January 28, 2018

Location: Blackpoint Wildlife Drive, Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge

Spoonbills and Ibis are tactile feeders,
They feel around for something to grab.
Tricolored Herons are visual feeders,
They patiently look for something to stab.

Photo and text © 2017 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 27, 2018

Location: Lake Apopka, Magnolia Park

Here lies an Eastern Phoebe
Unfortunately recently demised.
In addition to natural predators,
Sometimes cars catch birds by surprise.

While it's quite unfortunate for the bird
Death is not always just ugly
It can also provide opportunity
For scientific study.

Source: Scientists Are Using 135 Years Worth of Dead Birds to Study Pollution

Photo and text © 2017 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 26, 2018

Location: Lake Apopka, Magnolia Park

I am a female Indian Peafowl
Also known as a Peahen
I do not procreate by drinking Peacock tears
We mate normally at my discretion.

Sources: Everything you wanted to know about peafowl sex, by a researcher who’s spent a decade studying it

Photo and text © 2017 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 25, 2018

Location: Lake Apopka, Magnolia Park

I am male Indian Peafowl
Also known as a Peacock.
Sometimes I fake getting down,
When there's no one around
In the hope that to me the girls will all flock.

Sources: Deceptive Copulation Calls Attract Female Visitors to Peacock Leks

Photo and text © 2017 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 24, 2018

Location: Lake Apopka, Macdonald Canal Boat Ramp

I am a Nine-banded Armadillo
In Spanish, Armadillo means "little armored one"
I'm the only other species that can get leprosy,
But spreading it to humans is extremely uncommon.

Sources: Nine-Banded Armadillo


Photo and text © 2017 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 23, 2018

Location: Fellsmere, my house

I am a Leucauge argyra,
This time, I'm shown from above.
It's been observed that sometimes I mate and then,
Trap and devour my love.

Sources: Sexual behavior, cannibalism, and mating plugs as sticky traps in the orb weaver spider Leucauge argyra 

Photo and text © 2017 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 22, 2018

Location: Fellsmere, my house

I am a Leucauge argyra,
Shown here from the underside
Compare me to yesterday's spider,
On my abdomen, there is no bowtie.

Sources: Common Spiders of North America, Richard A. Bradley

Photo and text © 2017 Dee Fairbanks Simpson