While in Florida on the way back from the Mets Media day we decided to take a short detour to the Wilderness Preservation area on Merritt Island in Titusville. I'd never been and quite honestly didn't know what to expect but I love birds. I really love long necked birds and birds of prey. Merritt island has a reputation for having both in numbers depending on the time of the year and the weather. 
Based on talking to a ranger and a couple other photographers it was drier than normal. It was also late in February and some of the birds start heading North. So we tampered our expectations. And then had them exceeded. The place is magic. Tons of herons of various types, multiple species of Egret, Bald Eagles, Osprey, tons of ducks and at least two owls who had decided not to look my way. That is a special frustration to birders. Seeing the nest. Seeing the great light. Seeing the bird with it's head turned away and not even thinking of going the other way...
 

Below is the result of luck. As we were leaving the light was a weird mix of stormy overcast to one side and bright sun to the other - i was driving slowly with my Sony A1 and 300 2.8 GM in my lap when i heard a loud commotion that is unique to birds. Flapping, Squwking, Splashing - all at one time. The culvert next to the road was filled with water and lined with pines and low grasses and without warning the noise started and the birds started to dance in the air above indicating in my uneducated opinion that an Alligator had made an appearance... i started shooting out the window and the results are what you see below...

135 Shots with Great Egret and a few Heron mixed in for good measure... i've included both the stills and the hyperlapse of all of it... I love this camera and lens... was slightly worried it would be too short as i headed in but it was perfect...