An evening on the prairie

I took an evening walk on the Cones Dike Trail last night just before sunset out on Paynes Prairie Preserve. It was my first time on the trail and I know next time I need to bring my bike to hit past mile 3 before sunset and get back to the gate before close. I only made it to mile 2 on foot before having to turn around. And I still was the last one out with a gentle scolding from a park ranger. I didn’t see the open range animals, but I did come across the critters in the video.

It was my first time shooting video of wildlife and it was pretty fun. One of the lessons I learned is to leave the camera rolling as I prepare to move. When I stood up, I startled the dozen baby alligators and they went splashing into the water. I hope to go back out there again and find some of the bigger critters. Some cyclists that made the full trail while I was out there saw some of the bison and many more gators.

Paynes Prairie at dusk from Andrew Stanfill on Vimeo.