Spring in the Swamp

We are surrounded by swamps and wetlands here in St Tammany Parish, LA. Yes, we call counties parishes here.  Something about when LA was owned by the French and the church dominated the government, so named regions the same way churches named them. Geez, if political trends continue, we could be reverting to that.  But I digress.
Yesterday, while vacating the house so possible buyers could roam through it, we drove over to the Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge to see what flowers were blooming and what critters were taking advantage of the lovely spring day around here.   The typical critters were taking the sun.

Our toothy friend, the alligator

Red eared slider, taking the sun on a lily pad.

And speaking of lilies

Thousands of them cover any non moving water.  

Closer up they look like this:

Or even like this:

This one is a cow lily. Even with its name, it's a beautiful flower as many of the wildflowers are:

Cow lily closed

Cow lily open

And what would spring be without the ubiquitous wisteria?

I hope spring is going this well in your part of the world.

Oh, if you want pond information, see my website at http://www.pondlady.com

And don't forget to buy my book. Click on the box at the top right of this page.

Thanks for your visit today.