There are some places that I love so much, it's always going to be hard to leave! And this is one of them. But our grey water tank was almost full, the campground was already going to be full, and the weather was going to turn bad (for people AND alligators!), so time to go...
But before we leave, just one more outing. I revisited the areas Bill and Zou and I walked that morning. Most of the gators looked to be in exactly the same spots, with only slight changes in position! Hey! If you don't have to move, why should you?? The big exception to that was the baby gators - I couldn't see any of them. They must have migrated to a better spot near (or under?) Mama.
The same two turtles as before? Pretty sure.
I keep trying to get a good cardinal shot. They are pretty plentiful, but they are oh so good at keeping branches and stuff between me and them! I can't get a focus with two million twigs in the way!! And they are quick to leave if they feel they've been spotted and are being targeted!
Some other turtles sunning - and their pet gator in the background... It's a dangerous world though - I understand that turtles can sometimes become snack foods...!
But what a good-looking gator!!
A couple of pretty ducks of some sort.
Same guy - but what a "beauty!!!"
If it's warm enough, the gators will be up on the mud flats. But if they're feeling the air's a little coolish still, they'll stay in the water...
I was a little surprised to see these folks coming along the little boardwalk/bridge - they just barely fit!
An American bittern. I got to watch him/her do an interesting vocalization thing. His neck puffed up and he went "glug, glug" or something like that, not sure what he was saying...or maybe he had a frog stuck...?! (just kidding)
Ruggedly awesome!! Love those tails!
Senor Heron, posing nicely.
Now you see it, now you don't!
The views from up on the look-out tower. You go up there so you know where you need to look-out for gators when you go back down! Can you spot that one big guy? He's on the water's edge, almost completely out of the water (near the bottom center of photo).
The view back along the Pilant Slough trail, heading towards Elm Lake and away from the 40 Acre Lake. Best gator viewing along this section. The last time we came here (in 2010) I only made it a short ways down this road. Because there were so many big gators who were so close to the trail and they were oriented too much towards the road and looked to be not sleepy enough...!!! I got a case of the nerves and chickened-out! (you can see the tower's shadow)
View across the marshlands.
View of the road/trail back by the 40 Acre Lake.
What a great place to bring (well-behaved) kids! This family of four were out on their bikes - a great way to see more of this park. There are LOTS of trails!
That same little blue heron and a snowy egret.
Sunset's a'coming!
Cutie squirrel, didn't mind me getting kinda close.
This is a great place for sunset photos, as it turns out! I only wish I'd made it to the other spot I'd had in mind for these shots.
The right time of day - the ibises started their nightly relocations.
This is where I'd planned to be for the sunset stuff! Got there a little late... But the scene still provides a peaceful easy feeling, yeah?
And these guys cracked me up! Too dark to get anything but mostly silhouettes, so I really don't know what kind of birds (ducks of some sort?) these were. But I loved how evenly spaced they were and how they all kind of moved in sync.
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