Lakeside STA in Martin County

David and I joined St. Lucie County Audubon for an awesome field trip to Lakeside STA in Martin County. Just a few of the cool things we saw:

A Dorante's Longwing. This is a new one to my butterfly list.

 Another look at the Dorante's Longwing.

A bee. Make sure you click to enlarge this one, you can see his little head is covered with pollen.

It was so pretty out there, this picture doesn't do the colors justice (that's why you need to come out and see it for yourself!)

A magnificent red shouldered hawk. Saw a lot of these today. It's interesting, the further south you go, the paler the colors are. This one was pretty dark, we saw some that looked almost like their tummy was white.

An alligator. This is another one you should click on to see full size, he was smiling, seemed like a really happy gator. I didn't do a headcount, I hope none of us were missing!

Two pied-bill grebes. I like these guys, but they are so hard to photograph, they always look out of focus.

A white peacock sunning himself.

One of my favorite Florida critters, the Velvet Ant, also known as cow-killers. I don't know if they really kill cows, but I have heard their bites are nasty. But they are super pretty.

So much amazing stuff out there! I have some cool things planned for the coming months, check often and come out and join us! Remember, you can look at my pictures, but trust me, it's way more fun to get out and take your own!