Hi folks! I don't know why I'm not on this forum. Too busy with the butterflies, I guess! Seriously, come say hi in the butterfly thread sometime! But I haven't been too busy to follow what's been going down in the Miami area, even though I live in a north Tampa suburb. Long story short - University of Miami sold some very rare, endangered pine rocklands habitat to a developer who wants to build an apartment complex and a Wal-Mart on it, among other things. There are many endangered species that live only in this habitat! Some of the critters include the bonneted bat and the indigo snake. I will admit that my interest lies mostly with the butterflies, including the recently listed as endangered Bartram's Hairstreak and the Florida Leafwing. The rare (but not endangered anymore!) Atala Hairstreak also is found in this area. If you want more info on it, check out the Miami Herald or just Google "pine rocklands miami" and you'll know more than you ever wanted.

Anyway, I bring this up because the South Florida Wildlands Association is having a rally on January 17th to bring awareness and let local officials know how they feel. I thought some of you in the area (or not in the area as the case may be) would want to attend. I'm pondering it, but my health prevents me from doing a lot. Here's the Facebook link for the event in case you want to check it out, learn more, like the page, or just give them a shout of support. https://www.facebook.com/event...