On our little trip to St. Marks, there were noticeably fewer animals to be seen. We saw no deer or other mammals. A large flock of mixed white egrets were in the East River Pool, but few other birds were around. This large hawk was at the Visitor's Center. I am terrible with identifying hawks, so I will not even guess which this is.
An osprey was at the almost vacant boat ramp. (Small craft warning was out for Gustav. Also the tide was out and the north wind had blown it WAY out so there were sand bars and oyster bars all over the place for boats to blow onto.)
I had a big laugh at myself when I mistook a black and white dead tree for a bald eagle perching. Well, it WAS within sight of the eagle's nest! And possibly that is how the top became white.
There were fewer gators than normal. Besides the one in the East River, there was this baby at the pond at the visitor's center.
This guy was about 7 feet.
And there was a larger one closer to the lighthouse. This one was about 9 feet long.
We were surprised that we did not see snakes down there. On the way home, on the prison road, there was this dead moccasin. His head was squished and it was so much lighter than our moccasins this summer, that we had to look it up to make sure. But it is. It is just younger. It was only about 15 inches long.
Guess most of the critters had gone for higher ground or had found places out of the wind. Still, we saw enough to make it worth the trip--we always do!
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