Saturday, September 12, 2015

Florida Plants and Animals

We stayed a few days at Fort Clinch State Park in Florida. The beaches have lots of empty horseshoe crab shells in the sand. Turns out the crabs molt at least once a year.  August and September are big months for molting. I also found online that they sell for ~$10 after they have been cleaned and coated with polyurethane. Sounds interesting but not something I want to do for an RV.

As we drove through South Carolina and Florida, we had bugs covering the windshields and front of the RV. When we got out, we saw lots of twosomes flying around or crawling on the vehicles. These are called “Love Bugs” (honeymoon fly, kissingbug, or double-headed bug) and seem to appear from nowhere in May and September merely to die on Florida windshields. The male and female pair up for 2-3 days. The female will detach, lay her eggs, and then die. The male may live a bit longer.

Last year we had this plant identified as a French Mulberry. This park identified it as American Beautyberry. I guess both are common names so they both work. I also found out the leaves are supposed to work great as a mosquito repellent. I’ll have to try that one out sometime.

This is the bottom of what might be a Golden Silk Orbweaver Spider. All I know for sure, it’s scary to see it right in the middle of the hiking trail. It was 3-4” long with the legs.

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