I don’t consider myself a wildlife or bird photographer in the least. In fact, I actually prefer landscape the most but I won’t turn down an opportunity if it presents itself.

While I was walking along the beach on Lido Key just west of Sarasota, I came across this Great Blue Heron fishing in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. He seemed more interested in feeding than he was in me and that gave me a chance to grab this close up photo.

During my annual winter trip to Florida to visit family I planned to get out and take some nature photos.

I jumped in the car one morning and struck out for Myakka River State Park which I have been to in the past and have had some success.

At my first stop I was worried since I had always seen alligators at that location but there were none to be found at that time. I moved on and stopped at the damn where during my last visit a year earlier all I found was water, birds and a cool breeze. This time I was very lucky to find eight gators either on the shore sunning themselves or lurking in the water. I took over one-hundred photos at this location alone.

As I was heading out of the park I decided to try the first location one more time. This turned out to be a good idea as I came across two more alligators relaxing at the water’s edge. In this photo below you see the younger of the two predators casting an ominous reflection in the calm waters.