Southern Pine Plains and Hills

Bay County received 4 inches of precipitation in September 2026, placing it as the 50th driest September on record over the county's 132-year precipitation record. The month fell 1.8 inches below the 1901-2000 normal of 5.7 inches for September, as dry conditions persisted through most of the month before relief arrived in October.

Water levels near Southern Pine Plains and Hills stood 0.285 m above their predicted level on October 23. Positive surge of this magnitude indicates higher than normal tidal flow into the estuary, which can deliver sediment, nutrients, and marine organisms inland at accelerated rates while reducing estuarine residence time.

Sessileleaf Pinelandcress, a federally threatened plant, was observed on September 21 in Fountain, Florida. This annual flowering plant produces dark pink flowers and grows up to 3 feet high. The observation occurred when Bay County was classified as abnormally dry, with 47.27 percent of the county in D0 status in mid-September, though drought conditions resolved by early October.

Three Black-necked Stilts were observed on October 18 at Chipley, Florida, flagged by regional eBird reviewers as notable for the area and season. These migratory shorebirds are in fall passage; northernmost populations migrate from July through mid-October to Gulf Coast and southern Mexican wintering grounds.

Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) were recorded from September 2 to September 15 in the region, including Red-veined Pennant, Amanda's Pennant, and Atlantic Bluet. The cluster of observations on September 15 suggests active aquatic insect emergence during late summer.

Eastern Hognose Snake was observed on September 8 in Florida. This native species is listed as threatened, and the sighting confirms its presence in the region during the breeding season's tail end.

Southern Plains Bumble Bee was observed on September 8 at Steven Rd, Panama City, FL. This native bumblebee is proposed for federal threatened listing and its population is less than 15% of historical numbers, making each sighting of conservation interest in a region where sandy-soil habitat supports this species.

As of the week of September 15-21, 47.27% of Bay County is in abnormally dry conditions, a sharp rise from 2.99% in early September. The rapid expansion of dry conditions across the county within two weeks may stress aquatic and terrestrial wildlife dependent on consistent moisture.

The most notable development in the Econfina Creek watershed this cycle isn't a species or a reading, but a partnership. Audubon Florida profiled the Bay County Audubon Society and the Bay County Conservancy this spring, two groups that have worked together since 1998 to secure conservation easements across this stretch of the Panhandle. That history is worth pausing on, because it's the quiet mechanism behind everything more visible noted here this summer: the state-threatened largeflower rose gentian blooming in the flatwoods, the scoliid wasps working the sandhill longleaf. None of that persists without land that stays undeveloped and, just as important, stays burnable. Longleaf pine savanna is a fire-dependent system; without periodic burns, hardwoods and shrubs crowd out the open, sunlit understory that species like rose gentian need to survive. A conservation easement doesn't itself strike the match, but it's what keeps a parcel in private or nonprofit hands long enough for prescribed fire to keep doing its work, decade after decade, rather than the land being lost to subdivision first. There's no new violation or bloom to report this week. The real story is the standing infrastructure of protection, now more than a quarter century old, that makes the rest of the season's sightings possible at all.

Feather-legged Scoliid Wasps are the dominant insect across the sandhill longleaf this July — four sightings in a month outpace any other species. The females comb the pale sand beneath the pines, hunting scarab beetle grubs with surgical precision: each grub receives a sting that renders it motionless, then a single egg is laid inside before the wasp moves on. This specialization is so exacting that it requires exactly the kind of loose, well-drained sandhill soil this ecosystem provides. Tiger bee flies work the same underground economy from a different angle, depositing their eggs near ground-nesting bee burrows and letting their larvae take over from within. That this layered parasitoid guild is active and diverse through the hottest weeks of a dry summer is a quiet indication that the sandhill soil community — scarab grubs, ground-nesting bees, and their hunters together — remains intact beneath the canopy.