The Case of the Mysterious Dead Turtle

 

Although most of the discussion about non-aquatic turtles and tortoises in Florida focuses on gopher tortoises. I've sometimes wondered whether people were not seeing the complete picture.

Gopher tortoises have certainly declined as development has overtaken their habitat, but I still see them or their active burrows regularly when I am in uplands.

Florida box turtles are another story. If I see one every year or so, I am delighted.

I have read they were actively collected in Florida at one time for the pet trade until wildlife officials stepped in.

I don't know much about their habits except that they do not dig deep burrows like gopher tortoises and instead hollow out a shallow pit and lie among the leaves and soil when they are not active.

Recently I found an empty Florida box turtle shell in the preserve. I have never recorded this species here are far as I can remember over the past 20 years I have been on the site.  

I am assuming it was coyote predation. I see coyote scat regularly in the preserve, but that is just a guess.

New Bald Eagle Nest A Surprise

 

A pair of Bald Eagles have  fledged two young in a communications tower of some sort behind an industrial building across the street from the preserve.

The nest site, if I recall correctly, was formerly  occupied by Ospreys.

Today when I was checking it out, an Osprey flew by, touching off vocalization by an adult perched near the nest.

I was told by someone who works nearby that this is not one of the nests that is monitored by the EagleWatch program.

 

Another Lupine Season Begins Slowly; Old Lupines Protected This Time

 A few Scrub Lupines have begun to poke their light green pubescent leaves above the white sand here on the Winter Haven Ridge.

There were only a few visible today, which is the time of year when they begin to emerge.

The fire lane near the planting areas were recently disced. This time the more mature lupines were protected by a marked enclosure. One appears to be mature enough to bloom this year if it survives until spring. I don't know how the mechanical work will affect the seed bank in the fire lane. It will be something to watch.

There is little color in mid-winter here other than scrub holly fruit and Carolina jessamine.

One of the neighbors told me about a recent wild hog sighting. I did a walk through and didn't see any evidence so far of rooting. This would be the first hog sighting in several years.

The cool, sunny day did produce three Black Racers warming themselves. Some didn't  seem inclined to flee as long as I maintained a respectful. distance. 

Hawk Briefly Welcomes Visitors To Site

 

As I was completing some roadside trash cleanup today, I returned  to see that a Red-shouldered Hawk was perched on the entrance sign. I see them here occasionally, but this is the first time I've been able to photo document this species here for iNaturalist.

I

Some new bird nesting discoveries

I don't spend much time in the preserve in the summer and even less in the dense southern  tract.
I recently went in to check out the condition of the Rosemary plants, all of which look pretty scraggly. but along the way made some other discoveries.
I saw more resident bird density than I see in the north tract.
I found Great Crested Flycatchers nesting in an exposed trunk in a sand pine that had fallen over, probably because of storm activity.
I also saw Pine Warbler, Northern Parula Warbler and Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher that likely nest in the dense forest canopy and understory.
I also found another cache of trash from old homeless hangouts and filled two five-gallon buckets, b but probably will eventually encounter more bottles and other debris.
I also saw Britton's beargrass farther into the south tract as I had seen before and some Curtiss' milkweed.
Additionally, I am working to figure out where the gaps are on iNaturalist postings for both tracts, since I apparently have some unexpected gaps.
 

Still Making Discoveries After 17 Years

I put together a tentative plant  list for this site about 10 years, but the list continues to grow as I stumble onto species I missed somehow during 17 years of crisscrossing this small preserve.
The latest was Zigzag Bladderwort, a small yellow-flowered plant with a filamentous stem that I find in wet areas in pine flatwoods. This plant appeared at the edge of lowland area near its collision with scrubby flatwoods. Ecotones are like that.
I also recently found a  new species (for this site) of tiger beetles. Now the site boasts two common species.
Meanwhile, I have also been counting the bog orchids popping up in the small bayhead
I am also in the process of cutting a path around the perimeter along the fence line to further surv
ey this section to advance efforts to complete a catalog of the flora on managed properties in Polk and Highlands counties.
I also found the discarded shell of a Florida Box Turtle; in the Bayhead. I do not know where it came from. I rarely see this species anywhere.

Still cleaning up following prescribed fire

I went out today and brought back 4 five-gallon buckets of garbage exposed by the recent prescribed burns on the north side of the preserve.

The bulk of the trash was household garbage and the largest number of items were baby food jars.
I also disturbed a Southern  Toad that was hiding inside the containers.
Habeneria floribunda (nee odentopetala) is beginning to emerge in the bayhead on the southwest corner of the north tract.
Some vegetation is beginning to resprout, but it will take time to appreciate the full impact of the fire.
I'm also beginning to see more mushrooms.

