3rin's View…

I’m referring to crap, of course. While I was rearranging my laundry room this weekend I came across debris on the top shelf. This sh*t is never a good sign, since it means there are termites nearby chewing away on the wooden parts of my house.

Thankfully, the damage is relegated to a small area and I have a termite contract with a pest control company. The main reason I wanted to share this with you is because termite feces has the cutest term: frass. It’s just a darn fun word to say. Try it, I’ll wait.

As a self-professed scatologist, I spend a lot of time looking at and pondering wildlife doo-doo. Poop is fascinating because it holds clues that can help you piece together an animal’s behavior. Dung can tell you how recently an animal passed by, what animal deposited it, and what the animal last ate. Like I said, fascinating.

While there are many terms for excrement, frass is my all-time favorite. My only complaint is that the word is wasted on termites (and other wood-boring insects). Of all the creatures in the animal kingdom, shouldn’t otters be the ones who get a cute name for their manure?

While out exploring a nearby park today I was captivated by these bright blossoms. Closer inspection of them had me perplexed, they looked like hibiscus flowers but they were attached to a large tree.

A quick internet search cleared up my confusion, it was a Sea Hibiscus (Hibiscus tiliaceus), the only member of the hibiscus family that reaches tree status. This one, was close to thirty feet high and equally wide (and I wish I had taken a photo of it).

Introduced from the Old World, this year-round bloomer has naturalized in Florida. The flowers open yellow with a red center but change to orange and then red before dropping off the limb. I wonder if I could plant one in my yard…

This evening on my beach walk, I borrowed a gull’s dinner so I could take a few photographs.* I was enthralled by the fish’s striking appearance.

The first part of the common name, Honeycomb Cowfish (Acanthostracion polygonius), derives from the unique hexagonal plates of the fish’s carapace (yes, this slow moving species sports armor). Each plate has a dark ring, creating a honeycomb pattern. While cowfish, comes from the spines (that look like horns) over the prominent eyes and sloped forehead.

Measuring about 8 inches long this was an average size specimen. While the bright coloration suggests it was a juvenile. This species is somewhat uncommon in the Gulf of Mexico though there is a known population that hangs out along the coast of Florida.

*After a quick rinse and snapping a few shots I returned the fish to the impatient gull. Bon appétit!

I wish this photo was a bit crisper but I’m sharing it anyway since I am so enamored with this handsome fellow. I mean, if I was a female grackle, I’d be interested.

Oddly, most of these birds that live here along the Gulf of Mexico have a dark eye while the ones that live over on the Atlantic coast sport the yellow eye. I wonder how he ended up here?

These showstoppers caught my eye as I wandered around Eagle Lake Park last week. The bright colors of these fruits more than made up for the dearth of flowers around.

From left to right: Elderberry, Beautyberry, and Pepper Tree fruit.

A fisherman caught this baby Bonnethead Shark (Sphyrna tiburo) at the John’s Pass jetty last week. Also known as a shovelhead, this is one of the smaller members of the hammerhead genus.

When they are less than two feet long they don’t look all that scary. This little one was gently replaced into the Gulf of Mexico.

“Swim away, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, doo”