After visiting Manatee Park, we went to a second park, Caloosahatchee Regional Park.

We found an unconcerned raccoon walking along part of the trail near the river. Nearby there was a collection of shells, perhaps left over from a raccoon meal.

I’ve been calling these pincushions, but the book calls them pipewort. I have no authority on the name, but I also happen to disagree on the size they list for the flowers. The book claims 3/4″, but I think they are nearer to 1/4-3/8″ diameter. The beetle then, is quite small. This and the rest of the pictures are Mike’s, and he did the photo processing.

Baby lubber grasshopper. “The lubber’s only natural predator is the loggerhead shrike, a cool little bird that decapitates them and then impales their carcasses on thorns or barbed-wire fences so the sun can bake out the toxins before mealtime.” (Tampa Bay Times)