vabkh198's Favorites

Blacklighting during a pseudo-camping trip (slept in my car, tent is broken) to Big Cypress.
I had two sheets set up, each lit by two USB "DJ" blacklights, powered by USB battery packs. I was competing with a full moon, which I think lowered the overall diversity and quantity of insects at the sheets. Winds were fairly weak but still would push on the sheets every once in a while.

Blacklighting observations from my two nights of blacklighting in this area: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?captive=any&d1=2023-06-02&d2=2023-06-04&place_id=any&project_id=34515&user_id=joemdo&verifiable=any

Besides blacklighting I did some hiking on the Florida trail north of I-75 and the next trail a few miles west. Both of these trails had wildfires pass through a few months prior. Link to info about the fire:
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/environment/2023-04-07/cypress-camp-trail-fire-in-collier-expands-to-nearly-6-700-acres-reported-burning-close-to-i-75

After Big Cypress, I wasn't sure where to go next and briefly stopped at Fakahatchee and then drove past Everglades City before heading home due to my car starting a little funny.

All of my Big Cypress observations from this trip:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?d1=2023-06-02&d2=2023-06-04&order=asc&place_id=any&project_id=nps-big-cypress-national-preserve&subview=map&user_id=joemdo

Info about the cheapy DJ blacklights I used, great for getting started with blacklighting: https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/damontighe/11836-diy-moth-light

Here's a video showing the DJ blacklights in action at the Pinecrest campground (Big Cypress) from Summer 2019: https://youtu.be/tavmTa7WoPk

Blacklighting project for Florida on iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/blacklighting-florida

Blacklighting at Mitchell Landing in Big Cypress National Preserve. I accidentally overslept and didn't get the lights going until 3AM! An okay showing of insects but conditions weren't the best with a nearly full moon and my late start didn't help.

My blacklighting observations from this visit:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2024-04-27&order=asc&order_by=observed_on&place_id=any&project_id=blacklighting-florida&user_id=joemdo

Video showing the lights I use for a typical setup:
https://youtu.be/tavmTa7WoPk

Blacklighting project for Florida: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/blacklighting-florida

More details in general about my 2024 City Nature Challenge here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/journal/joemdo/93673-city-nature-challenge-2024

There were thousands of fruit husks under this tree. Can we be certain that this is a Chinese chestnut and not some other Asian chestnut species? UConn arborist John Kehoe told me that, if I found nuts, the tree couldn't be an American chestnut. Maybe he was mistaken. I went back on 2022-2-20 and took a lot more pictures. My new observation of the same tree: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/107150407