September 29, 2026

This plant is Aechmea purpureorosea

It is native to southeast Brazil

It is in the Bromeliad family

And is an herbaceous perennial.

Location: McKee Botanical Gardens, Vero

Sources: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/774516-Aechmea-purpureorosea#articles-tab

Photo and text © 2026 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

September 28, 2026

I am a Florida Fast Woodlouse

You might mistake me for a roach, but look a bit  closer

I play an important role in the ecosystem

Like Bach erasing his work, I'm a decomposer.

Location: My House, Fellsmere

Sources: https://gotfeeders.com/blogs/faq/the-fascinating-world-of-isopods-natures-tiny-decomposers

Photo and text © 2026 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

September 27, 2026

We are a pair of Southern Two-striped Walkingsticks

We are widely seen with stripes of brown

Our stripes can be white in ONF*

And only at ABS** orange stripes are found.

* Ocala National Forest

**Archbold Biological Station

Location: My house, Fellsmere

Sources: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/510

Photo and text © 2026 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

September 26, 2026

I am a baby Brown (Cuban) Anole

I'm known as a trunk-ground ecomorph

That means that I stay mostly low to the ground
I'm invasive and widely abhorred.

Location: McKee Gardens, Vero Beach

Sources: https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/UW486

Photo and text © 2026 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

September 25, 2026

I am a White Peacock Butterfly

When I was an egg, I was small and green

As a caterpillar I was black with white/silver dots

Then a chrysalis, and now I am me!

Location: McKee Gardens, Vero Beach

Sources: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Anartia_jatrophae/

Photo and text © 2026 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

September 24, 2026

I am an adult male Blue Dasher Dragonfly
My mates's abdomen is darker with yellow stripes

I only have yellow stripes on my thorax

But our faces are both mostly white. 

(Just to clarify - these are 2 different views of the same male dragonfly. The Bugguide entry linked below has a great comparison between male, female and juvenile Blue Dashers with great photos. I highly recommend checking it out.)

Location: McKee Gardens, Vero Beach

Sources: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/598

Photo and text © 2026 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

September 23, 2026

This plant is Tropical Milkweed

It looks a bit like a ballerina

Unfortunately, it harms Monarch Butterflies

Too bad there's no Monarch Chow made by Purina.

(Please review the linked graphic below, it gives an excellent concise explanation of how Tropical [versus Native] Milkweed harms Monarch butterflies.)

Location: McKee Gardens, Vero Beach

Sources: https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/hillsboroughco/files/2025/11/Monarch-Milkweed-graphic.jpg

https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/hillsboroughco/2025/11/05/plant-status-change-tropical-milkweed-is-now-listed-as-a-category-ii-invasive/

Photo and text © 2026 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.