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Fairy Circles at Arbor Lakes

Posted by Gary on September 10, 2012 in Uncategorized

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Beware of the fairy circle, the elf ring and the pixie ring. Rumor has it they are the gateways to elfin kingdoms where elves gather to dance and party. One of these entryways opened up in front of our clubhouse. You can easily find it by looking for a circle of mushrooms on the lawn.

The only safe way to explore a fairy ring is to run around it exactly nine times in the direction the sun rises and sets on a full moon night. Be sure to wear your hat backwards as it confuses the fairies. I tried it during our last full moon. Honestly, I did. I thought I heard them singing, but then again maybe it was the ringing in my ears. Or maybe, it was the couple glasses of wine I drank to get the nerve up to try it.

Mushrooms thrive in moist environments and with the abundance rainfall this summer, the conditions are perfect for these fungi to grow. On some lawns mushrooms will grow in an expanding ring from a center point. The rings can grow over 30 feet in diameter. It often starts where there is a rich supply of organic matter such as from decaying roots left behind when a tree is removed. Oftentimes the inner circle becomes discolored. This is due to the nutrients sucked out of the soil by the mushrooms.

Fortunately for me, the elves did not catch me. If they did, they would have made me dance until I dropped from exhaustion. And no, I did not step into the circle for if I did, I would die young (too late for me at this point). Have you seen me lately? These circles can make you invisible to others. Hmm! Maybe I should check that out!

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Cricket Frog Goes for a Swim!

Posted by Gary on August 24, 2012 in Reptiles and Amphibians

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Swimming in the community pool, a stone’s throw from Lake Tsala Apopka, Anne and I see what appears to be a tiny frog clinging to the side of the pool. Upon closer examination we see that, yes, it is a cricket frog.

Anyone who lives in our community or near a lake in the south likely has heard the call of this frog in the evening. It sounds like someone is banging rocks or marbles together. It is  a loud call from such a small creature, a mere 1.5 inches long.

It is the boys who are calling to the girls because after a heavy rain, romance is in the air. Female frogs will select the male based on his ability to sing to finest tune. Eggs are laid while the male fertilizes the eggs and eventually tadpoles hatch and mature into adults in just 90 days.

The best thing about these frogs is that they love to eat mosquitoes! Beware little frog because any animal larger than you will have you for dinner. And let’s not forget the cranes, egrets, herons and other wading birds that will hunt you down.

Anne and I discuss if we should force it out of the pool, but I hesitate to do that because of the hot Florida sun. Then, the little cricket frog climbs up over the pool ledge, leaps onto the hot concrete and with a few more jumps, it goes into the shrubs. Later, we hear the clanging of marbles and wonder if it is the one we saw. Hopefully, its call will attract more frogs to the pool area where they can act as bug zappers to keep the mosquito numbers low.

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Newborn Beauties Float on Gentile Breezes to Begin Their Journey of Life

Posted by Gary on August 21, 2012 in Insects

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Jade green Monarch chrysalids dangle from the backyard plants, windowsills and even the barbecue. Anne and I wait with great anticipation for ten days to pass to see these orange beauties rupture from their diaphanous sheaths.

We know this is about to happen when the chrysalis begins to turn black. Within 24 hours, a new life will join the natural world. The emergence happens in seconds. The protective sheath splits open, birthing fluid gushes out, and a wet, black bodied wrinkle-winged creature appears.

The newborn hangs to help internal fluids to flow into the veined wings. The butterfly pumps its wings open and close, open and close. With each action the wings inflate progressively more and we begin to see an insect that is pristine, brilliant and flawless. Still wet from birth, it spreads out its wings under the summer sun to dry them off. We are even able to determine its sex. Males have a distinctive black spot on their hind wings that the females lack.

After a couple of hours, the new butterfly flaps its wings, lifts up and floats on a gentle breeze out of sight to begin its new life. Anne and I are deeply satisfied that we have helped this species recover with the planting of our milkweed garden.

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Overlooked Dainty Butterflies

Posted by Gary on August 15, 2012 in Insects

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Beads of sweat form on my forehead from the hot Florida sun as I search our milkweed garden for native toads that I want to photograph for my blog. As I wipe the sweat from my forehead a small white butterfly captures my attention. It is one of the smallest butterflies I’ve ever seen, merely an inch long. It flies just inches above the ground, then lands on a blade of grass. I know that it is a butterfly because when it rests, it closes its wings. I try to get a closer look at it, but each time I approach the butterfly, it alights and flies a few feet away where it stops again.

