joao_ortolan's Identifications

With Don Fraser, Clint Gibson, and John Reynolds; a trip mainly for John to get lots of lifers, but also another chance for me to search for Berry's Skipper and/or Brazilian Skipper, and a chance for all of us to get unexpected lifers -- we all got at least one lifer dragonfly that Don found and identified. There were lots of blooming Pickerelweeds in the ditches and marshes, so we concentrated on those areas; we searched some extensive Carolina Redroot stands but we found far fewer butterflies there. Blooming goldenrods, blazing stars, and thistles were almost non-existent. Overall, I am submitting records for 2 amphibians, 48 skippers, 12 other butterflies, 6 moths, 4 dragonflies, 2 grasshoppers, several other invertebrates, and 14 plants. I was bad about keeping notes (and there is no cell-phone coverage in the Preserve), but I think we made four or five primary stops, along Cumpressco Grade and Levee Road, before exiting at the gate at Cumpressco Grade and County Road 471. The weather at 1530 for Webster was sunny and 94 degrees ("feels like" 108) with a light breeze. I drank two gallons of Gatorade in 5 hours ... We left at 1442; I headed to Withlacoochee State Forest for my lifer Orange-fringed Orchids, while the others headed home.

I again used my Panasonic Lumix FZ80 with a non-functioning exposure dial rather than the loaner Lumix FZ200 with functioning exposure dial that Don loaned me a month or so ago. On a bright day, the lack of adjusting the exposure is not really an issue on my FZ80 -- the exposure dial broke at a very convenient setting -- plus I am much more familiar with the FZ80 compared to the FZ200, and the FZ80 has a much longer zoom (60x vs. 25x), which makes quite a difference. I soon need to decide whether to give up my FZ80 for a few weeks while I send it in for replacement, or whether I keep it and learn to live with not having a functioning exposure dial.