minty_starlight's Favorites

We ran a family over in the airboat but they were all okay since the parents flew and the chicks submarined. Spent a while walking this guy back to his family because he got trapped on the wrong side of the boat. Whew. Airboats need brakes

Snorkeling along the jetty and around the beach at South Pointe with Gonzalo, Benjamin and Jasmine. Visibility was excellent closer to shore but wasn't so great further out. The water just seemed a bit hazy/smoky/foggy (not sure how else to describe it) as we got to around 10ft+ depth swimming east along the jetty. We swam about 250m, a little less than halfway down the jetty, before turning around. There was a full moon and we were swimming during slack high tide according to tides4fishing.com. Winds have been out of the South for the past several days and there was little sargassum on the beach.

Highlights were a small electric ray and gulf flounder on the sandy bottom. Jasmine unfortunately got stung by one of the little jellyfish that come out at night (this one: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/123714438 )
but thankfully the sting wasn't too bad.

All my observations from tonight: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2022-07-12&place_id=any&user_id=joemdo&verifiable=any

All my night snorkeling observations: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?order=asc&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&user_id=joemdo&verifiable=any&field:Night%20Dive=yes

Seen during the Dade Native Plant Workshop, led by Steve W. This workshop, open to novices and experts alike, are held every third Tuesday of the month. More info here: http://nativeplantworkshop.ning.com/profiles/blog/show?id=4914799%3ABlogPost%3A69815&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_post

My other posts from Kendall Indian Hammocks during and a little before the workshop:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?nelat=25.69937164681659&nelng=-80.34906725313324&on=2021-03-16&place_id=any&swlat=25.68873685739192&swlng=-80.38990120317597&user_id=joemdo&verifiable=any

Coach Fatjo saved this little warbler from a feral cat that hangs out on campus. He brought it by my class because he heard that I am a birder... It was missing its tail but I didn't see any blood or obvious injuries, just seemed stunned. Coach Fatjo said he would release it in a safe place once it seemed like it was okay. I will ask him for an update next time I see him. I think there is a chance this bird crashed into a window and then the cat picked it up because I doubt it would have survived being captured by a cat unless it was already stunned on the ground.

I saw the shape and flapping wings from the second floor at Bayside and ran down the stairs to see this beauty. It's the first sea hare I've ever seen! I recognized it because they've popped up a few times when I browse observations.

I apologize for the low-res images, but I took these screenshots for a video someone posted online of what they think is an owl perched outside the balcony of their Miami Beach high-rise apartment. They think it could be a Burrowing Owl, but I am highly doubtful of that given how atypical this is to their behavior. If anyone at all could provide some information based on these images, I’d really appreciate it!

Naturalized at this location.

When not flowering or fruiting, good morphological features to distinguish this species from white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa) are:

•attenuate leaf bases and short petioles in Lumnitzera, versus rounded leaf bases and longer and more distinct petioles in Laguncularia.
•no petiole glands in Lumnitzera, versus paired petiole glands in Laguncularia.
•the presence of a small, oval gland on the abaxial surface of the leaf apex in Lumnitzera, versus the absence of such a leaf apex gland in Laguncularia.

Empidonax flycatchers of the "Traill's" type. All birds were making the "pip" call and, in a couple of instances, the "free-beer" call was heard, clinching the Alder identification. Two pale wing bars and dark olive back were visible on some photos. White throat, visible on some photos, contrasted with grayish chest.

Working around Biscayne National Park, and found this little bugger stuck in a crack between storage cabinets. I let it out, and it scampered away. Definitly a new world species, and almost positive it's a cotton mouse.

Conducting bat research for the University of Florida. Captured with triple high mist nets, data recorded, transmitter attached, and released shortly thereafter. Weighing less than 1 gram and sewn together with surgical sutures, the collar is designed to disintegrate and fall off within a few weeks.

Foraging call heard over baseball field in Ronald Ehman park near Killian High School. I was hearing calls consistently for a little under an hour from ~10:40PM- 11:25PM
Audio recording captured with Echo Meter bat detector connected to my Samsung phone (although the call could've also been recorded without the bat detector since this bat call is not ultrasonic).

We saw the snake eagle as it flew up from the ground. It flew in slow circles while it controlled and started to eat the snake. One minute from pic 1 to pic 8 where it started to eat the snake. Total time for this series, three minutes.

Snake at https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/14774517

A REQUEST:
When recommending an identification, please adhere to current standards of taxonomy as deployed by iNaturalist at this time — as opposed to identifying and classifying organisms based on personal beliefs about what taxonomy can, should, or of right ought to be in opposition to iNaturalist’s current taxonomy. Comments noting such taxonomic disagreements, however, are welcomed and encouraged. I prefer my observations to be inline with current taxonomic standards as deployed by iNaturalist (as opposed to my personal beliefs) so that this and other observations are readily accessible to iNaturalist users with greater efficiency and usability. Thanks!

If you have any questions regarding this observation, feel free to contact me or leave a comment below!

Janson Jones,
http://floridensis.com.

A huge flock in flight just after sunset heading northwest. They were flying fairly low. Lots of flamingo sightings have been reported this year. I estimated the flock to be more than 90 birds (this frame makes up probably less than 10% of the entire flock so maybe 120+ birds even.