And Still More Critters

Though not quite in our back yard these were spotted a few miles from home when mom and dad went for one of their walks.  As you no doubt already know from previous posts they love Greenfield Lake Park here in Wilmington, and the 4 plus mile trail that winds around the lake made for a nice sunny, breezy outing the other day.  It's not a state park so it's still open, and maintaining social distance is easy as the trail is wide, paved and pretty open.

The last time we showed photos of gators in this lake they were taken from a canoe.  This time mom and dad were standing atop a footbridge on the path that spans a narrow portion of the lake.  They stopped to watch the turtles, and got a bonus view of a "baby" alligator swimming amongst the turtles. 

There were several other walkers scattered across the bridge, and mom and dad said they'd swear once this 4 foot long gator passed under the bridge he stopped swimming and turned sideways for a few seconds as if intentionally posing for photographs.  I'm pretty sure the troll under the bridge is a blue heron.  This bridge runs by the lower part of the lake and he must've been hunting for his lunch.

  Mom and dad usually see one of these fishing near a small tumbling waterfall right in front of where this picture was taken, but on this particular day the shade must have brought more lunch options.  It's just surprising that he wasn't phased by the traffic roaring right overhead.