The shots below are of the same swamp. I was looking down a slight incline, into the thick swamp. However a big Cypress was in the middle of my view.

So, the Alligator was on my left, two steps over and the Night Heron was on my right. Big old tree in face.

This is the swamp rookery the Night Herons nest in. Interesting, this year the Black-crowns are here, almost mixing with the Yellow-crowns.

This Alligator likes to lay here and ‘growl’ loudly. The sound is deep, loud, and a bit scary. However what I find interesting is a side street in town dead ends into this swamp. A few houses even have this behind their backyard. Very cool! Sometimes people cut through here jogging, getting to the YMCA for exercising class, and taking their kids for a walk. They smile in passing as the big guy growls from the swamp. My kind of town !!!!

A Black-crowned Night Heron sat on a downed tree watching over the swamp. I just noticed a Yellow-bellied Slider turtle is also on that dead tree, a little further down on the left.

So while I’m describing this swamp I will add one more little factoid. I was in this spot about 3 hours. I could hear shooting, a lot of shooting actually.

The US Marines boot camp, the famous Parris Island, is part of the town of Port Royal. Today must have been rifle range training.

The whole scene is in the ‘you can’t make this stuff up’ category.