Alligator Exploration Adventure & Cat Extravaganza

I tend to start my mornings with meadows of freshly blooming phloxes and lemons, celadons and milky pigments. The cerulean of the cloudless, endless blanket of sky. Listening to the birds chirping, woodpeckers knocking, cicadas buzzing. All the components of my daily hunt for wildlife. Usually, the entirety of those trips is spent trying to identify and distinguish different birds (that look almost identical in some cases) and other critters; grey & blue herons, various colored ibises, moccasins, geckos and skinks- the list is just too long. The picture above is one of an ibis that slowly let me walk by as it was drying its wings after a swim. (I was really expecting it to launch at me, being THAT close).

Being a resident of Gainesville, Florida, the gator capital, there are countless opportunities to visit nature trails and parks, despite the fact that it's a busy college town. But if you are hoping for some gator sightings, the best spots are La Chua trail and Sweetwater Reserve.

Typically, at Sweetwater reserve, you could spot gators basking on the edge of the water, or swimming around and under the wooden boardwalks. Sometimes they’ll even lay out on the bank, incredibly close to the trails. But during my most recent visit, I encountered an alligator crossing a walkway! My first instinct was to stop and think “uh-oh.” My second, was to pull the camera out and slowly edge towards it, hoping not to catch it’s attention. This was the video footage of the terrifying, but a much awaited experience.

After seeing that in person I decided, “yup, that’s enough gator for one day.”

The fun doesn’t stop at home though. I have even wilder creatures living with me, stalking each of my movements from under the bed. My cats, Eva and Tony, have enough personality and character to count as truly wild, and cryptic entities. Not a day goes by without us laughing at Eva yowling in the middle of the night as she drags socks out of our laundry baskets and spreads them throughout the living room. Or Tony staring intently into our clown tree frog terrarium, which we like to call "watching TV."

They tend to sleep with me, so I have an unnumbered amount of pictures of them in bed, either trying to steal my pillow or laying on my feet and not giving me any legroom. One morning, however, I rolled over with my phone to get a picture of Eva, and captured her entire personality in it.

Tony on the other hand is very photogenic, when he's not doing the Kubrick stare from a doorway. Here's a picture from a time I caught him snuggling with his duck:

But he also has a tendency of starring in some very obscure, questionable photographs.

Although we like to poke fun at them for being chunky, or for waking us up at 6 AM to get fed, no matter how strange they may be, they are very sweet cats that love attention and affection. Their presence adds an endless amount of character to our little family.

At the end of the day, animals of all sorts are terrific. Not just their importance to our Earth, environment, and ecosystems, but also to us as people. It's scientifically proven that animals cause our bodies to release the hormone "oxytocin" which promotes happiness and bonding. So why not take pictures of them and spread them around to share the good vibes to even more people? Whether it's out in the wild identifying different species, at home taking care of our pets, or even browsing online or on social media, we can find that happiness wherever we look.