You never know

Something I like about Florida, particularly the southern section and the Everglades, is you never know what wildlife you might see. Above is a young cottonmouth snake crossing a road where I was riding my moped. Poisonous, cottonmouths are not something you want to mess with in any way at all. They are alleged to be aggressive, but this one took one look at me, camera in hand, and then raced across the road into tall grass.

Cottonmouths grow to an average of four feet in length. Again riding my moped I came across the one above on the side of the main road in Everglades National Park. He was struck by a car only minutes before I came along.

Even after they're dead, snakes can reflexively bite. The man above and I were both very careful to stay clear of the snake's head. He had a large mouth that opened to over an inch wide.

You just never know what you're going to see. I was washing dinner dishes shortly after dark in a campground's wash sink. This squirrel tree frog above was sitting to my left just above eye level on a ledge. He/she and a few of her friends kept me company every night I did the dishes. I came to look forward to visiting them every evening.

How would you like to look up in a tree directly overhead and find this customer? I believe he's a harmless corn snake. Two friends and I had been chatting directly under him for a good 20 minutes.



This tree frog looked the inside of the RV over before moving on. When we moved the window curtain aside, I don't know which of us was more surprised.

No Florida photo blog would be complete without an alligator.



The scariest moment I had with an alligator was while exploring on my moped. I was in the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve in southern Florida on a road called Janes Scenic Drive. An unusual play of light over a small pool of water and waterbugs caught my eye. I parked the moped, got the camera, got down on one knee near the edge of the pool and shot several pics. The pool was only about 20 feet in diameter, little more than a big puddle. I did not notice an alligator was lying on the bank opposite from me because I was so intent on trying to capture the unique shadows and water close to me. Suddenly he launched himself directly toward me and went under about ten feet away. I froze. And waited. And...nothing. He apparently was content to be under the surface and to leave me alone. I backed away slowly, mounted the moped, went home and then returned. Only this time I carried a Buck knife on my belt. The only weapon I had when I encountered the gator was my camera. A lot of help that would have been! Of course by then the light had changed, and there was no trace of the alligator.