Dee at 8 a.m. Presents: Ask David Simpson a Birding Question: Episode 5: What is that Great Blue Heron doing?

In our fifth episode of Ask David a Birding Question, we bring you: What is that Great Blue Heron doing?

Enjoy! And, if you would like to ask a question either post a comment here or send mail to Dee directly. We look forward to your questions.

Location: Fellsmere Grade Recreation Area, Fellsmere

May 31, 2021

This plant is known as Spatterdock

It grows in lakes and ponds

The flowers grow just above the water

But their stems can be up to six feet long. 

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/plant-directory/nuphar-advena/

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 30, 2021

I am a Little Blue Heron

Although at the moment I look kind of mottled

I am molting into my adult blue plumage

I was solid white when I was young and toddled.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

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

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 29, 2021

This is known as Sand Blackberry

It's a shrubby plant with prickly stems. 

Its pollen attracts both long and short tongued bees

As for its berries - songbirds and mammals eat them

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park

Sources: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/rubus-cuneifolius/

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 28. 2021

This is Virginia Meadowbeauty

Also known as Handsome-harry

It attracts both bees and butterflies

And grows in wetlands including wet prairies.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://www.fnps.org/plant/rhexia-spp

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 27, 2021

This is known as Duck Potato

It grows in water and parts of it are edible

It produces egg-shaped rhizomes

That are high in carbohydrates, now ain't that incredible?

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=SALA

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 26, 2021

I am a Red-headed Woodpecker

I'm partial to tall, large diameter trees.

I excavate a cavity to nest in

Using my long and chisel-shaped beak.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

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

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 25, 2021

These are Yellow Hatpins

They are in the photoautotroph trophic guild

That means that they belong to the group of plants

That use the sun to keep their energy needs fulfilled.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://eol.org/pages/345301

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/autotroph/#:~:text=An%20autotroph%20is%20an%20organism,Biology%2C%20Ecology

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 24, 2021

I am a Florida Scrub-Jay

In Florida, I am endemic

I am monitored by volunteers

And kept Dee busy during the pandemic.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://fl.audubon.org/get-involved/jay-watch

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 23, 2021

I am known as a Great Egret

Shown here with my egg on my nest

I'll sit on the egg for 24 days

Then my kid will hatch with eyes opened and fully dressed.

Location: Goodwin Wildlife Management Area, Fellsmere

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

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 22, 2120

I am a Great Blue Heron

You can find me at sources of water

I hang around rivers and seashores and swamps

And in late spring, with my sons and my daughters. 

Location: Goodwin Wildlife Management Area, Fellsmere

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

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 21, 2021

This is Elliott's Milkpea

It makes a quite nice ground cover

It also attracts many species of bees

If you happen to be a bee-lover.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://www.fnps.org/plant/galactia-elliottii

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 20, 2021

I am a female Wild Turkey,

I'm not always the best mom

When I lay eggs, I might dump them

In another mom's nest with great aplomb.

Attention email subscribers: Because the automated email service I currently use is being discontinued in July. I will be moving to a different service. Details will be forthcoming, but in the mean time, if you no longer want to subscribe to email, you can follow me on Facebook or Instagram. I will try to have a new subscription service up by July. 

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

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

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 19, 2021

This is Hypericum tenuifolium

It grows very well in the sand

Ironically it can't tolerate salt water

And only grows well on higher dry land.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://www.fnps.org/plant/hypericum-tenuifolium

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 18, 2021

This is a Pterocaulon pycnostachyum

It has a 4 inch spiked inflorescence

It blooms over a period of several weeks

When viewing it, time's not of the essence.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: http://hawthornhillwildflowers.blogspot.com/2014/05/blackroot-pterocaulon-pycnostachyum.html

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 17, 2021

This is the flower of the Tillandsia balbisiana

Also commonly called Northern Needleleaf

Its status is threatened in Florida because

It's something Mexican bromeliad weevils like to eat.

Location: Fellsmere, my yard

Sources: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/frank/savebromeliads/floridas-bromeliads/Tillandsia-balbisiana.html

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/m_callizona.htm

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 16, 2021

I am a Common Snapping Turtle

We are probably vulnerable to climate change

Because our sex is determined by the temperature

Our eggs are kept after we're laid.

Special thanks to guest photographer, David Simpson.

Location: Fellsmere Grade Road, Headwaters Boat Ramp

Sources: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1083.485&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Photo © 2021 David Simpson and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 15, 2021

I am a Moderately Smooth Warrior Beetle

I'm a predaceous xerophile

That's a fancy way of saying I'm a predator

Who can survive in drought conditions for a while. 

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://www.gbif.org/species/1037094

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 14, 2021

This is known as a Longleaf Pine,

It has a long tap root below us

It produces big pine cones that you can throw

At irresponsible, terrible poets.

(Sorry I messed up posting a poem again today! Feel free to whip a pine cone at my head the next time you see me!)

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/st469

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 13, 2021

I am a Carolina Burying Beetle

So called because I bury dead bugs

Right near where I lay my eggs

So they can be eaten by my daughters and sons.

