This morning it looked like we were going to have a break in the rainy thunder weather that we’ve been having here in South Florida.  And I picked a good morning to visit my favorite walking marshes… the gators were out cruising.

Florida is gator country.  There’s no getting around it.  I’ve seen them cruising the marshes, cruising the brackish Intercoastal Waterway, cruising the wetlands… lurking on the edge of brown-tinted ponds.  You really don’t want to go swimming in the tea-colored ponds; you don’t know what or who is lurking below the surface.

We had some alligator flirtations going on with the female repeatedly cruising in front of Big George, the alpha gator.

Cattle Egret

Tri-colored Heron

Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis, a very handsome bird.

Green Iguana, a non-native species

Grooming Heron

Resting Turtle

Green Heron

It was still steamy hot today, but cooler than many regions of the nation, being in the mid-80’s.  Thunderheads were forming up around the horizon, reaching into the pale blue skies.  The ponds were mirror-like, with no breeze to break the surface with ripples. Still I was able to walk about 3.5 miles, a big improvement on last week.

Great White Egret

Then I spotted another large alligator resting on the shoreline…

So, I sighted three large alligators today, the first in quite a long time.  There are lots of places for them to hide in these large, if artificial wetlands.

Just another day in steamy Florida, a third of the way through summer.

In joy,

Eliza Ayres

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