The conditions must have been good for prescribed burns in the last few days, because another of the parks we visited was partially closed due to burning. We arrived early at Hickory Lake Scrub to find smoke drifting through the trees and across the road. The second entrance, that we’ve never walked around and wanted to try out, was closed due to the burn, so we took the smokey but open short loop that we walked a year or two ago. It was too early and cool to see any scrub lizards, but there were many birds flitting around. The scrub is an interesting, desert-like habitat, identified by “the absence of a tree canopy; the absence of a continuous vegetative ground cover; and the absence of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), wiregrass (Aristida beyrichiana), and turkey oak…. Most scrubs occur on white sand and patches of bare sand with or without scattered clumps of ground lichens.” (pdf) (by quoderat)

There are lots of prickly pear along this trail, with all of their spines intact. (by zanna)

Continuing on to Lake June-in-Winter Scrub State Park, we found a lovely, but short nature trail that crosses a small creek. While there was some scrub oak away from the lake and creek, the parts we walked weren’t what I associate as true scrub. (by zanna)

Near the stream, we found an ebony jewelwings (by quoderat)

And a frog (also by quoderat)