I had taken a few shots of an Alligator that was deep in the tidal mud, see part 1 here.
The marsh on my right was my main interest, however I looked over my shoulder and there was the muddy guy.
The spot I had looked down from for the previous photographs was an open trail.
It turns out he waited for me to turn and walk away. When I did he made his move to climb the dike and get into the deeper marsh water.
The car path on top of the dike is about the width of 1 1/2 cars giving you a perspective on his size. Basically, medium size.
I called to Ellen who was walking up ahead a little, she took a few shots of him too.
Not sure if I bothered him and he wanted to get away from ‘people’ or he needed to rinse off the mud.
If I had not turned I never would have seen him walk by.
Great shots! Couldn’t really imagine what it would be like to come up so close to one of these.
Thanks. Actually nothing like you would think. The biggest ones still make a point of avoiding people. Obviously you don’t ‘poke’ one but we photograph them all the time. The day these were taken I was with many other ones. Those photos out the next day or so. We hundreds of articles here on the gators, please dig around.