הזיהויים של sebento

With Dave Goodwin, Erik Haney, Brian Ahern, and Mauri Peterson. Birding our way back from Key West after a successful chase of the first Loggerhead Kingbird in North America!

A pair nesting behind a satellite dish on the communications tower.

Gopher Tortoise Noctuid Moth (Idia gopheri)
(relatively drab 35mm moth with wavy light lines across its forewings. It is known primarily from northern and central peninsular Florida, but a few specimen have been found in Georgia and Mississippi. This species is primarily known from association with gopher tortoise burrows and it appears to be an obligate commensal. During a comprehensive search for museum specimens of this species, Don Stillwaugh found that only 16 of 73 specimens had been collected more recently than 1980, and Mark Deyrup only found one specimen in a survey for rare insects on the Lake Wales Ridge, so it appears that this species may have declined (Deyrup 2011, Stillwaugh 2006, Schweitzer et al. 2011). It has been found year round, but appears to be active primarily in the spring and to a lesser extent in the fall (Stillwaugh 2006). It feeds upon dung and detritus in the burrows.)
I think this is the only Large noctuid moth reported inside gopher tortoise burrows.
Seen inside an occupied juvenile gopher tortoise burrow, scoped with long camera about 1.5 meters in (the tortoise was further in).
So so cool to see!
Archbold Biological Station, Highlands County, Florida, USA