PALATKA, Fla. – This week’s SnapJAX stories brought me to a rural part of our area -- to a house on 40 acres in Palatka where we were looking for something that only 1% of the population will ever see: a pink grasshopper.
Jackie Green, who owns the property, has enjoyed such a rare sighting TWICE -- once in a stall in the barn.
“We have 40 acres of wonderfulness,” Green said of the paradise that her land clearly is.
By trade, Green is an attorney, but she now lives more like a farmer.
She left Jacksonville six months ago to move to Palatka and acquired goats, chickens, cats and dogs, and, of course, horses. Green added 17 animals in six months -- you can credit her daughter for the vision.
“She wanted a pony, and I said we couldn’t have a pony until we had a place to put the pony, so here we are,” Green said.
Her daughter Daisy is training to be a competitive rider and while this family is clearly focused on animals, they never expected to find a very rare insect.
“I was mowing down there one day. And all of a sudden, I was like, What is that thing, and I climbed off the mower and there is this beautiful big pink grasshopper,” Green recalled.
The thing that only a very small percent of the population will ever see. The SnapJAX picture Green shared was truly breathtaking. Green saw one pink grasshopper last year and just last month she spotted another one.
“I start to mow this bush and I look and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s another one. This is insane.’ So most people never find one in their lifetime much less two 11 months apart,” Green said.
It’s believed a genetic mutation causes the grasshoppers to turn pink. Their bright color makes it nearly impossible for them to hide from predators, so they often don’t survive long.
Green’s not sure if the more recent sighting was the same pink grasshopper or if she has two. Either way, she’s a lucky lady. Maybe she should play the lottery?
“Yeah, I know. I thought about that, that day, and I never do. So I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I feel like we sort of already have it all,” Green said. “But, yeah, I’m definitely blessed, and I’d call it luck. But I think it’s more of a blessing for sure.”
Ever since Green found the grasshopper, she stopped mowing the stall to protect its habitat so it might still be there on the property. She does have several cats -- so who knows?