Big guy!!

My neighbor called late in the day yesterday and said that a big gator was in the water behind our homes.  She wasn't wrong!  This guy was bigger than any I've gotten a photo of so far!

They are just so prehistoric looking!!

A Face Only a Mother Could Love

My neighbor called to tell me that a large Florida softshell turtle had emerged from the lake and was headed across her yard.  I grabbed my camera and ran outside.  It was already out of her yard and booking it across the street and through the neighbor's yard.  I had no idea they could be that fast!  It stopped when it saw us, so I could get a couple of pics.  That face . . .  That snorkel nose . . .

We walked back to the water behind our houses and this pretty Yellow-Crowned Night Heron posed for me.  Then, he saw something at the water's edge, grabbed it and almost had it eaten before I could grab some pics.  It happened so fast that I couldn't tell what it was.  It was either a very large bug or a small crab or probably a tree crab.

Why did the Iguana cross the road?

I was on a long business call last week, when my husband saw this Green Iguana crossing the street in front of our home.  Even though it took him a couple of minutes to figure out how to even turn on my camera, he was able to get a good photo of the iguana!  If you look close, it appears that something took a swipe at the iguana's tail.  Might need a band-aid on that!  Also, take a look at the Wildlife Cam tab at the top of the page, and scroll to the bottom.  I added 4 pics this morning.  In one,  you will see a large gator waiting for a meal to come a little closer.  In another, there is a Green Heron on a limb.  That's the first Green Heron I've caught on that wildlife camera.

We've had so many clouds and so much rain, that I almost missed the full moon last week.  I was up early one morning, just as the sky was lightening up, and caught this pic below.  I didn't take the time to put the camera on a tripod, so the photo is not very clear, but the early morning clouds made it interesting.

A Day of Birds!

I started out the morning taking random photos of birds in our back yard.  Then, it was on to the beach for some pics.

The Common Gallinule is always scared of me, but today, there were two on the water behind our house and they didn't fly away. 

Is it just me, or does their beak look like Halloween candy corn?!!

My neighbor let me know that the Yellow Crowned Night Heron nest in the tree behind our  homes appeared to have several little heads peaking out.  Looks like 4 beaks in that nest!   No room for the parents in there!  I love the wild hair day they are all having.  There was also a nest with an Anhinga sitting in it, on the next branch down, but I couldn't get a good pic of it. 

I saw this out in the middle of the water.  I wasn't sure what it was until I took the photos off the camera.  The best I can tell, it appears it is a baby gator's head above the water and a large gator under the surface.  I took one photo and they disappeared and turned up in another area a minute later.

A blue jay and a common Grackle popped up to get their photos taken, too!  If I'm wrong about the Grackle, someone correct me!

At the beach, we were treated to a show of a Yellow-Crowned Night Heron eating a large crab.  It was quite entertaining!  First, he shook him good, seemingly to remove the sand.

He plucked the legs off and smacked it on the ground several times.  Then, tossed his head back and threw it down the hatch!  I don't see how he got that huge crab . . . shell and all . . . down that little neck!  How does he digest that hard shell?  Then, he picked up all the legs and swallowed them, too!

Ahhhh.  That hit the spot!!

This tree was full of Brown Pelicans.  The pic only shows some of them!  It reminded me of the P. D. Eastman children's book, "Go, Dog. Go!" with the great big dog party in the tree.  The only thing the pelicans needed were party hats!  If I were industrious, I would photoshop some party hats on them!

We are enjoying some beautiful clear water at the beaches right now.