It had been a while since the last time I walked down this dike. The summer grass is tall so it’s easy to miss the obvious. Which I did, walked right past him.
The first shot above was taken when I looked back through a spot with no grass blocking my view. The Alligator was on a dry spot, wtxhing the world go by.
The last two images are as we walked back. Now that I knew he was there I could find a better angle. He was mid size and still had some pattern on his hide. I would guess between 6 and 7 feet.
Specs; OM-1 mk2, OM 100-400 ll. Lightroom.
Do you start to recognize individual animals since you see them so often?
Actually you do. But there are a lot more Alligators than you would think. This spot right here backs up to a river. The climb the bank and travel the river all the time.
As for recognizing them, yes but only the big ones. Old gator get scars, lose limbs, teeth grow crooked. Smaller ones look the same. And there is a guess that in the ACE Basin we have a few hundred thousand😐😐
That toothsome smile! He is in his element, on his black gumbo cushion 🙂
He is at the size where not much is going to bother him…and there’s always some squishy thing for him to eat. It’s a good life.