coastalplainsnatives

[coastalplainsnatives]

Painting Bunting (Passerina ciris)

Range: Parts of Central America, the Caribbean, and the southern United States

The first time I saw a male painted bunting, I was stunned. The male painted bunting really is blue, red, and green in real life. I thought he must have been an escaped or abandoned pet, but he was instead a native wild bird! He came back later so I saw him again, and my brother also saw the painted bunting separately.

For more information:

Audubon

eBird

CornellLab's All About Birds

Photos are not my own.

Male painted bunting (first photo): Sandhillcrane, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Female painted bunting (second photo): Dan Pancamo, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/, via flickr

[coastalplainsnatives]

Blue mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum)

Range: Native to the eastern half of the United States

The blue mistflower is a native wildflower that holds a special place in my heart. The first time I saw this plant was in October 2018 when I volunteered at the Audubon Francis Beidler Forest in Harlevyille, SC. The blueness of the flowers caught my eye, and it was love at first sight for me.

It is difficult to capture this blue on my poor little phone camera, and the plant can appear in a range of purple to blue colors, depending on the lighting. I've noticed these flowers more in the past few years, whether growing by themselves or planted and maintained.

Bees and butterflies adore blue mistflower in early to mid-autumn. I've seen gulf fritillaries, zebrawings, swallowtails, and sulphurs visit these flowers.

For more information:

The Plant Native (beautiful photos!)

Joyful Butterfly (This is a shop, and while I'm not advertising, I have received good seeds and plants from them.)

Images are my own.

[coastalplainsnatives]

Warning: Meat/Seafood preparation and animal death

Blue crabs have historically been and still are a major part of local diet on the coast of the eastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico. Many people will just boil crabs alive, which is a painful way to go for the crabs. I think that we should try to be respectful to their lives, so I am sharing a more humane way. I am not an expert on this, but I am hoping someone finds this helpful.

If you are planning to catch and eat crabs, they should be kept alive until you are ready to cook, as they deteriorate very quickly. In a cooler, put down a layer of ice, then cover with a damp towel that you don't care about. (It will always smell fishy, so take it fishing or crabbing again.) When you catch the crabs, lay them on this towel in the cooler to slow them down without killing them. Do not completely close the cooler or the crabs will suffocate.

Once you do get back home (or wherever you plan to cook), do not just boil the crabs alive. At the top point of the abdomen, firmly insert the tip of a sharp knife and slice down through the head. This will make their death much less painful than boiling them alive. At this point, you can immediately toss the crab into the boiling water or otherwise cook as planned.

There are plenty of videos online on crab-picking, but here is one from Genell Gibson, member of the Gullah-Geechee community, at the UGA Marine Extension.

I believe you can also use the shells to create stock or use as crafts or decor. I try to respect the crabs by avoiding waste where possible.

Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus)

Range: Native to the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico

I've known blue crabs since I was a little kid, and my dad would bring some home for dinner every so often. However, I only went crabbing for the first time recently as an adult.

My partner and I attended an informational session on crabbing in September 2024, and I caught 6 crabs, which were either released or kept for the aquarium's educational program.

For more information:

National Wildlife Federation

Ocean Info

Images are my own.

[coastalplainsnatives]

Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus)

Range: Native to the western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico

I've known blue crabs since I was a little kid, and my dad would bring some home for dinner every so often. However, I only went crabbing for the first time recently as an adult.

My partner and I attended an informational session on crabbing in September 2024, and I caught 6 crabs, which were either released or kept for the aquarium's educational program.

For more information:

National Wildlife Federation

Ocean Info

Images are my own.

[coastalplainsnatives]

Intro post! :)

Hi! Here you can call me Fern.

I am from coastal Georgia (U.S.) and am trying to connect with and learn more about the land that I live in and the life that lives here with me.

This blog focuses on native flora and fauna here in the Southern Coastal Plain, a region of coastal lands in the southeastern United States. The flora and fauna shared here may not be endemic to this specific region, but this region is my general focus. (I will very likely also expand to broader neighboring regions that overlap.)

On this map, the Southern Coastal Plain is number 75, and there will be species overlap in regions 63 and 65, for example.

Map by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency - Modified from US EPA map, Public Domain, Link

I hope that by sharing posts about native wildlife and plants, people will learn more about the life around us and further grow their appreciation of this land.

This blog is a way for me to connect to the land and the lives around me. The idea came during the aftermath of Hurricane Helene while watching a green anole living on our porch, but I am also largely inspired by Robin Wall Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass.

"Being naturalized to place means to live as if this is the land that feeds you, as if these are the streams from which you drink, that build your body and fill your spirit."

I encourage anyone else who wants to learn about their land to create their own blogs or journals about the native flora and fauna in their geographic region as well, even if it is just for yourself. Knowing our neighbors helps us to understand and care for them.

I will try to use my own photos if possible but often will need to use others' photos for the sake of quality. I will credit and link to those! :)

Thank you for visiting!

[coastalplainsnatives]

Happy winter solstice everyone!

We have reached the height of darkness for the year, with today being the shortest day. The light will begin to return, and tomorrow the days will begin to grow longer again. The winter solstice is a time to remember that even though the darkness is great, the light will always return again.

Winter as both the old age and the beginning of rebirth. A reminder of the world's cycle and our own. We will come to more greatly value the spring because we have persevered through the winter.