passing through

A Gopher tortoise plods through our back woods. Endangered and protected here in Southwest Florida, we hope this basketball-size friend feels safe and will stick around.

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little ‘gator on a log

A little alligator maybe a year old finds a spot of sunlight penetrating the cypress canopy in a swamp.

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pair of owls

Dusk settles over a cypress swamp as a pair of barred owls prepare for an evening hunt.

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sunning otter

An otter takes a moment to rest while diving for crayfish in the depths of a cypress swamp in Southwest Florida. Not only is it hard work poking around cypress knees in the murky waters, but otters need to be on constant alert for alligators.

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Raccoon in Holly tree

A raccoon kit tries to figure its way out of a holly tree after a meal of berries. She won’t stray far from the rest of the family.

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Upland pines in fog

Sunlight struggles to pierce a morning fog in an upland pine forest of Southwest Florida. Cabbage palms and slash pines tower above an understory of saw palmettos, wax myrtles and rusty lyonia in this subtropical environment.

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Horseshoe crab

A Horseshoe crab washes ashore in a rising tide along the Gulf of Mexico coastline in Naples, Florida, another possible victim of red tide.

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Mottled purse crab

Mottled Purse Crab, a hand-sized crab, picks through the shallows along the Gulf of Mexico in Naples, Florida.

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Raccoon family

Mama Raccoon and her three kits on a boardwalk adventure through a swamp in SW Florida.

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Screech owl hideaway


A Screech Owl finds refuge in a hollow tree, napping by day while waiting for dusk to return to this corner of cypress swamp.

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