Finally photographed my first Least Bittern! North America's smallest heron spends its life concealed in tall marsh grass, freezing upright with its bill pointed to the sky and swaying with the reeds when threatened. I've probably walked past these birds more than I'll ever know!

If only 343/Halo Studios saw my banger Halo post years ago. Maybe they could've altered course and saved the franchise. All eyes on Activision now.

Some more bottlenose dolphin interactions from this morning. Check out how one of them swims right up to me to check me out! Volume up to listen to those dolphin squeaks.

A little sneak peek at the 8K footage I was able to grab from my camera. You guys are in for a treat with this dolphin footage!

Everything about this video is just pure nature eye candy.

Every morning ends the same way. After a full morning of hunting, playing, and general ottering around, this raft of river otters retreats to their secluded island and disappears. Tucked away from the rest of the wetland, the perfect hideaway to sleep off breakfast.

River otters are the true "swamp doggos" of Florida. Video proof:

Fakahatchee Strand has finally been getting more water lately and many of the larger bull alligators have been more defensive of their territories. Unfortunately for this smaller sub-adult, he never stood a chance.

Do you pronounce it coyote or coyote?

What a sight! Only the third time I've ever spotted a scorpion here in Miami Beach! There are three native species of scorpion that reside here in South Florida. I'm almost certain this one is the Florida bark scorpion.

My heart skipped a beat. We had staked out the treeline and stayed put, glassing a meadow below where a group of cattle grazed in the fading light. This was one of the areas we had mapped as prime wolf operating ground. A natural vantage point above the valley, invisible from the meadow, overlooking open country where prey would have no idea anything was watching. Then something caught my peripheral. It was bounding and weaving through the trees about 50 feet to my left. A canid. Moving fast and low between the trunks. My heart rate spiked immediately. I read the ears and the bounding gait and ran perpendicular, anticipating it would cross the forest floor and continue up the slope. For a moment I genuinely thought this could be a wolf scout working the edge of the herd. It turned out to be a coyote. A large, curious one sweeping the area the same way we were. It only presented itself for a few seconds before disappearing further into the Lassen forest.

The peacocks are getting desperate in this economy.

One of my Montana friends actually sent me this photo yesterday. Game Wardens were able to trap and relocate one of the bears. It's amusing to see my Western friends have this occur when our Florida version is an American crocodile or alligator sunbathing on a dock or kayak.

Full set of my edited American crocodile photos straight from my Google Pixel. It's incredible how good smartphone cameras are these days. Don't get me wrong, having a full frame camera and lens will always be better but goes to show you anyone can enjoy photography!

Didn't have my camera on me for this American crocodile encounter. Didn't matter! Ran the RAW Google Pixel photo through Lightroom and still pulled a solid edit. Before vs after below!