Dinata Misovec

This morning, we sat out back on our patio overlooking the mangroves drinking our coffee, as usual.  As a reminder, here is our towing dolly, on a rack behind the motor home.  It is tucked neatly out of our way for the winter.

On closer inspection, you can see this lizard sitting on the tire.  We don’t know our lizards well enough to name them but think it is the same one every time.  It seems like a nice, safe place to hide out.  So, Andy has named him Louie.  Then, after a few more minutes, Andy noted that “When we leave, Louie will have to retire”.

This moth landed on a mangrove leaf and rested for a while.  This is a black mangrove leaf.  Black mangroves are very interesting.  They grow in the tide zone and are sometimes in the water and sometimes on dry land.  That is salt water here on the ocean.  They suck up the salt with the water and, later, extrude in on the backsides of the leaves.  Here, you can see the salt on the top of the leaf.  It is very salty, like a potato chip. When we gave nature tours at Crane Point (here in Marathon), we would have the tourists pick a leaf and lick it.  They were always surprised at the saltiness.

We noticed this very small spider in the mangroves.  I think it is a male orb weaver as the female is very large. This is its belly.

This gecko regularly hangs on this dead tree.  This is the first time I’ve gotten a good picture.

In the afternoon, we walked to the waterfront to check the ocean. Several cardinals were flitting around and I got a picture of one. Too bad the focus is not good.

This osprey was perched on a stick that marks the channel out to the deeper water.

This little warbler was also flitting about in the mangroves.  It barely sat still long enough for me to get a picture.

It is spring break season.  Not exactly wildlife, but two boatloads of college boys came in.

They are the Clemson variety, as I determined from the orange and purple flag on the second boat.

A small barracuda was hanging about next to our vantage point.

This hermit crab was scurrying about.  It is amazing how fast it can go carrying a shell.  It may be the same one I saw a week or so ago.  I have no idea how far afield they travel.

And, lastly, there were horseshoe crabs.

Yes, it was a wild day alright.