The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula artica) is undoubtedly the most popular bird for Maine visitors – birders and non-birders alike. It breeds in colonies on coastal islands off Maine and Atlantic Canada. The Petit Manan Lighthouse island is a part of the Maine Coastal Island National Wildlife Refuge, and hosts a healthy colony of nesting Puffins. […]
Author: Steven Scott
Steven Scott is a photonaturalist blogger based in Florida and Maine. He has surveyed butterflies with Earthwatch Institute in the mountains of Vietnam, tagged juvenile snook with Mote Marine Laboratory in the mangroves of Florida and filmed a BioBlitz insect survey in Acadia National Park. A registered nurse and retired Army officer, Steven believes man is an integral part of nature and travels annually to Vietnam with humanitarian medical teams from Vets With a Mission.
Seaside Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax berenice)
Female Seaside Dragonlet (Erythrodiplax berenice). Year round resident of peninsula Florida. This one seen in a grassy area, near a fresh water pond and marsh and also near a mangrove forest. Small and easily missed at 1.3 inches. Here’s a nice piece about their behavior from the “Northeast Naturalist,” and my friends at Eagle Hill […]
Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja), Florida’s iconic wading bird.
Striking, beautiful, bizarre, fascinating – all are adjectives used to describe Florida‘s iconic Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja). The pink color of it’s feathers is diet-derived, from carotinoid pigments. Spoonbills wade through the shallows, swishing their spoon shaped bills from side to side…feeding on crustaceans, aquatic insects, frogs, newts and small fish. Hunted almost to extinction […]
Spiney Orb Weaver Spider
Spiney Orb Weaver Spider (Gasteracantha canciformis). Found here in Florida most often around citrus trees….both in groves and suburban yards. Known locally as the “crab spider”due to their crablike carapace, they belong to the family of orb weavers, Arneidae, and are quite harmless. The Spiney Orb Weaver spins a large and strong web (like the […]
Tricolor Heron, Egretta tricolor
Formerly known as the Louisiana Heron, the Tricolor Heron (Egretta tricolor) is a mid-sized wading bird native to the Gulf Coast of the U.S. One of only four Herons found in the U.S., the Tricolorfeeds in marshes and shallows by kinking up food with it’s feet. Most closely related to Bitterns (Ardeidae), Tricolors are seemingly […]
Mangrove Skipper, Phocides pigmalion.
The Mangrove Skipper (Phocides pigmalion) is a member of the Spread Wing Skippers of the Hesperidae family of butterflies. Found in the Mangrove forests of Florida, this large (48-70mm wingspan) skipper is a strong flyer and is often seen perching upside down with spread wings. The iridescent blue markings are beautiful and, along with it’s […]