Fall in the Subtropical Woods

While the calendar says fall, it still feels like late summer or early spring in the subtropics. The bugs are certainly enjoying the warmth. Above: Hoverflies or Syrphid flies (family Syrphidae) on Blazing Star (Liatris chapmanii). My favorite stands of blazing star are now gone. . . victims of bulldozers like so many before them. There are several species of this spectacular Fall-blooming flower native to Florida.

As for the hover flies, their usefulness is now being investigated in the scientific literature. They eat aphids which cause untold damage to food crops. The flies mimic more dangerous wasps and bees but are harmless. About 6,000 species in 200 genera have been described.



Despite temperatures in the 80°s (28° C.) today the sun angle gives away the true season. The sun will only rise to 44.9° in the southern sky this afternoon (at 12:10) before rapidly setting around 5:30 pm. Such low angles make for some interesting shadows and light in the woods.

Create your own Sun of Moon Altitude - Azimuth Table at U.S. Navy's Astronomical Applications Site.



There is some color in the woods but one has to look for it. On the outskirts most everything still looks mostly green.



Once you I find the color, I like to look up. There untold life in the trees.



Below: The Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) have returned. They make barely a peep as they move quickly in groups of 5 or 10 individuals. They hop along branches looking for insects, of which there is no shortage.



The vocalizations of the Chickadees are highly complex, but to me it just sounds likes "peep, peep, peep." The complex vocalizations of Chickadees are an evolutionary adaptation to their habitat: they live and feed in dense vegetation, and even when the flock is close together, individual birds tend to be out of each sight.

The more numerous Carolina Chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) move so fast, and blend in so well, that its difficult to get a photo of them.



Where some sun reaches the forest floor the Summer-farewell (Dalea pinnata) are blooming, attracting both bees (above) and the mimic hover flies (below).



There are occasional butterflies (below). This Common Buckeye (Junonia coenia) was sampling the Summer-farewell.



Below: On the forest's edge a dying sunflower makes a meal for a Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis). Also known as the American Goldfinch, the Wild Canary, or the Eastern Goldfinch, it is a small migratory bird that rarely travels south of the Carolinas. The Goldfinch is a granivore; adapted for consumption of seed heads, with a conical beak to remove the seeds and agile feet to grip the stems of seed heads while feeding.



Below: The Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) are in flight, again. Here on forest's edge where some wild Chrysanthemum grow it takes a rest.



Below: There are numerous Great-Spangled Fritillary (Speyeria cybele) which are less showy.



At the same time as all of this life is happening on the peninsula, another storm is brewing offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. Likely to be named Subtropical Storm Sean later today, this large non-tropical low pressure system is centered about 460 miles (724 km) southwest of Bermuda.

Gale-force winds have developed close to the surface center of the storm and the National Hurricane Center is giving the storm an 80% chance of developing into a named system later today. We won't be getting any rainfall from the system, however. It is forecast to drift toward us today then be absorbed by a fast-moving cold front on Thursday and quickly move off to the northeast.
The center of the storm will likely stay 200 miles (320 km) away from Bermuda though they could receive much-needed heavy rain squalls from the storm at times between now and Thursday. The remnants will likely bring heavy rain to Nova Scotia, Canada on Thursday night or Friday morning.

Half a world away Tropical Storm Keila flooded the desert kingdom of Oman this week. Read more about this unusual storm at Phillip's Natural World III.