We had a nice cool morning, with humidity that was lower than it’s been recently. It’s so nice when the day starts out like that. So, off to Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge to check on nests and take some photos!

It appears that nest building is a never ending job. Most of the birds were settled into their nests, but we saw a couple at work.

I hope this little green heron is looking for a good place to build a nest.

This little Killdeer blended into the foliage very well.

These two ospreys were making a ton of noise

Maybe they were warning the egrets overhead!

We were treated to a gator swimming in front of us along Wildlife Drive. This first photo is almost an optical illusion. The gator appears to be “extremely” long. It was a pretty big gator, but not as big as this photo makes it look.

I took a couple of quick videos of the gator on the move that I’ve linked below. However, the lady standing beside me took a much better video. You can find it on her Instagram at @michialeschneider.

Then, back home where I found a woodpecker feeding what sounded like several babies in a nest in my neighbor’s back yard.

Every now and then, you just have to take a butterfly photo or two!

Too bad this isn’t scratch and sniff. Frangipanni blooms smell so good.

One of the eagles will occasionally visit the nest. Who knows if the tree will still be standing at the end of the year when it is nesting season, again? We can hope it will be there and the pair will give it another try.