Sunset Over Taylor Park, Largo, Florida - photography

Being a night person, rather than a morning person, I've witnessed far more sunsets than sunrises, and have photographed quite a number over the years.

This lovely scene was captured toward the end of a walk around the lake at John S. Taylor Park, in Largo, Florida, on 3 March 2010.

One of my favorite places to go Nordic walking, or for an afternoon or evening stroll with my dog, Sprinkles, Taylor Park was about a ten minute drive north from our home in Largo, and vied for top place among my favorite local parks with Lake Seminole Park, which was about the same distance to our south.

Named for John S. Taylor, who was a large scale landowner, citrus grower and politician in the area around a hundred years ago, Taylor Park consists of over 150 acres of diverse and lovely land, surrounding an over 50-acre lake with excellent fishing.

They have a number of picnic shelters, and a long biking / walking trail around the lake, with baskets for disc golf (aka Frisbee golf) along the way.

There is also a small island, accessible by a lovely wooden bridge, which was one of our favorite spots.

Like most Florida parks, swimming in the lake is not recommended due to the large population of alligators, and people are strongly advised to keep young children and pets at a distance from the water's edge for the same reason.

The single largest alligator I've seen in Pinellas County lives in the Taylor Park lake, and although I'm not aware of any issues with humans, I wouldn't want to tangle with him/her.

Feeding alligators is illegal in Florida, as they are naturally wary of humans, but can become dangerous once they associate humans with food. Although a few people continue to choose stupidity over reason, happily the majority of Floridians and visitors abide by the rule, and there are very few alligator attacks on humans, especially in light of how much their populations have grown in recent years.

Humans, on the other hand, eat alligators on a regular basis, as a high percentage of restaurants in Florida and the Gulf states offer gator on the menu. These alligators have generally been farmed, both for food, and for their valuable leather.

I personally love the alligators, and always have. I used to walk to the top of a bridge where I lived in Seminole and count the gators I could see below in Lake Seminole. On windy days, they were harder to spot due to the choppiness of the water, but on calm days it was easy. Sometimes there were half a dozen or so, but many times there were well over a dozen close at hand, which is a testament to the healthy fish populations in the lake. The massive clean up efforts over the past couple of decades have really paid off.

Back to Taylor Park, by continuing south around the lake, which would be to the left in the top photo, we would ultimately come to some deep pine woods, with a few scrub oaks scattered among them. Around sunset, we would listen to the nightly chorus of owls, as they began checking in with one another before beginning their nightly hunts in earnest.

At the same time, we would be watching and listening to the egrets and herons, as they settled in to roost in the trees surrounding the lake as the day became twilight.

It is a magical place, and I highly recommend a visit to anyone considering a visit to the Tampa Bay area. All of these images were taken by me, in Taylor Park, in 2009 and 2010.

All words and images are my own unless otherwise attributed.

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