A Second Look at Dandelions
A Second Look at Dandelions Many of us have memories of spotting a dandelion as a child and immediately gravitating toward it, eager to hold it up by the stem and blow with all our might. If all the puffs of white disappeared, we were sure the dandelion would...
Barrier Island Mammals
You are probably not going to see them… but they are there. Mammals are fur covered warm blooded creatures. Beaches are hot, dry, sandy places. Just as in the deserts, it would make sense for island mammals to be nocturnal. We know of their existence by their...
Hey Man – It’s Scallop Season!
For some of us this is an annual gathering no different that Thanksgiving or Christmas. The family all knows the gig - “Kids get your things together - we’re heading to St. Joe!” For others, it is something we do when we can – the stars all align with work and we...
Marine Mammals
Mammals are historically land-based, or terrestrial, animals. They are quadrupeds (four legs) and run with a cursorial form of locomotion (backbone moving up and down) – some are the fastest land animals the planet has ever seen. But as fate would have it, some...
Bay & Gulf County Scallop Webinar
Tuesday, August 11th from 6-7 PM ET Join us to learn more about recreational scalloping! Hear from UF/IFAS, Florida Sea Grant, FWC, and FWRI presenters and stay for Q&A. The pandemic has been challenging, to say the least. We must all must be contentious to all...
CARES Act Funding in the Pipeline for Hard-Hit Fishing Industry
We won’t see it tomorrow… but desperately needed funds for a hard-hit fishing industry are on the way. Congress has allocated $300 million in relief funds for losses suffered by various fishery-related businesses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It comes as part...
Climate Change and Future Hurricanes
We have reached that time of year when the Atlantic starts cranking out storms, and they will continue to roll out as the dog days of summer progress. Over the last decade, many experts have speculated on how climate change and sea level rise might impact hurricanes...
What the “Devil” is That?
The hickory horned devil is a blue-green colored caterpillar, about the size of a large hot dog, covered in long black thorns. They are often seen feeding on the leaves of deciduous forest trees, such as hickory, pecan, sweetgum, sumac and persimmon. For about 35...
What Are The Wildlife Up To This Summer?
As hunters and wildlife enthusiasts we tend to focus on wildlife behavior and biology during hunting season but tend to forget about them during the summer months. But the summer months are very important to our population numbers. Hunting season includes mating...
Year of the Turtle 2020 – the Gopher Tortoise
This blog will wrap up our series on Florida turtles for the Year of the Turtle (2020) – and we end with a good one – the gopher tortoise. We only have two true terrestrial species of turtles in Florida, and it does not get more terrestrial than the gopher tortoise....