Arthur Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge & Wakodahatchee Wetlands on Thanksgiving Weekend

Due to car problems this weekend we had to change our plans from going on a long road trip to visit some state parks up north, to simply visiting some locally. We got the car fixed and met up with our friend Scott to check out two local parks. Scott, Uday and I all enjoy taking pictures of nature and had a great time together. The first park we went to is called Arthur Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. We did not see too much so we only stayed here for a short time but I managed to get a few pictures of the wildlife there. The picture above is also one from that park as well as the next few below.




Then Scott took us to another park that he was at earlier that day before meeting up with us and this was such a pleasant surprise! This is a free park and it is full of wildlife. Uday and I were amazed at how much we saw and how difficult it was to share our one camera with each other. This park is called Wakodahachee Wetlands. Here are a few our our favorite pictures that we captured on this day.


We saw many birds, turtles and alligators at this park among other wildlife!


Here is a picture of Scott doing his favorite hobby... (he takes awesome pictures and some of them can be seen on his Outlanders website and for those who know him, on his Facebook).


Here are more of our nature pictures taken at this same park...



























This picture below was one of the highlight's of the park! It is not often that one sees an Otter in south Florida and I was able to capture it on camera! It was a lot of fun to watch!


This is Scott's favorite Bird! Can you believe these two pictures are of the same bird!!


































A nice couple took this picture of Uday and I and Scott also took pictures of Uday and I on his camera.


A nice moon in broad daylight!


Two nature adventurers captured! Thanks for showing us these parks Scott.


When we got home we found a few more nature pictures we could not resist taking... I love this one! These birds stand on the ducks out here every day!


We often see these birds in my mom's neighborhood and finally got to take some pictures of them. They are beautiful birds.


Uday and I were having a little competition with our close-up shots. I took the one below:



and Uday took this one below...


Which picture do you like the best?

Grassy Waters Preserve

The nature in Florida still seems exotic to me having lived here for over 6 years after coming from up North. I am getting more used to seeing alligators and much less afraid of them than I used to be, but they are still interesting to see in their natural environment.

Uday and I went to Grassy Waters Nature Preserve after we discovered it around the same time by a friend and one day while I was driving by it for work. We decided to go there last weekend and had a lot of fun taking pictures of nature. The big alligator in our pictures has a hump on his back and they named him "Humpy".















This little alligator was hanging out between the edge of the water and parking lot just minding her own business basking in the sun. Her face reminds me a little bit of my dog Boo with her slight permanent smile.



Here is another picture of Humpy heading towards us!



Uday can hardly believe his eyes when he sees Humpy swimming all the way over to us! I'm excited and am taking it personal that he must like us!!












Maybe he thinks we are going to feed him. We are tempted but we know it is not good for an alligator to get used to humans or they will have to be killed, and so we don't take any chances!



We know Humpy can find a meal in this diverse Preserve.


Grassy Water's Preserve is a perfect name for this park!



Uday takes a picture of this Lotus in the water and I love the reflection of it in the water..


We have fun watching the fish through the clear water.


Might be the next meal of Humpy!!


I try and capture these dragonflies, but they are fast and I am still learning the art of photography.



I take this picture and am not sure if it is a weird bug or if it is just a shell of a bug...


We take rest at one of the many lookout spots at the park. I love Tiki Huts!


I take more pictures of nature...


and practice perfecting more dragonfly pictures at a different location in the park.



Uday takes this cool looking bug! We are still trying to figure out what this one is called?


Uday and I take many pictures and video of this grasshopper and admire its exotic color and beauty.



Awwhhh... A face only a mother could love!


A green dragonfly that looks a lot like the leaf next to it, captured in a quick snap!


Another quick shot of this butterfly that only stood still for a split second. I noticed this same looking butterfly on the free poster we got at this Preserve in their learning center.


My close up picture of the Lotus flower at the Preserve.


We also met a nice guy there who does photography for a hobby and his website is called piginaswamp.com. You may click on the website name for a link of his nature pictures.

Here is short video of the alligators and grasshopper, enjoy!