Changing Light

With the mercury starting to rise, the sunsets are starting to change.  Gone are the eye popping, orange, red and lavender sunsets streaking across the sky.  Now, sunsets tends to be more of a yellowish hue and the light somehow isn't as soft.  (A bit blinding, I'd dare say, for that great blue heron on the hunt for dinner.)

Even with the changing light, this ended up being a lovely (albeit quick) golden sunset last night at Myakka River State Park.   While the sunlight is changing, the behavioral patterns of nearby wildlife is too.  Driving to the park last night, I spotted something very unusual:  a large alligator walked out of the brush next to a busy country road -- and lumbered into a ditch filled with a few inches of water. The gator was so big and so out of place, I circled back to get another look (safe from my car) --- and saw the gator return (quickly) into the scrub.  I never, ever would expect to see an alligator in a dry area like that.  Later, I asked a park ranger about the gator's behavior and the ranger speculated it was a female protecting a nest of eggs.  She also said gators are on the move right now walking from lake to lake.   ((gulp)) Seeing that firsthand definitely will make me pause and think twice (or three or four times) before I wander into the palmetto scrub!  Hope everyone in the blogosphere is having a nice weekend!