Florida

My last collecting trip I went on while still at BYU was a 6 day trip to Southern Florida. I went with one other person and we collected in Miami and near Naples, around the Everglades. This was my first time to Florida and I had a lot of fun. As a side note, my brother Steen and his family have moved to Florida and I hope they are doing well.

We stayed in Miami the first two nights. This was our view looking toward Miami Beach:

We collected in a state park in North Miami.

But we soon were out in a place called Port of the Islands near Naples.

Collecting in Florida was difficult, considering most of it is covered in water and you have to listen for large animals…

But the mangroves were beautiful.

It was also nice that we had some time to drive into the Everglades and see so many different habitats:

This was the road summit:

Florida yielded many more fascinating creatures:

Like this striped walking stick,

or this funky caterpillar.

Giant Lubber Grasshoppers were in great abundance.

And I caught my first mole cricket and found a “happy” spider:

This a rat snake, or black racer that we caught.

Also, we were excited to find an iguana, a species that has taken up residence after people let their pets go.

a beautiful skink

And of course the alligators. I was very excited to see them.

Florida also had lots of birds. The vultures liked the restaurant we ate at several times. We liked it too, they served seafood, gator, and bullfrog.

Heed the signs:

One of the best things we saw were the manatees that came up to the docks right outside our hotel.

Florida was a great adventure and great adventures make insect collecting lots of fun. I look forward to going back and visiting Steen and his family.