmental Learning Center. Here is an adult Golden Orb Weaver (aka "Golden Silk Spider" - there are a lot of common names for this one.) Notice her boyfriend just to the left of her back leg. The large dark spots are dinner, and the small sliver dots are her young'un.

I have no idea what species this is but it was TOO cool. He had just molted his exoskeleton when we walked by (the exoskeleton is the smaller white thing with black legs.) The shape resembles an Assassin bug, but those are usually red.

The Indian River Lagoon from the ELC dock.

A Green Anole on the ELC dock.

The mangroves, doing a great job protecting both the lagoon critters and the shoreline.

Gaillardia. I love the variation of color in them.

An all yellow Gaillardia.

A more typical orange-pink-yellow Gaillardia.

A more pink-pale yellow Gaillardia.

As always, a wonderful day out at the ELC. Make sure you stop by, it is a great time of year, especially if you love butterflies!