Florida Interlude, Red Bug Slough
January 4, 2023
The third park I visited during my Florida interlude was Red Bug Slough. It’s a place I’d visited several times but never connected with well. This time felt different, and I came away with some good visual memories.
1 It had rained recently, so the Resurrection Ferns (Pleopeltis polypodioides) were unwrinkled.
2 People who live in the South may get used to seeing Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides) hanging from trees and even power lines, but It’s always interesting to me.
3 Old oak trees tend to be drenched in this plant.
4
5 I don’t know whether this grey tree is dead or merely sheds its leaves seasonally.
6 This tangle of bare branches looks dead to me, but is it?
7 I couldn’t identify this bird as an immature Little Blue Heron (Egretta caerulea), but my friend Lynda could. He’s about two feet tall.
8 He looks much smaller standing on a frond of these Giant Leather Ferns (Acrostichum danaeifolium).
9 Later he or his cousin flew to a platform where Lynda and I were looking at turtles.
10 Superficially, juvenile Little Blue Herons resemble Great Egrets (Ardea alba), but the colors of their beaks and legs are different.
11 Beauty and the beast: this White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae) butterfly was perched on an invasive Largeleaf Mexican Clover (Richardia grandiflora) plant.
12 Red-Eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) were just one of the turtle species we saw. Unfortunately, they’re invasive, too.
13 I give up trying to ignore squirrels who pose for me.
Romancing Reality 
Beautiful shots, Linda. If I had taken your #8 shot I would have gone home at that point knowing I could not get a better shot for the rest of the day. Outstanding!
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January 4, 2023 at 10:11 PM
Thanks. But you never know, do you, Ken. There just might be an even better photographic opportunity around the next bend or in the next ten minutes. Glad you like this one.
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January 4, 2023 at 10:21 PM
Great set again, Linda!
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January 5, 2023 at 12:47 AM
Thanks, Harrie.
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January 5, 2023 at 10:51 AM
Wonderful pictures Linda!
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January 5, 2023 at 4:03 AM
Thank you, Jag.
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January 5, 2023 at 10:51 AM
It’s exciting to visit a place with scenery very different from one’s own. Let’s hope people in areas with heavy Spanish moss don’t get jaded by it. You understandably enjoyed reflections in #5–7. And how could anyone resist a squirrel on its haunches?
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January 5, 2023 at 7:53 AM
Thanks for writing, Steve. Numbers 5 through 8 were my favorite photos. I didn’t like putting them in the middle of the post, but the sequencing seemed to go better that way. I see you understand about the squirrel photo.
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January 5, 2023 at 10:55 AM
What a funny name! We have lots of sloughs up here but not too many red bugs and no alligators. This post brings back great memories. The Spanish moss in #3 is beautiful on those mighty branches. That’s a very nice composition. I like the jungle-like thickness of the vegetation in #5 and the dark water at the bottom. Those immature Little blue herons are tricky! What a nice photo #7 is, with the bird surrounded by so much plant life – which is what it’s like in southern FL, in my memory. I love the Giant leather ferns – great portrait of the heron, which in this photo would not be mistaken for an egret. I’m sure I have photos with those ferns in them from the Everglades or someplace like that. That’s a classic Great egret pose in #10 – nice! The butterfly is sensitively seen – all the little strands of grass around it are nice, the angle is lovely, and the colors, so gentle!! I like the “layered” sliders. Even the gray squirrel is surrounded by a tangle of vegetation. Thank you for posting this little tropical trip, Linda. I’m glad you had time to enjoy the Florida fauna and flora. 🙂
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January 6, 2023 at 9:44 PM
Thank you, Lynn. The more that the travel hassle fades from my memory, the more I look fondly on this latest trip. It’s the parks around Sarasota that make me want to go back again. I watched the egret for some time, hoping he would spear something, but he didn’t seem to be having a lot of luck. You offer so many observations; I appreciate every one.
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January 6, 2023 at 10:16 PM