A Pleasant Evening at the Preserve

 Monday night I settled into a spot at dusk near the northwest corner of the norther n tract to see what was flying  after dark.

In the meantime I was treated with a glorious sunset as the rainclouds cleared.

As the sun set, I could hear the booming of a Common Nighthawk, which still finds summer refuge here.

A pair of bats came zooming in above the fire lane from the lowland forest to the west.

As the darkness deepened, my lighted sheet began to become animated.

Burrower bugs landed in the first wave, followed by various species of scarabs, including a small light brown  individual  that was initially identified as a sand-loving scarab.

As usual, I was hoping for moths and eventually a few appeared.

The Southern Emerald was the first and later a Subject Lichen Moth and some micros of various species  arrived, but they remained outnumbered by the beetles.

Yikes! Lygodium arrives; attack plan under way

 I peeked into the small bayhead in one corner of the preserve to see whether the Habenaria floribunda were coming up. They were..

However, when I turned around to look at the fence line I spotted what I hope is only the beginning of a Lydodium  infestation.  I have plans to go back with some bags to see if I can collect it before it takes over.

This is the first time I've seen this pest plant here, though a couple of years ago I did observe a Lygodium Defoliator Moth  at my light in another section of the preserve and was wondering how far it had flown from its host plant.

Butterfly list grows

The Garberia is in bloom all over the preserve, offering the main nectar source for pollinators in late fall in scrub.

This week I found a Monk Skipper, which is my first sighting of this species here.
It is the 56th butterfly species I have observed here during the past 17 years of monitoring the site.
That is a respectable number for a small site in the middle of an industrial /commercial/residential area.
Some other recent additions to the butterfly list included Three-spotted Skipper and Polydamas Swallowtail.

I also photographed a Polka Dot Wasp Moth on the Garberia.
This is a fairly common diurnal moth, but I can't recall whether I had seen one here.

New Exotic Wildflower Has Benefits

(From top to bottom: Great Purple Hairstreak, Zebra Longwing, Black-dotted Spragueia, Gulf Fritillary)

There has been a lot of heavy breathing in the native plant community during the last few years about the appearance of another tropical exotic.
This one is Praxelis clematidea. It vaguely resembles some native wildflowers, but has a telltale scent of cat urine that clinches the identification.
It thrives in disturbed areas and is likely spread by mowing equipment because fire lanes are where I'm finding it here.
What I'm also finding is a lot of butterflies and other pollinators on it.
Today I found 13 species of butterflies, two species of moths and two species of wasps nectaring on this plant in the fire lane during a brief visit.
Interestingly, this was only my second sighting of Great Purple Hairstreak.

New moth light, work days

It has been a busy week at the preserve.
I have finished removing the dumped concrete debris from the fire lane. It has been used for the main entrance and for bolstering the entrance road at another preserve that has some issues from truck traffic.
Meanwhile, the First Street gate was the first test for my new moth light set up. I added some new species for the county as well as some new species for the site.
I was able to deal with some of the larger concrete pieces--pieces I could not lift into my truck--by breaking them up with a sledge hammer.

Stuff that flies in the night and day

I set up a monitoring station site the other day
to set up a light to resume moth surveys,
In late afternoon when I was bringing in materials
 I saw a group of about 10 migrating Chimney
 Swifts feeding overhead.
After dark the  traffic is still a little slow. I had
a few moths and beetles, several leafhoppers
 and a couple of species of roaches.
There were also mosquitoes.
One of the leafhoppers was unusually colorful
 with an interesting design and the exotic roach
 was more colorful than native species. Interestingly
, no sand cockroaches showed up that evening
though they regularly appear.

New moth for site, national database

I recently was able to go mothing in between rainy evenings and unfavorable moon phases.

Activity has been pretty slow lately, but I did make a good find.

My light attracted a moth called Monoleuca erectifascia (it doesn't have a common name). It was the 638th confirmed moth species of Polk County and the first confirmed record for North America on the Butterflies and Moths of North America database. 

Education, Brazilian Pepper

I gave a talk on Lake Blue Scrub June 16 to the Suncoast Chapter of the Florida  Native Plant Society with an emphasis on the Scrub Lupine recovery project.
The talk my generate some additional visitors.

I also got back today to begin trimming some of the Brazilian Pepper  that is coming in over the north fence. I got the worst out with loppers, but I'm going to have to return with a saw.

I walked along the north fire lane. It seems the Corona beer bottle accumulation has subsided  bit. Perhaps my habit of throwing the bottles back toward the[ fence sent a message.

Moths and Beetles

I was out tonight to check on the status of the beetles and to see if anything else was stirring between thunderstorms today.

The beetles, which weren't out a couple of weeks ago, are back, along with some other critters, such as Sand Cockroach, another endemic.

I also found  a common moth called a Small Mocis, which was not as exciting as the Scopula I had over the weekend.

Moth List Grows

While I was checking on the status of the scrub beetles the other night, I did find an interesting moth, which I believe is called a Six-spotted Aroga.
It's the first one I can recall seeing.
I had no luck with the beetles. I might have been a little off on my timing.
I have not seen or heard any Common Nighthawks yet, either.

Moths & Milkweed

I made an interesting discovery this week.
While I was wrapping up some exotics control around dusk, I saw a  couple of Harlequin Moths on Curtiss' Milkweed.

I had seen these moths in the preserve before,, but I had never seen moths of this species nectaring before.

Typically, sphinxes and flower moths do this, but from what I've read, most other moths do not. In fact, many moths do not feed much in their adult stage.

I Love October Here

I love to come to this place in October because of the

expected beauty I see and the unexpected bonus sights i run across.

I gave a tour during Central Florida Naturefest and then came back on my own for a more liesurely view.

I've been out here more than a decade and I still find it worth exploring because there's so much new to find.

Today I'll show you Blue-eyed Grass, Balduinia, Palafoxia, Lopsided Indian Grass in an oak hammock, A jumping spider at home in cactus hiding we and new, petite moth called a Harlequin Webworm Moth.

Lake Blue's Night Life

I had done some night invert surveys during the research on Polyphylla starkae, but last night was the first night I was seriously looking for moths.

My stakeout was a bench in a sandhill hammock. I spent about three hours.
The result was 20 species of moths or so.
I have more heavily into moth observation in the past month.
I'm gradually learning what's common and trying to sort out what I see to remember what is new and what is already on my list.
Here are some of the images.

Moth Among The Momordica

I was checking the plants in the sandhill area over the weekend when I saw something fly in the tangle of exotic vegetation that surrounds the preserve's endangered habitat.

It was a small moth, but what kind.

I got a brief look at saw that it was one of a group of moths with a tufted-looking tail  (anal tufts to you lepidopterists out there) , a Melonworm Moth (Diaphania hyalinata).

This common species is found in squash and melon patches, which is why it was thriving in a tangle of Momordica, an exotic vine that produces squash-like fruit.

New species to the invert list, by the way.   .