Fire continues on north side

FWC's fire crew, with assistance of Auburndale Fire Department, continued burning the northern sandhill habitat areas today.
I spent part of the morning collecting debris the fire on Thursday had uncovered.
Most of it consisted of bottles and cans, but I found an abandoned TV, the bottom drawer of a stove and an  old tire.
I found a Black Racer and a Ringneck Snake taking refuge under some debris and saw a Glass Snake Lizard in the open and one that wasn't quick enough for the fire.
I'll check back over the weekend or more debris.
Also, some FWC folks reported seeing a coyote, which is a first for the property.

Concrete & Glass

I went to the preserve over the weekend with a goal of culling some of the Ceasarweed, but got distracted with the work next to the fire lane near the First Avenue gate.
I ended up digging up a large amount of concrete debris as well as some carpet and other household trash and related debris.
I did pile up some Ceasarweed and found another batch of Corona beer bottles.
While I was tossing the bottles into the edge of the fire lane I was approached by one of the neighbors.
He told me the bottles were coming from weekend parties held by his neighbors.
Meanwhile, while I was excavating the debris I encountered another Eastern Glass
Snake Lizard, minus part of its tail tip, which will generate. It stayed for a few moments before disappearing into the surrounding habitat.  

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 butterfly lands here

While I was making a periodic check of the preserve, I took a break to do some butterflying.

In a area along the  north fire lane that is shaded by Poinciana trees, I saw a flash of brown that I  photographed. It was a Three-Spotted Skipper, a species formerly restricted to south Florida that has been appearing here more regularly.

Clearing Natal grass

I finally finished some of the major removal of Natal grass along a main path and around the two Scrub Lupine beds.
 I found some additional dumping of residential construction debris in in the woods along the northern fire lane.-
Very few flowers are blooming except Blue Curls and Pittyopsis.
Winter is coming.
Palm warblers are flitting around the edges. 

Beetles To The South Of Me...

I followed up on my recent beetle search with another search in the south tract, where very little work has ever been done.  I've had a couple in the past, the same as recently in the north tract.

This new location yielded as many as 23 at one time, which may have  scared away the moths I was looking for.

It was truly impressive.

Gopher Tortoise May Have Moved In

I found a burrow that appears to be a young Gopher Tortoise, origin unknown.
There are many abandoned burrows here, but no resident population.
I have seen two tortoises here in the past 13 years. One dug a burrow, but was only here briefly. I also found one dead once near another burrow.
I have not seen the critter yet.

They Only Come Out At Night

This large millipede species (Narceus gordanus, if you want to be formal) is quite common here.
I find them curled up under leaf litter when I'm doing various kinds of management work.
I've seen their tracks in the sand, but rarely seen them on the move.
At dusk today I spotted one in the open after I had been photographing some moths nearby.[

Lupines, Trash and a Sun Snake

I stopped by this morning to check on the lupines, retrieve my flags and pick up a little trash.
I found some beer bottle pieces and other debris, discovered about half a dozen lupine seedlings.
Interestingly, some are sprouting in the middle of dense patches of Natal grass, which seems surprising.
On the way to check on the volunteer lupine areas--nothing new there, but it doesn't hurt to check--I found a
Black Racer coiled in the sun in an opening near the trail. I took a quick photo and let the snake resume its basking.

Lupine Are Coming Up All Overl

I stopped by today to check on the progress of the Scrub Lupine sprouting in the original planting area.
I wasn't disappointed.
I found several more sprouts. I have found 35 new sprouts in addition to what my friends at Bok Tower, who did the initial survey, came up with.
I found more seedlings outside of the expected area, leading me to wonder how do the seeds spread?
I have been told they are ejected some distance, but it seems there is another factor at work,.
I have seen the same thing in my yard with the neighbor's Orchid Tree (Bauhinia). It is known to eject seeds, but I find sprouts 40 feet away.
I'm left to wonder whether it's wildlife or humans (carrying seeds a short distance on the soles of our  .shoes or both.

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.

Beetles, Roaches and Crickets, Oh, My!

I went out this evening to check on the status of the resident invertebrate population in early spring.
I brought my light, but not my chair, a concession to becoming an older person.
In an hour I saw a Sand Cockroach, a Mole Cricket and the Auburndale Scrub Beetle and a few assorted smaller beasties.
I just wanted to make sure everyone was home still.

Caesar weed round I done

This morning I got out and finished pulling up the last of the Caesar weed stands I could find near the fire lane. I am finding fewer sprouts in the fire lane, which is encouraging. This may take a couple of seasons, but source reduction seems to be the best management technique.

I've thought of bringing in some Painted Leaf from my yard or somewhere to see if an aggressive native can hold an aggressive exotic at bay.

Found more trash, too. Surprise. Surprise. Surprise.

During a rest period, noticed a Northern Flicker and a Red-bellied Woodpecker are making use of a pine snag nearby. Don't see Flickers often anymore.

Bobwhite still calling in the distance.