Special thanks to guest photographer, Heather Stapleton.

Location: Vero Beach, private residence

Sources: https://www.reed.edu/biology/courses/BIO431S05_2017/papers/beetle_ecology.pdf

Photo © 2021 Heather Stapleton and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 12, 2021

I am a Northern Cloudywing

I'm sure you're familiar with the parts of mammalia

But I bet that you never gave thought to

A butterfly's genitalia.

(I never know what I am going to find when researching this blog. But I must admit that "150 year old drawings of a Cloudywings naughty bits" surprised me. Click the link below. To be honest, they kind of look like the first pattern I drew for the Pelican puppet I am making, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how these naughty bits would make a baby butterfly.)

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://butterfliesofamerica.com/thorybes_p_pylades_genitalia.htm

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 11, 2021

I am a Gray Wall Jumping Spider

On a cement wall, I'm easily disguised

But I can see in color and easily find prey

With my extra large two front eyes.

Location: Goodwin Wildlife Management Area, Fellsmere

Sources:  http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/misc/jumping_spiders.htm

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 10, 2021

This is a Ganoderma species

Growing where once a sweet gum grew

Twas struck by lightning, then too much wind

Now life begins anew

Very special thanks to today's guest poet and photographer, the amazing Heather Stapleton.

Location: Vero Beach, private residence

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganoderma

Photo and text © 2021 Heather Stapleton

May 9, 2021

I am a baby Great Horned Owl

Shown here with my mum

Right now I'm insanely adorable

But an efficient predator is what I'll become

(Special thanks to today's special guest photographer, Susan Petracco.)

Location: undisclosed

Sources: http://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/polkco/2019/11/06/commonly-confused-owls-in-florida/

Photo © 2021 Susan Petracco, text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 8, 2021

I am a Cape May Warbler

I have a tiger-striped breast

I like to eat insects and occasionally nectar

I live in the east but have been seen in the west. 

Location: Turkey Creek Sanctuary, Palm Bay

Sources: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cape_May_Warbler/maps-sightings

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 7, 2021

This is a type of Bracket Fungi

It is in the Ganoderma genus

The name comes from the Greek words meaning "shiny" and "skin"

Which doesn't seem accurate - but that's just between us.

Location: Turkey Creek Sanctuary, Palm Bay

Sources: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/48475-Ganoderma

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 6, 2021

I am a Gopher Tortoise

I think the photographer needs glasses.

She thought she was looking at me head on

But she can't tell tortoise heads from asses. 

(In my defense, today is my 57th birthday so I am really really old now. But I did not realize this was the back end of the Tortoise till I downloaded the picture and saw the poop!)

Location: Turkey Creek Sanctuary, Palm Bay

Sources: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/reptiles/gopher-tortoise/

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 5, 2021

The red stuff on this tree is Christmas Lichen Herpothallon rubrocinctum, scientifically

It's a subtropical lichen common in the south east

And it grows in shady swamps and forests on trees.

Location: Turkey Creek Sanctuary, Palm Bay

Sources: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/464189-Herpothallon-rubrocinctum

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 4, 2021

I am a Peninsular Cooter, 

I live in swamps and other fresh water

I am strictly an herbivore, I never eat fish

Plants are the only thing that I will slaughter*

*As described in the link below, humans are one of the Peninsular Cooter's predators. Fishermen are known to shoot Cooters on the mistaken belief that turtles kill and eat game fish. 

Location: Turkey Creek Sanctuary, Palm Bay

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

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

Dee at 8 a.m. Presents: Ask David Simpson a Birding Question: Episode 4: What is an Endemic Bird?

In our fourth episode of Ask David a Birding Question, we bring you: What is an endemic bird?

Enjoy! And, if you would like to ask a question either post a comment here or send mail to Dee directly. We look forward to your questions.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

May 3, 2021

I am known as a Prairie Warbler,

But I don't live up to my name

I don't live on the prairie, I prefer forests or scrubs, 

My population's in decline, what a shame!

Location: Turkey Creek Sanctuary, Palm Bay

Sources: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Prairie_Warbler/lifehistory

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 2, 2021

I am an Eastern Cottontail,

As Rabbits go, I'm bigger than the Marsh

I would say my white fluffy tail makes me cuter

But the Marsh rabbit might think that sounds harsh.  

Location: Turkey Creek Sanctuary, Palm Bay

Sources: https://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/mammals/land/rabbit/

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

May 1, 2021

I am known as a Gopher Tortoise

Note that I am a Tortoise, although also a Turtle*.

Turtles can go in the water, I live exclusively on land

For me, swimming is an insurmountable hurdle!

* Please read the article linked below, but to quote it: 

All tortoises are in fact turtles—that is, they belong to the order Testudines or Chelonia, reptiles having bodies encased in a bony shell—but not all turtles are tortoises. [...] The most important thing to remember about tortoises is that they are exclusively land creatures. 

Location: Turkey Creek Sanctuary, Palm Bay

Sources: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/FLFFWCC/bulletins/fcaa6e

https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-a-turtle-and-a-tortoise

Photo and text © 2021 Dee Fairbanks Simpson