3/19/07 (Monday): We had a very nice weekend in Winter Park, and now we're back home in Tiger Creek. Mag and Wiley have sold their beach house (which was in pretty bad shape) to a neighbor who is restoring it. The family has many wonderful memories of the time they spent in the cottage, so we were eager to accept the neighbor's invitation to visit and see how he's fixing it up. It looks terrific--bright and sunny--and he's even using some of the same furniture. It has a very 50's feel.


Julie and John came to visit us in Winter Park on Saturday. We had lunch at Wiley's favorite Chinese buffet in Apopka and then went to see if we could scout up some scrub jays. I've always seen the scrub jays when we go to Lyonia, but we've always had to walk on the trail before they come out. This time, they met us right at the beginning of the trail! They were quite friendly and we enjoyed their antics. They'd fly onto our heads and shoulders without any fear!

After our trip to the park, we went into town to John's favorite Oriental grocery store. John is from Indonesia, and this is the closest place for them to buy Indonesian food. They're having a visit with their children and grandchildren next week, so they were stocking up. The store was fascinating--a huge variety of foods I've never seen before. This funny looking fruit is a durian. It's supposed to taste absolutely wonderful, but before you can put it in your mouth, you have to get past its horrible smell. I don't think I'm brave enough to try it.

On Sunday we went out for breakfast and did a little gardening.








Then we headed home. After we cleaned the office we headed out to check my beetle traps. We hit the mother lode of beetles this time! It had rained while we were gone, and apparently that brings them up (they live in the sand). Ten of our 13 traps had beetles in them; many of the traps had more than one! The trap consists of a deli container buried in the sand up to its rim. The lid has a slit cut in it with a hole in the center. You push the lid down into the container and it forms a funnel. The bait cup is suspended over the trap with a wire stuck into the sand. The bait consists of dung (I'm using hog dung), molasses and yeast. So far, I've found Peltotrupes profundes (very rare), geotrupes (not as rare, never found here in Polk County before), and pygmy scarab beetles (also very rare). If you'd like to see pictures of these beautiful beetles, check out www.bugguide.net. You can search the site for the beetles I named above. The entomologist who got me started on this project is coming to the Preserve this week. I'm excited to be able to give him so many rare beetles!

That's it for another week. Stay tuned!