Join us now as we meet some of the wild denizens of an abandoned golf course...

There were quite a few varieties of dragonfly, some very colorful... but this one was the only one willing to sit still long enough.

     

Wandered over to a pond away from the houses, and spied this alligator, which was a bit of a surprise.

     


Very shy... swam away when I got too close. Probably about 5 feet from tip to tip... a youngster.

     



Gators are no big deal down here, but I find them fascinating. Very dinosaur-like.

     



Some energetic cloud formations out over the Gulf...

     


A bird contemplates the menu.

     


This bird was not very happy to see me... the nest may have been nearby.
I think this was a female of the same species shown above- the males were black with orange-red shoulders. Very energetic little hunters... not sure what they are.

I also spied a huge blue heron, but it flew away before I could get close enough to get a decent shot.

     


As soon as this monstrous clump of cloud obscured the sun, biting flies and mosquitos started to attack. I hadn't bothered to put on any repellent, so it was time to beat it.

Awesome pics.  I especially like the dragonfly photo.

Life goes on. Shows how insignificant us humans are.

flyboy 28 wrote on Jun 4^th, 2007 at 12:20am:


Really? Were you frightened by one as a small child?

Just be thankful they're not as big as they were about 300 million years ago... ! 

For those who may not know: even if one of today's tiny dragonflies wanted to hurt you, it wouldn't be very successful. I think the only way to get bitten or stung by a dragonfly would be to grab one. In that case, you're asking for it.   


I love dragonflies... they're beautiful, and the most amazing fliers. I could watch them hunt all day... they eat mosquitoes, BTW... anything that eats mosquitoes is a friend of mine.

A dragonfly after my own heart...

WOW that Dragonfly liiks like a little evil Alien Monster! Scary...Imagine if it was 20ft long!  creepy!

Roughrider wrote on Jun 4^th, 2007 at 5:43pm:

It's not the alligators I'm worried about there- there's all sorts of junk in those ponds. Also crawling with large blue-claw crabs and snapping turtles... wading in would be... interesting.