It’s not often that I see the “boys” at Chesnut Park. I was there early one morning in February to look for owls but I got distracted by the beautiful bucks that kept crossing the trail. I saw 3 different ones with all different sizes of antlers. They were not shy at all. The park is full of does and the bucks spend most of their time in woods farther north of the park and  only come to the park during mating season.

Later on the boardwalk I passed two ladies who had come for a drink in the small pond.

I wondered if they were Mother and daughter since they were having a bonding moment.

A not quite fully grown purple gallinule was feeding close to the dock.

I see an adult flying out on the lake.

A tiny alligator was also close to the dock. It’s rare to not see one here.

It still looked like fall in the woods.

The lake was covered in duckweed but was already turning brown from the few cold nights we had.