The pictures in this gallery post were taken along the La Chua Trail on the north side of the Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park, an amazing wilderness on the southern edge of Gainesville, Florida. Click once on a thumbnail to open it in a separate window. Maximum dimension is 600 pixels.
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- Little Blue Heron.
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- Great Blue Heron.
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- We saw many different birds, large and small.
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- Even the squirrels posed for photos.
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- Egret and Great Blue Heron
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- The La Chua Trail leads to a sinkhole that feeds the water into the Florida aquifer.
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- A Great Egret.
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- This alligator was about 20 feet from the trail, the minimum recommended distance on land.
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- Paynes Prairie is an enchanting place.
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- High clouds made for bright light without harsh contrast.
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- The largest alligators were 12 feet long.
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- We counted 54 alligators on our walk along La Chua Trail.
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- Amazing, almost prehistoric, creatures.
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- Great Blue Heron.
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- Great Blue Heron.
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- A half-dozen of the alligators were along the edge of the dike, 10 to 30 feet from the trail.
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- We think this was a Green Heron.
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- These little birds were about 4 inches long and accompanied us along the trail.
