Everglades photographs taken by my friend Neil Deegan.  Neil is an oil and acrylic artist who designed my book cover for "ERG Unit of Power".   I was with Neil when he took these photos.  Neil likes to walk in the swamp water to take photos for his paintings.  His web page is http://www.neildeegan.com/ 

This photo is of the Kirby Storter boardwalk on Rte 41 (Tamiami Trail) between Naples and Miami.  Those beautiful trees are Cypress, that like to live with their roots in water.  This boardwalk and many others were built by the Collier county and are free to the public.

The second photo is of the pool at the end of the boardwalk. An alligator lives in the pool and looks after her young who sometimes can be seen sunning themselves at  the edge of  the pool.  Alligator mothers stay with their young for a year.  Don't go too near baby alligators; the mother is always nearby.  When we were at the pool one day a Red-Shouldered Hawk swooped in to grab a baby alligator.  The hawk missed and the babies scattered.

This third photo is the mother alligator who stays under the water for about 20 minutes at a time.  We waited until she surfaced.