An Abundance of Julia

Julia butterflies (Dryas iulia) were amazingly abundant at the Captain Forster Hammock Preserve when we visited there on 4-12-2019.  Near to the parking lot, they were sipping nectar from snow squarestem (Melanthera nivea) shown above. Nearer to Highway A1A, these…

Floral Beauty in Eye of Beholder

Florida privet (Forestiera segregata) is flowering again.  Wild olive is another name for this sturdy native plant often found volunteering along mosquito impoundment dikes and in the midst of ornamental hedges underneath places where birds perch.  Birds seem to love…

Life in the Treetops – sort of

Though participants in the 2018 Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory (FMEL) volunteer nature stewardship class were looking for mosquito larvae in holes of the great Atlantic land crab (Cardisoma guanhumi) and in native tank bromeliads (Tillandsia  sp.), some Lepidoptera -- moths and…