It has been a long time since I have felt birded out. No worries though as this is hopefully only a temporary state. This point has been reached thanks to several weeks of hardcore birding. Multiple days of birding while we were in St. Louis to start, followed by several days of birding the state park down the street and then two long days of birding with Ron over this Memorial weekend. On that note before I go any further, I would like to express our deep appreciation for those that are serving, those that have served, the families that support/ed them while they serve/served and most of all, those who lost their lives for our great country. I will ALWAYS stand and pay my respect for my father and the rest of the brave souls that fight/fought for the freedoms we enjoy. Ron and I spent the two days leading up to the memorial observation hunting for birds at Montrose Bird Sanctuary (Chicago) and Chain O’ Lakes State Park – Linda was running the boys in an agility show they were having close by in Spring Grove. Have to admit, the weather was fantastic for both those days and probably an understatement to say they were very productive. Not sure yet what Ron’s count is, but I crossed off 14 new species bringing me to 319 at the midpoint of the year!! All that birding has left me with “Warbler Neck” and thanks to the weight of The Beast I can scratch my knees without bending my legs. Followed that up with a mini-mini triathlon (10m bike ride, 1m kayak paddle, 5m trail run) before hitting it hard Monday with a 10 mile hill infested trail run. Today, legs are getting their revenge…which brings us to today’s featured non-feathered friends.
Hit the jump for details behind this glowy specimen and another leggy creature we came upon during this year’s travels.
In light of getting my fill of birds for the month, thought I would change it up and bring you not one, but two leggy specimens. Both are surprisingly nimble and for the most part, fairly secretive. This first one more than the second as we needed an aid to spot it.
Some of you that live in the south or happen to be familiar with desert life probably already know about this little trick we learned about while staying in an RV park outside Estero Llano Grande State Park. I’ve covered Estero a LOT in the Texas related posts – our absolute favorite place to bird along the Rio Grande Valley. Their volunteers are very knowledgeable and provide incredible bird walks. Linda was confirming the start time of those walks when she noticed they also put on night walks. That sounded interesting, but it sound like it was more geared to families/kids versus serious birders looking for night predators – Ron later confirmed this with a volunteer during the bird walk. The part that intrigued Linda and I is the description mentioned they would be looking for Scorpions and providing black lights to the kids. Hmmmmmm, wonder what that is all about!?!?!?!?!
Being a haunt aficionado, my tactical flashlights also have a UV mode (also good if you need to light up a home invader without giving away your position, but that is a different topic entirely). Ron and I decided to find out for ourselves what this Scorpion hunting thing was all about. Sorry for the lack of stills, but a) we didn’t know what to expect and b) well… it was dark ha. Fortunately, Ron did manage to get a short video!
In case the embedding doesn’t work in your browser, here is the direct link – https://www.youtube.com/shorts/x89kYQx0mz0. How cool is that? At first, we were skeptical as the short walk to Estero didn’t pick up anything. As we started walking down the sandy path, we found them EVERYWHERE – on the path, on the side of the path, hanging out on the ground vegetation and even clinging to tree trunks. I definitely need to figure out a way to incorporate that experience into our annual haunted trail – just for the two nights, then they all have to leave of course. Absolutely amazing, although, this has definitely cured me of ever wanting to sit on the ground in Texas..day or night.
Today’s bonus leggy crustacean comes to you courtesy of St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge located in Wakulla, Florida.
According to their website, St Marks includes roughly 43 miles of Gulf Coast frontage along Northwest Florida. This was our first time visiting this 17,000 acre refuge and it didn’t disappoint. They have a very famous feathered resident we found by accident – there will definitely be a future post about that. Unlike that resident, these creatures were easier to find … a LOT easier as my quick guesstimate was a billion of these pinchies scurrying along the sand. Note, there is no scientific basis for that number so take that with a grain of salt – similar to any stats provided by politicians, pundits and media these days. I do know there are more than 100 in just the small spot I was standing behind the lighthouse at the end of the refuge road.
From the best of my knowledge, these are Fiddler Crabs…or Sand Fiddler Crabs as there seems to be several subspecies of them. Key characteristic is mismatched claws that give it their name – like their playing a fiddle. Honestly, that is the part that creeps me out about these sideways walking creatures. I’ve found nature to be fairly symmetrical. When I can’t find a symmetry line, I get very uncomfortable…. like clown uncomfortable. Fortunately, the Fiddler doesn’t wear face paint so the flight reaction was kept in check. A Dolphin “colluding” with three Brown Pelicans to hunt the nearby waters took most of my attention. Managed to only take a few pictures of the pinchies. The first shot cracked me up – you might have missed that it has a David and Goliath feel to it thanks to the much smaller crab standing in defense in the lower right. The shot above reveals something I missed in the field. The Fiddlers have a glyph on the back of their shells – the Frog Warrior Clan or maybe an homage to Terrance and Phillip. Either way, pretty cool. Here is the video I took after noticing an endless line of crabs streaming out of a fallen tree.
As before, if the embedded video doesn’t work, feel free to use this direct link to view the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-teIqvJSLU . Note to self, add do not sit on Florida beach logs immediate after the do not sit in Texas sand in my book of golden rules.
Hope you enjoyed this quick break from birds to end the month. The good news is all the birding efforts have filled up my content hopper and Brad has a number of posts ready to go on his side as well. June should be another fun one.
Life Intrigued 