They say that if there is a body of fresh water here in Florida, there is a good chance that it is inhabited by the giant carnivorous reptiles known as alligators. There’s a park with a lake near where I live that is home to many “water birds” and of course alligators. At this park, you commonly see Great Egrets and Blue Herons stalking the shore line ever so stealthily to catch some dinner, but you won’t always see an alligator. The gators are more active in the evening and thus the park closes at sun down.
On one particular evening, as I was walking up to a foot bridge that crosses a small inlet of water, something caught my eye. A young alligator, probably around a foot in length, was peeking through the water near the bank on the “swamp side” of the bridge. I could not resist this moment. So, I “cautiously” moved down to the bank, trying to make sure there wasn’t any “BIG” gators around and trying not to scare the little guy away. I got within about five feet of him and zoomed in as close as I could with my camera. I just had time to take two shots when “plop”, he submerged beneath the murky water and was gone!
17 comments:
Wow, creepy!
I had a friend from Louisiana who was a huge fan of "gator wrestling"--I guess he would go out and try to snag some of the little gators.
It seemed crazy to me...does anyone ever try that kind of stuff in Florida?
I'm sure they do, just not any of my friends. Well, one of my friends would!
Chad Cool shot! Luce check out this site. www.gatorland.com
You can go and pay to see all of the gators you want. They put chicken on a pulley and reel it out over the water and the gators jump five feet into the air to get it! They also have gaotr wrestling. Chad you are not talking about me wrestling a gator I hope!
not a gator fan...but neat pic Chadster
them gators'll git ya!
(in a hillbilly accent of course).
Actually they can be very dangerous as I've learned first hand. I've gained a great deal of resect for them but am still very fascinated by them.
I have an appreciation for the gator (and their teeth). Thus the wide angle telephoto lens ;) might be investment you want to consider. lol.
Just weighing in on the gator wrestling debate:
Tim,
Thanks for the site! I did check it out. My brothers would kill to get to go that place. Seems sorta scary to me though...:-)
I guess you have to be pretty darn brave to want to mess with gators.
Luce, I wouldn't use 'brave' for people around here who mess with gators... unwise, ridiculous, out of their mind... you know... haha
The only friend I could see even thinking of wrestling a gator would be Jonathan aka (Blog of G.I. Joe). He would do it if he was provided the "know how" and opportunity.
So Chad whata you say we go gator wrestling! You can wrestle him and I can snap the photo unless the gator snaps first then I will run like mad. We can start out with a small one maybe 6 or 7 feet! You could then do a blog about Gator Wrestling!
Luce,
It is kind of scary. There is an oberservation tower and as you climb the stairs and look down in the middle there are hundreds of gator eyes looking at you. It sends a chill up your spine. Did I mention it doesn't smell like roses at Gatorland. It really is a neat place. It's only minutes from Disney World.
Tim,
I know what your talking about the "Observation Tower". I took a photo looking down through to "the pit of death" back in the late 90's when I visited Gator Land. The pic has some creative merrit to it, but I could do a lot better of a shot now. Maybe I'll still post it, since you talked about it, I don't know.
way off the subject...but guess what Chad...I saw a Napoleon Dynamite "Ben and Jerrys" ice cream tonight at Wally World..No joke man!
I may have to partake of some of that ice cream! What's in it, little chocolates in the shape of Ligers or Wolverines? Maybe bow staffs or something. Hopefully not Tots!
I'll get it and have you and Mark over for another viewing of the legendary film.
haha .. love the title .. there used to be a program or a cartoon i used to watch called 'The Swamp Thing' when i was a kid.
haha .. love the title .. there used to be a program or a cartoon i used to watch called 'The Swamp Thing' when i was a kid.
nabeel,
Yeah, I thought "Swamp Thing" was kind of a fun title. I remember a live action show on the USA network entitled the same thing about a guy that was part swamp and part man.
Don't you love those shots when you're "in the right place at the right time." Very cool picture!
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