A morning at the Slough

This morning Elaine and I headed for the Six Mile Cypress Slough - a wonderfully peaceful boardwalk that takes you through a gentle forest that often provides delightful surprises and today was no exception, come along and see.....

But first it is customary to peruse the parking lot area - this squirrel sure made us smile.

And this was before finding this rock within the butterfly garden - the little note attached to it said to either keep it, leave it there or move it elsewhere - pass the 'smile' around - I know just where to put it.

Shortly after entering the boardwalk we found this juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron....

look how well it blends in.

A very colorful Green Heron made a quick appearance too.

An adult Black-crowned Night Heron was spotted drinking some water.

A male Anhinga was busy preening its plumage....

notice how bright the eyes are and how lush his plumes are....it's breeding time!

The slough wouldn't be the slough without its ever expanding Woodpecker families....

A male Pileated was quite busy finding insects to eat while the youngster watched.

We were looking at the Snail Eggs when a Gator decided to pass by

It made us smile to see it as the Great Egret looked on.

A Red-Shouldered Hawk gave us good looks...

while the Tufted Titmouse carried on with their melodies.

This turned out to be another swell morning and it is now time for us to leave and make room for all the folks coming through the boardwalk.