I love coming up to Chinsegut Wildlife Area early in the morning to catch the sun coming up over the trees.

Sunrise here is what I think old Florida looks like.  Lots of tall old trees and fog.

There were lots of birds behind the nature center including the female painted buntings that were in the platform feeder.

There’s a large red headed woodpecker population here but I’ve never seen them come to the feeder area until this morning. This one posed nicely for me.

Then he flew down to the suet feeder and snacked for a few minutes.  This is the closest I’ve seen one and there were a lot of people standing on the deck behind the center so he wasn’t shy.

After spending an hour at the nature center feeders looking for the Scott’s oriole (see previous post), I headed out for a walk on the trails.

I made my way down to the lake which is mostly choked up on this side and there isn’t much water here. It’s all grown in and I would have to walk much farther down to the end of the preserve to find the real lake.

The sun coming up over the wild stuff growing in the water.

The sweetgum trees were finally turning to fall colors in late January.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.