Brass Bowl

While not an everyday occurrence, visits like this do happen on a regular basis.

On July 22, 2010, there was a controlled burn at Flatwoods Park in Hillsborough County.  On July 27, five days later, we stumbled upon a section of land that was involved in the burn and took this picture.

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Nine days later, on Aug 5, 2010, we took another picture of the same location.

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We missed a couple of weeks, but on August 31, 2010, 35 days after the burn, we took this picture;

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And finally, on September 21, 2010, almost two months after the burn, we snapped this one;

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You can see how the area recovers quite quickly during the summer months, mimcking the lightning induced burns caused by nature.

I shot these at Flatwoods a couple of weeks ago.  We tried not to annoy the osprey while he was eating, but he ended up flying off with his lunch anyway.

On our roundy rounds around Flatwoods, I have noticed lines of small black critters snaking over the pavement.  I’m usually focused on larger things, like snakes, armadillos, possums and gopher tortoises, but one instance was favorable for me to stop and take a few pictures.

Say hello to the Eastern lubber grasshopper (young nymph), or Romalea microptera.  This grasshopper is incapable of flight and can only jump a very short distance.  It is clumsy and slow, getting around by walking.

Sounds like they would be a ready snack for birds and other predators, right?  Not so fast.  It’s defense is in its guts.  It is toxic, causing violent vomiting.  It can also release a irritating spray along with a loud hissing sound from it’s thoracic area.

This nasty little ambler can also spit up recently eaten plant material (usually brown, called “tobacco spit”), which will stain clothing.

I didn’t know any of this when I was getting up close to take a picture of this young one.  I’ll keep my distance from now on.

We were on our second lap at Flatwoods, when we noticed this cloud.  After several shots through the trees, we finally came to an open space and I knew I had my picture.  We were looking east, and it was 8:00 PM, give or take five minutes.

(click on picture to see a 1200 x 900 image)

It’s no mystery that I’m a bike rider.  Twice during the work week Pepper and I try to get out on our bikes for some exercise and fresh air.  Flatwoods Park is one of our favorite spots, as it gives us a one-way seven mile loop to ride along.  Sometimes, we get to see a little bit of wildlife.

And sometimes we run into that most horrible of animals, the thief.

The donation pillar, AKA, the Iron Ranger, has been ripped out.  I’ve been in the habit lately of calling people that are less than human, “turkeys”.  But as Pepper pointed out, it’s not very fair to the bird to lump it in with such vile critters.