Over the past few days we have had extremely high temperatures getting very close to the record high which is over ten degrees higher than normal. I have been out birding and things have been very quiet except for early morning and late evening. I think the heat is playing a large role in this inactivity. Thankfully, we are supposed to get a break on Monday as a front finally moves through and cools things back down towards our regular average of about 78 degrees.
This morning I struck out while looking for the endangered Cape Sable Seaside Sparrows. The rest of the day was spent working around the trailer and getting things ready for the upcoming week and cooler weather.
Here is an image from last week at Fakahatchee. This is the Delicate Ionopsis orchid that we found along one of the old tram roads. We found three different plants that were in bloom. Each of these flowers is less than 1/2" wide. Notice the large lower petal often refered to as the lip. This, along with the two other petals, is one of the defining characteristics of the orchid family. Fakahatchee Strand has over 40 different species of native orchids and hopefully over the next few months I will be able to photograph many of them.
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