This is one of the gators I swear hardly moves at all.
It had been a week since I was near him, and yet here he is. In fairness not the exact same spot, pretty close though.
We are in the time of year Alligators hardly eat. Their metabolism is very slow. In colder weather they can’t even digest anything, which is not good for their health so they don’t eat.
However, when it gets warmer this guy will swim off and swallow a small Volkswagen. It’s a long winter.
With that smile I had to take the shot.
Why would you ?
Better question, why isn’t this bird species extinct ?
Night Heron Passing An Alligator
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
I haven’t seen any great drama from the locals lately, but good grief all are out and about.
Find a hole or patch of sun and it’s occupied.
January we get another drop in temperature. The big guys find a place to hide. Walk this same spot with no gators… makes you wonder. You know they are there, but where !
I’m not sure if I’ve published these two before.
For the last several weeks every time I pass this spot they are there, almost exact same pose.
Bull Alligators don’t exactly fall in love with their mate, which the sizes hint at a male and female. Maybe a convenient sleeping hole in the marsh grasses right behind this place.
November 14, two weeks ago, I had one of those days where the Alligators were out getting sun, and I just grabbed random shots walking around.
We get all k nds of questions about the Alligators, a common one is how many are actually around. A good question, not sure there is anything but some official guesstimate out there.
These photos are from a single location where two large marshes are separated by a dike. Walking along the edge of the marsh I grabbed these images.
The first is what Ellen calls ‘a pig pile’. Even making the shot full size I’m not sure there is a way to count these. Find all the tails would be a good start. They like to ‘cuddle up’ in the sun. Notice no small locals got involved.
The closest gator you can see was paying attention to us. Two others were right behind him. No single Alligator shots to be had. Look close and you will also see the very end of another’s tail. The bumpy scutes (scales) are sticking above the water.
Piles were the order of the day. Around any given heap of gators others are hanging close by.
This was another photograph where I wanted to catch a single gator. However, the scutes of another’s tail is again in the way. You don’t notice these at the time you take the shot. Yet, there they are.
Out in the open is ‘one eye’. After a few years in this spot you recognize many by their markings, which are usually scars. This is not the only ‘one eye’ out here though. Living is not easy even for these alpha predators.
Here is one I almost missed, up out of the water in the glare. Pretty big, and of course parts here of two others.
Turning on to a second dike this was the scene just on the other side. Four on the bank and shallows.
The last shot here is actually ‘almost’ the same as the previous one. I just pulled back and shifted a bit to the left.
What I did was keep some of the gators from the previous shot in the frame, however by pulling back there are now two new locals on the left side.
What all this means is that on a day like this there are more than a few Alligators, just in one particular area. This swamp, dike, and water goes straight back uninterrupted for miles.
That’s why no one can ever really know how many of the locals live here.
I do do know we are really, really, outnumbered out there. LOL
Donnelley, South Carolina.
On a walk, a casual glance to the left…
OK, a bit dramatic. He was down the sloped side of the trail. He was going nowhere.
This Alligator was old enough to know he should just look the other way.
Typical Wood Stork too, completely ignoring the gator.
Wow, or maybe even daring him.
