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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- A Great Egret.
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- Even the squirrels posed for photos.
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- High clouds made for bright light without harsh contrast.
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- Egret and 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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- Great Blue Heron.
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- The largest alligators were 12 feet long.
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- Little 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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- This alligator was about 20 feet from the trail, the minimum recommended distance on land.
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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.
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- Great Blue Heron.
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- We saw many different birds, large and small.
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- Paynes Prairie is an enchanting place.
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- Great Blue Heron.
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- We counted 54 alligators on our walk along La Chua Trail.
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- Amazing, almost prehistoric, creatures.
