Biking in sunshine and rain....and wind

The weather looked kind of iffy this morning, but we decided to take a chance and go for a bike ride.              There have always been a lot of muscovie ducks in this area, except the last couple of years, there didn't seem to be as many.  This year, we are seeing lots of them again - don't know why.

Saw this little family of four...................

...........plus Momma and Daddy duck.

I think this purple galinule is gathering materials for a nest - I'd sure like to see some of these young ones!

I told you I'd be back to this place again!

We saw 100's of these fellows today - they were darting everywhere - especially on the sidewalks.

I love the flowers!  This was one of the times we were enjoying sunshine!

After searching the internet, we have decided that these are Egyptian geese.  They were on the golf course across the pond from us.

This is what the sky looked like when we left - the dark part is blackish, not blue.  But it was heading away from us.

A very cooperative heron......

.....and an anhinga, drying her wings.

We have biked in this area for years, but today we discovered a lovely park that we have never seen before.

In all the times we have been in Weston, we have never seen an alligator, and have always thought that they must take them away if they show up.  Now we're seeing signs, but still no gators.  The thing is that this whole city is built on reclaimed everglades, hence all the ponds and lakes and canals.  The everglades, which they have finally decided to preserve, are just across the highway, so we have always figured it was pretty close for gators to come over.

Such pretty paths through the park!

Another purple galinule - they have very long toes, and run across the top of the water plants, like lily pads, etc.  There are lots of them in the everglades.

This is what the paths are like beside the streets - it's easy to forget you're that close to traffic.

We found a nice sheltered picnic table in another park, which we go to often.......

.....which is just as well, cause this is when we experienced the rainy part of our ride.

We read and ate lunch, and waited out most of the rain, then headed for home in a slight drizzle.