The Two Terrors|October 14. Two birds rule the underwater hunt, terrorizing fish and frog from cypress swamp to mangrove forest. The anhinga (aka snakebird, American darter, water turkey, Tupi, and devil bird) and the cormorant (aka crow-duck, lawyer, shag and Taunton turkey). Nature has not spared these birds its sovereignty over design, tuning form andContinue reading “The Two Terrors: Hunt of the Anhinga and Cormorant”
Author Archives: james71wp
Lubber, not a Fighter
August 8 | Waccasassa River: Thousands of eastern lubber grasshoppers (Romalea microptera/R. gutatta) descend upon the Waccasassa. They move along the shoreline in the slow, deliberate cadence of a drunkard’s gait. Both hind- and fore-wings are underdeveloped, leaving the grasshopper flightless1 and seemingly helpless. Yet the lubber thrives in great swarms that emerge from theContinue reading “Lubber, not a Fighter”
Whirligig
April 18 | Hillsborough River: Swarms of the whirligig beetle (Gyrinidae spp.), in chaotic dance, gather in the sunlight on the still, black water of the Hillsborough River. Under canopies of ancient cypress, they roam its pools and eddies for prey, converging as a voracious pack on an upended dragonfly, a stray tent caterpillar—the remainsContinue reading “Whirligig”
Blackwater Rivers
Blackwater Rivers | July 14: Blackwater seeps from the vast lowland swamps that cradle the headwaters of Florida rivers. At times turning them so dark they shimmer like a mirror reflecting the passage of herons in oak canopies, hogs stealing a drink on the shoreline, and hyacinth in summer bloom. The canonical blackwater river isContinue reading “Blackwater Rivers”
Sexual Cannibalism
In fishing spiders, sex is violent. Males are often attacked by females during sex, and if killed, they’re promptly eaten1. There is little a male spider can do in defense, as females often exceed 14-times their mass2 in an intimidating display of gender size-dimorphism. This is equivalent to your “better half” having about 2,600 poundsContinue reading “Sexual Cannibalism”
Keeper of the raft
May 14 | Alafia River: Live oaks hang over the muddy banks of the Alafia. Their giant lateral branches rest atop the water’s surface, collecting the spring catkins and cypress cones that made their way to the river sometime in the past. A few feet below, the sandy bottom is littered with the shells ofContinue reading “Keeper of the raft”
The Moonflowers of Florida
The name moonflower is used to describe two species of flowering plants, Ipomoea alba (tropical white morning glory) and Datura stramonium (Jimson weed, and my personal favorite, zombie’s cucumber). Of the two moonflowers, only I. alba is native to Florida rivers (FIG 1)1, forming great white curtains draped from the canopies of oak, willow andContinue reading “The Moonflowers of Florida”
Snakebird
February 27 | Chassahowitzka River: The river is shallow—in some places, maybe two feet. I push my foot down to its sandy bottom and it gives another six inches. Blocks of limestone have risen from the riverbed as if to life and are rutted in long striations by the props of boats struggling to findContinue reading “Snakebird”
The Florida Monsoon
In Florida, more than 50% of annual rain falls within the months of June through September (Fig. 1), with an average of about 7 inches per month1. This is what we parochially call the wet season, the Florida rainy season, or the Florida monsoon. For the remaining eight months, rainfall drops to about 2 inchesContinue reading “The Florida Monsoon”
Monsoons and Moonflowers
July 15 | Alafia: It’s mid-July in central Florida, and the Alafia is full of monsoon rain {The Florida Monsoon}. Its waters seem to rise a yard in a day and then drop by the same order, days later. Deadfall that has rested over the winter in safety, is now pushed to the banks byContinue reading “Monsoons and Moonflowers”
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