We were talking to strangers by the lake at Three Rivers State Park who told us that the bridge 1 mile up had a lot of gators.

We hiked back to the trailer, ate lunch and then went in search for the Florida gators. We were told correctly and saw a large gator almost immediately on the edge of the water. The birds seemed unafraid of being gator bird food. This year we have seen gators in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida.

The picture above was taken from the dock. The dock was located next to the boat ramp and was heavily used. Both of us were fortunate with getting pictures even though the dock was rocking

We also saw a new bird – Limpkin (woohoo!). I absolutely love the name. The Limpkin is a large heronlike bird, reminiscent of a gangly ibis but more closely related to rails.

We walked back up the boat ramp to the bridge. On the other side of the bridge, we saw an anhinga. We weren’t close enough to take a good picture. We were able to determine that it was a male anhinga due to the black neck and head.

Afterwards we went home. John put the bikes on the car for driving for the next day’s drive. Kate prepped the trailer.