A medium sized local who decided to sleep on the lawn (of a plantation house).
I noticed him as I walked into the main house lawn area. Probably he was chased back towards the swamp in a short time. A group of picnic tables for the tourists are just off to left side here.
Nobody would come to any harm, but the ‘squeals’ would have been fun to hear.
Main grounds, Magnolia Plantation, Charleston.
Each spring people everywhere talk about the pollen in the air. Up north we did, down here is different though. We do complain, but we can point at anything outdoors too. It’s covered in green pollen.
Example below; an alligator sleeping and covered in the pollen that drifted on him.
Now that’s pollen !
A few portraits, with big heads.
OK, so there color too. I forgot.
A few random images taken around the marshes recently. In no particular order.
The first is a medium sized Alligator making his way to some reeds. As usual not in any hurry, no need to be when you are the apex out here.
Juvenile Roseate Spoonbills with little color. Probably about a year old.
He may look big in the photograph, but so small he chirps like a bird. At best this one was 6 inches long. I wanted to get him near something to give perspective however there was no time to wait. Several of his siblings had already disappeared on me.
Last is the ever present Great Egret. Can’t shoot spring wildlife here without one of these.
Big guy doing a profile, and growl.
He did get everyone’s attention, and lots of growls back.
Port Royal, South Carolina, has a wetlands in the center of town. It’s a decent size, a few islands in the middle. but not very deep. They have built up the islands over time to allow small wading birds to nest there, a rookery. It has a boardwalk running along the side.
And since it is South Carolina the marsh has it’s fair share of these locals. They live in the center of town with everyone else.
I have never heard of one walking through town.
Another thought, a little funny. The US Marines have their basic training camp outside of Port Royal. Wonder what the young northern recruits think when they are out training…and bump into one of these. 😂😂
A big guy doing what gators do, not much of anything.
This day there wasn’t much happening around the marshes. While there’s always something to see this time it was either out of range or not much of a shot.
We did spot this Alligator lying near the reeds, in mud of course.
I took a few photos both short and long then started to look for something (anything) else around.
When I turned back the gator had climbed into the water a little. He watched us and in typical Alligator fashion stopped where he was, and promptly zoned out again.
As I’ve said before, on a quiet day you can always count on finding an Alligator for a few images.
Alligators have vocal chords, but they are different. Sounds are based on vibrations.
A big alligator, with big vibrations, will make everything around them shake.
This was a small ‘growl’, you can see some of the water flying up.
Strange critters.
