A Skink

Here's a small skink seen on our deck this afternoon. S(h)e was pretty, colorful, and remarkably tame.

Interestingly, this individual may represent one of three remarkably similar species--so called sibling species. This one could conceivably be the eastern five-lined skink (Eumeces fasciatus), the broad-headed skink (Eumeces laticeps), or the southeastern five-lined skink (Eumeces inexpectatus). The last was named by taxonomist E. H. Taylor, who never expected until his technical investigations discovered it that another species was lurking in this complex of similar-looking lizards.

We suspect that this one is laticeps, based not on counting scale rows or similar taxonomic indicators, but rather on the other lizards we see around us.

Thirty years ago, a colleague and I challenged the conventional wisdom on the function of the blue tail-coloration, which is seen mostly in young animals. Contrary to prevailing thought (to trick predators into aiming for the detachable tail), we proposed that its true function was to identify young lizards to older individuals and to prevent attacks on their own young by the large and voracious adult males. No one seems to have have taken up the challenge, so our ideas seem to have carried the day (or to have been completely ignored).

A Termite Hatch

Our next door neighbor here in Cedar Key has a rather tall stump of a sand pine in his front yard, near our fence. As we walked by today we noticed a cloud of insects that we first thought were tiny moths. When we got to the stump, it was discharging a huge cloud of the little insects, clearly flying termites. Take a look at the hatch in this video.

Snakes Alive!

We seldom see snakes on our walks around Gainesville, although at widely spaced intervals in the past those we have seen have included potentially dangerous cottonmouths and coral snakes--not always welcome sightings close to home.

On our walk today we were fortunate to see two different kinds of snakes of the non-venomous variety.

This one, a black racer Coluber constrictor priapus, is quite common. We see them occasionally in the yard, although they usually flee quickly when you approach them. We had one chance to photograph this one before he slithered off in great haste.

This one, also common, is either the bluestripe garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis similis, or the eastern garter snake, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis. The bluestripe occurs in Florida's Big Bend region, and ours in Gainesville are probably a blend of the more common and Big Bend varieties. Unlike the racer, this snake seemed willing to pose all day for us, and we got several good photos.

Interestingly, a close relative of the garter snake, the wide-ranging ribbon snake (Thamnophis sauritus) also has a bluestripe variety, Thamnophis sauritus nitae, that like its relative is limited to the Big Bend area. What is it about being blue that seems to work for these snakes?

Fall and Spring in Florida

Two images of the same tree, a red maple in our yard in Cedar Key on January 24, 2012. The upper shows its fall colors and the lower its spring flowers. Winter is short in Florida!

Wanakena

Packbasket Adventures Lodge in Wanakena, NY

Yesterday we received an e-mail message from Rick and Angie Kovacs announcing that they are about to lose the Packbasket Lodge in Wanakena to foreclosure. We've stayed there, enjoyed their hospitality, and we hope some way will be found for it to keep operating. Perhaps someone with deep pockets will keep it going for the sake of the community.

The failure of the enterprise raises questions about the future of Wanakena as a resort destination. Surely the public agencies that helped get start-up funding envisioned the lodge as the core of a revitalized community. However, one lodging doesn't a vacation community make, and to our knowledge there has been no movement toward developing other visitor-friendly amenities, let alone lodging options.

The evolution of Wanakena has taken it first from a company town developed for logging, to a resort enjoying a brief heyday, to a bedroom community providing needed housing for the nearby iron mine and paper mill, to a quiet backwater. Perhaps its best and highest future is to remain a quiet backwater.

White Pelicans

This is part of a large flock that flew over us this morning in Cedar Key while we were on our daily walk. These huge birds winter by the hundreds in Suwannee Sound.

Close Relatives

The plant in the photo above is groundsel bush Baccharis halimifolia, and the one below is saltwater false willow Baccharis angustifolia. These close relatives have similar seeds with silvery threads that help with wind dispersal. They both are able to grow in wet places, but the false willow grows only in wetlands and is apparently more tolerant of salinity. What is interesting about the plants in the accompanying photos is that they are growing side by side on the edge of a salt marsh near Cedar Key, with their leaves actually touching.