It was an easy shot to take…so of course I did.


When out shooting this is a common sight.
How weird is that !
Is the title here a contradiction ? Not really. And that’s one of the things so fascinating about an Alligator.
Look at the image below.
You can see the slight ripple in front of his nose, a flow of water rolling of his snout. Just a hint of movement. And yet he was swimming towards me to get a better look.
I always use the description curious, it fits best. He was cruising around below, me standing on the trunk above photographing over a marsh.
An Alligators tail is about 50% of his total body length. A slight flick of the tail pushes him forward very easily. They don’t waste energy doing much of anything. Don’t be fooled though. For a short distance these guys are fast, very fast.
I should have had a different lens for this. A wide prime would have been better, but changing lens on the fly out here can be tricky.
Almost a basic snap shot of a marsh as I walked by.
While no red oak trees the browns and golds are pretty.
Throw in a few floating predators and you have an interesting shot.
He was comfortable and had no plans of moving,
This guy had the classic ‘thick neck’ and length marking him as a big male. A guess is about 11 feet (3.5m) long.
I walked around him a bit to get a few different angles.
There were only a few options I grabbed shots at most spots since it had been a while since I really taken any time with a big local.