Florida Critters

We live in a bird sanctuary here in Englewood, so we often spot a pair of Sand Hill Cranes, but this is the first time they have come directly to our house to visit.  

Yesterday we went out to lunch at a local restaurant that sits on a small lake.

The first thing we noticed was this sign.  Of course, it piqued our interest, and we walked around the deck that overlooks the lake.

What's this I see?

It almost looks like the alligator is lurking waiting for the egret to come closer.  However, as soon as the alligator spotted us, it came over next to the deck and nearly sat up begging for food.

Soon we could see two alligators, several turtles (some really huge - probably a couple of feet long), and a horde of fairly large fish.  While we worried a little bit about going to jail, we might have accidentally dropped a french fry or two over the edge.  Surprisingly, we never fed the alligators.  The fish are much faster, and the turtles are somewhat faster than the big fat lazy alligators.