Wetlands to Zoo

 I feel lucky that I have many places locally to go to photograph animals and plants and whatever else I fancy. Two of my favorite places are the Viera Wetlands (officially called the Ritch Grissom Memorial Wetlands) and Brevard Zoo. The cool thing is they are only about 10 minutes apart, unless you do not know how to get around a traffic circle, then they are an hour apart.

Although it was windy and a little chilly (about 70F), I went for a walk around the Wetlands, hoping to find many birds visiting for the winter. Sadly, there were not as many as I normally see and I personally think it is because man has encroached too close in new housing developments to the wetlands and birds are stopping further away. But there is still plenty to find and photograph. Like this alligator eying me from behind the weeds. At first I did not see it but I had that strange feeling I was being watched,

An anhinga was keeping his eye on another alligator.

And that gator was keeping his eye on the anhinga.

I did find birds including this glossy ibis landing in a field. The white ibis is more plentiful around here, they like the bugs in my front and back yards so I see them often.

I think this is a palm warbler. They like to scurry around the grass. They are hard to get shots of because they are always moving from tree to ground to bush to air...

Similar to birds in that they have wings, there were butterflies out. This is a white peacock butterfly, one of my favorites. Just like the warbler, they flutter from flower to flower very quickly.

I also like the Gulf Fritillary Butterfly with the black markings on top and the white markings beneath the wing. Maybe this is my favorite.

I ran into a couple along this path who were also photographing the wildlife. This alligator was getting close to the path so I said they could go first...they said "No, age before beauty."

A closer shot shows that this guy had some interesting light-colored markings...

As I was passing him by, his mouth was opening wider, I am not sure if he was measuring my size to his mouth. Lucky for me, I probably would not fit...

After I passed, it decided to take a turn back towards the water. You can see that the alligators at the wetlands are good size and appear to eat well, but no one is feeding them. Maybe this is why there are no birds...

So after I left the Wetlands, I decided to stop at the Zoo since it was such a nice day. In the Wild Florida exhibit, they have both American Crocodiles and Alligators. As you can see at the Zoo, these pair of crocodiles look well fed, and they are, but by keepers.

The Zoo use to have about 15 alligators but from my understanding, they were having social problems which caused fighting. Now they have just two, and on this day they happened to be on opposite banks of the water. I guess even two don't get along. You can see that this gator is much bigger that the ones in the wetlands.

Wild Turkey in Wild Florida

After checking out the Lions, Tigers, and Bears in the Exhibit...actually the Tigers are not there but they have a bobcat named Eco. So two out of three ain't bad. Lions, bobcats, and bears, Oh My!

Leaving the Exhibit, you pass by the crocs and gators again. Now, one of the Crocs was measuring me out for dinner, just like that gator in the wild...

My annual pass to the Zoo is good for me plus one guest. Let me know if you want to help me take photographs of all the animals...