Happy Halloween!

Hello friends! I hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween this year! I can't believe its already here...

Black Vulture - Coragyps atratus

The Black Vulture is one of the symbolic birds of Halloween along with Crows and Owls. Vultures are associated with Halloween because they feed on the dead, are grim looking, and are considered back luck in some cultures. In reality vultures are fascinating creatures and play an important role in the natural world.

Carnivorous Plants - Bradenton, FL

Whenever I come to visit my parents in Florida I walk along the equestrian trails in search for wildflowers. This day I was looking for carnivorous plants such as Butterworts - Pinguicula pumila, Sundew - Drosera brevifolia, and various Bladderworts - Utricularia species. There was a lot of wildflowers blooming during this visit and I was lucky to find lots of Bladderwort blooms!

Utricularia subulata - the most common bladderwort species around the neighborhood and along the trails. It is tiny! The stems are almost invisible and the flowers are smaller than pea.

Utricularia simulans - this was my first time seeing this species. It has a larger flower and has a bit more orange color in the flowers than U. subulata. It also had a fimbriate sepal which is quite pretty.

Sundew - Drosera brevifolia, this is another common species around the neighborhood. They are only about the size of a nickel. Drosera capillaris is also found here and grow around the same size. They can be distinguished by the flower stems - D. brevifolia is glandular (has the sticky droplets) and D. capillaris is smooth.

I also found a big surprise...

A Pine Lily - Lilium catesbaei!!

I found three of these lilies blooming when the trail started to become wooded with Oaks.

Cloudless Sulphur - Caterpillar and Chrysalis

A few years ago I bought a Candlestick Bush - Senna alata, from the Houston Museum of Natural Science plant sale. This plant as well as other Senna are host plants for the Cloudless Sulphur - Phoebis sennae, a beautiful neon yellow species of butterfly. My Senna grew pretty large (too big for my balcony) so I gave it to my parents who have plenty of space for it. The Senna thrived and has been the food plant for many Cloudless Sulphur caterpillars.

The caterpillars seem to prefer the flowers and small seed pods.

This one is quite big. Its munching on one of the seedpods now.

Can you see the chrysalis? It is hanging from the stem and looks just like a leaf.

Golden Nectar Smoothie

My parents house have a lots of fruit trees and at the beginning of this month they harvested a big bunch of bananas. My Mom and I wondered what to do with all the bananas and decided to make some smoothies - I had been wanting to make this Golden Nectar Smoothie from MarthaStewart.com for a while.

The remainder of the bananas. Very ripe and prefect for all sorts of banana recipes.

Here is the Golden Nectar Smoothie! It was really good. I especially like the addition of ginger. It ads a nice kick to the smooth sweet smoothie.

Kayaking - Miguel Bay, FL

Florida has so many wonderful outdoor activities and while on vacation here I have been doing as many as possible! Yesterday, I had a really nice kayaking trip with my Dad to Miguel Bay - a small bay at the southern portion of Tampa Bay. It was cool, the water was calm and clear, and it was nice and sunny. We saw an abundance of wildlife in the beautiful habitat of mangrove swamps and seagrass beds.

Here I am going through small islands of mangroves. Mangroves provide very important habitat for countless marine organisms such as fish, birds, and in some places crocodiles.

The Red Mangrove - Rhizophora mangle, is identified by its long prop roots and its propagules that resembles a long seed pot.

The beginning of a propagule - soon it will look like a long thick green bean which detaches and floats in the sea until it finds a suitable place to attach, grow roots, and become a new tree.

The low tide exposes oyster beds.

Barnacles grow on dead mangrove branches.

Turtle Grass - Thalassia testudinum

Shoal Grass - Halodule wrightii (bottom, left) and Manatee Grass - Syringodium filiforme (top, right).

Horseshoe Crab - Limulus polyphemus

Hermit Crab shell changing station.

Sea Stars - Echinaster graminicola, most common sea star around tampa bay.

Sea Star - Echinaster graminicola.  This sea star can be distinguished from its sibling species that also lives in the area Echinaster spinulosus.  E. spinulosus has blue/gray coloration between the spines where E.graminicola is reddish brown. It is slightly more spiny than E. graminicola, and I've also noticed that E. spinulosus tube feet are yellow, where E. graminicola are orange. E. graminicola is usually found in shallower water as well.

Variegated Sea Urchin - Lytechinus variegatus

Tulip Snail - Fasciolaria tulipa

Lightning Whelk - Busycon contrarium, a young one.

This is hard to see but its a very large Florida Horse Conch - Pleuroploca gigantea, eating a Lightning Whelk - Busycon contrarium.

Comorants - Phalacrocorax, resting in the mangrove trees.

White Ibis - Eudocimus albus

Tricolored Heron - Egretta tricolor

Great Blue Heron - Ardea herodias

Sandwich Tern, Laughing Gull, American Oystercatcher, and in the back a Reddish Egret. (left to right)

Woodstork - Mycteria americana

What a wonderful day it was! I cant wait to go back and explore some more!

Vacation Time!!

Hello! I have been very busy lately. I closed my small business and am going to start a new career. But before I do Im going on vacation for a few weeks.

I just got back from a Carnival Cruise to Nassau and Freeport, Bahamas, and Key West, Florida. The cruise was much needed, very relaxing, and very fun. It was really pleasant overall and makes me want to go on another cruise soon.

Port of Galveston

Carnival Conquest at the port in Nassau, Bahamas

The Atlantis Resort - a truly beautiful and amazing place.

Snorkeling in Freeport, Bahamas - Sergeant Majors, Beaugregory, and Slippery Dick Wrasse.

Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory - always a nice place to stop by while on the island.

Currently, I am in Florida, visiting my parents. It is always really fun and relaxing to come here. I love it here and wish that I moved here instead of moving to Houston, TX, but both places have their perks and Houston has taught me a lot of things that I don't think I would have learned otherwise.

Please, check back soon for a lot more updates! Hope you are well! :D