I grab my camera to photograph it, lie flat on my stomach and snap a few photographs. Then I crawl closer and take a few more pictures. Maybe this petite butterfly sensed I wasn’t a threat or maybe I was just getting better at approaching it, but it allowed me the opportunity examine it closely. Yes it was a butterfly for sure. In addition to closing its wings it had clubbed antennae, typical for butterflies.

“O.K., now open your wings for me,” I ordered as I focused the camera on the dainty butterfly. The underside of its wings was white, but from experience I knew that the top wings were probably completely different. The small butterfly did not cooperate. I decided to set my camera setting to the sports setting to see if I could capture the butterfly in flight. The shutter speed probably would not be fast enough to freeze it perfectly, but I was just hoping to get a glimpse of the upper part of the butterfly.

I aimed and shot and followed the aloof butterfly to the best of my ability hoping that I could at least capture a glimpse of the upside wings. I went inside to download the images. One blurry picture after another, and lovely pictures of woodchips, dirt and grass. Finally, I see one image of the top of its wings. It certainly is not one to submit to any photography contests, but it accomplished what I wanted and I am excited.

Wow, what a difference between the upper side and lower side of its wings. Although it appeared to be a white butterfly when flying, the upper wings revealed a yellow butterfly with distinctive black markings. That was enough information for me to open the identification books to determine what species it was.

Oh, it’s a Dainty Sulpher butterfly. The males patrol just a few inches above the ground for females. If that doesn’t work, they land and flash the female with their bright sulpher colored wings. Our community is the perfect habitat since this creature prefers open dry places including roadsides and fields. During the spring these tiny butterflies travel as far north as Ohio. Absolutely amazing!

Thunder rumbles in the distance and draws my attention to the western sky where I see large thunder-head clouds forming, probably over the Gulf. I look forward to the cooling the storms will have once the pass through our area. I see two more Dainty Sulpher butterflies and am glad I became aware of these overlooked insects.

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They are Toads, not Frogs!

Posted by Gary on August 10, 2012 in Reptiles and Amphibians

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I can’t help it. It is the scientist in me. I have to sort each creature in its proper classification. It started in the high school biology class and continued through college and into my job.

How is a toad different from a frog? Well, if you are brave enough to touch a toad’s skin you will feel a dry bumpy skin. This is because toads tend to live in drier areas, in woodlands, in gardens. Frogs have smooth, often slippery skins. Frogs live in and around the water or where there is a lot of moisture. Both have similar life cycles. They hatch from eggs into tadpoles that grow into adults, but toads develop quicker than frogs and emerge from the lakes as tiny toadlets. Frogs will take months or even a couple of years, depending on the species, to develop into adults. Frogs do most of their growth as tadpoles.

After the heavy early summer rains, we are seeing an invasion of toads of all sizes in the evening chilling on our lawns, sitting in our gardens and hopping across our roads. The rains drew the adults to the lake where they laid eggs in gelatinous strings. The tiny tadpoles that hatched rapidly developed into baby toads no bigger than a thumbnail. These toadlets wandered from the lake into our neighborhood and found refuge in our yards. And that is a good thing since they eat mosquitoes and other insects. Over the next few months they will grow eating more and more insects until they are about the size of a small adult fist.

Don’t worry, although their skin is covered in warts, you will not get warts on your hands as a result of touching them. The warts are glands that secrete a distasteful substance so if a raccoon or other animal decide to eat them, they will be spat out. And that is their best defense against predators. But be forewarned, toads perceive you as a predator too and they will shower you with urine if you pick them up! So if you handle a toad, be sure to wash your hands.

O.K. so now I have to classify them even further. They are Southern Toads, a species that is common and native to our area here in central Florida.

IMPORTANT UPDATE:  I just saw a story about how a dog was poisoned and died when it grabbed a toad. It has two large glands that secrete poisons when the toad is squeezed, probably for protection. The species of toad the dog was poisoned by was not the toad discussed in this story, but by an invasive toad called the Marine Toad, Bufo marinus. This large species ( 6 – 10 inches) is native to South and Central America but is now found in southern Florida and in the Tampa area after an accidental release in 1955 at the Miami airport. I added this for your information per chance that you encounter this toad and especially if you live in these areas.  My heart goes out to the owner who’s dog died after encountering this toad.

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