A pair of dragonflies doing what they do at this stage of their lives...

Brazos Bend State Park, SE Texas

Nasty light but too close not to shoot. Shot with Assignment Houston Group

Brazos Bend

View of Creekfield Lake in Brazos Bend State Park

Hope you have a great holiday weekend. If you don't celebrate US Thanksgiving, find something else to celebrate and enjoy!

scenery at Brazos Bend State Park in Needville, Texas

www.brazosbend.org/

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Brazos Bend State Park

Brazos Bend State Park

Brazos Bend State Park

Fall foliage, Texas style, in Elm Lake at Brazos Bend State Park

Alligator enjoying the sun.

Well, maybe not really looking at me, but it knew I was there.

About three weeks before I took this photo I saw two big gators about this size sunning themselves in almost exactly the same spot beside Elm Lake. Could these be the same two? Possibly, as they really don't move around very much.

I used to think that whenever I saw two of them this close together this time of year that one was probably male and the other was female, since mating season is near and they may have already begun courting. These two, however, are a bit too big, making me think they're both males. Maybe these gators have a richer social life than I ever imagined...

Anhinga expressing itself to a group of black-bellied whistling ducks in Elm Lake at Brazos Bend State Park

Just as I began to squat down to get a low angle shot of this large gator, it decided to come up out of the water onto this concrete embankment. It didn't come far, as it settled down to bask on the concrete.

Fall foliage, Texas style, in Elm Lake at Brazos Bend State Park

taken at the end of a trip to brazos bend with some flickrati that i also work with.

Anything wading at Brazos Bend, even though they're the hunter, they're hunted. It's a wonder anything that gets in the water survives with the alligators so plentiful.

Brazos Bend State Park

SE Texas

Golden silk spider (aka banana spider) beside a trail at Brazos Bend State Park

Colorful fall foliage beside Creekfield Lake in Brazos Bend State Park. I believe these are on a Chinese tallow tree.

Because they're more or less the same color

Black-bellied whistling duck stands on one foot while perched on a large tree branch in Brazos Bend State Park

Small yellow wildflowers beside Elm Lake at Brazos Bend State Park

Yellow wildflowers beside the trail from the nature center to Elm Lake, Brazos Bend State Park

Ibis

Brazos Bend State Park

Growing beside the nature center in Brazos Bend State Park

Everthing seems bigger in Texas, even the spiders. Photographed at Brazos Bend State Park near Houston, TX.