Florida Wildlife

As soon as we found out we were moving to Florida, my family started teasing me about alligators. The teasing increased when we moved into an apartment that sits right on a waterway (very common for the "Venice of America"). But I haven't seen any alligators yet. We plan to eventually take a trip west across Alligator Alley, so maybe we'll see one then. We have, however, seen plenty of wildlife:

Here's a family of ducks that live in our complex. The babies are pretty well grown now, but Ella loved to feed and follow them when they were still tiny. We counted the babies every time they came by.

They joined us one day for a picnic

We see tons of these little guys. It's hard to get close because they're pretty fast. This one snuck into our screened in back patio.

We watched this sea turtle for a while when we went to the beach a couple of weeks ago. He persuaded Ella to brave the noise and movement of the waves and come into the water. She now really enjoys the ocean!

And though there aren't really any animals here, this is a view from our patio. We see a wide variety of birds and the occasional fish in the water. And we have some lovely sunsets.