Paynes Prairie State Park, Gainesville/Micanopy: 10-28-17

A few of the wild horses on the prairie

Foraging White-tailed Deer

Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

White Peacock Butterfly

Eastern Phoebe

 In 1804, the Eastern Phoebe became the first banded bird in North America.  John James Audubon attached silvered thread to an Eastern Phoebe’s leg to track its return in successive years.

Red Velvet Ant

The wingless female “ants” are actually wasps that resemble large hairy ants.  Their inch-long stinger can deliver an extremely powerful and dangerous toxin that has earned these wasps the name "cow-killers” and the result in humans of “30 minutes of life-changing, pray-for-death pain.” 



Cottonmouth Moccasin

Mushrooms