I’ll admit that this fellow startled me a little when I heard the splash.
Well, maybe more than a little when he stuck his head up and I heard chewing noises.
I never saw what he caught, if anything. He may just have been chewing on the greenery.
There was no sun were this young Alligator waited at the side of a pond so he readily slid into the water when some humans came his way.
Zip, down the bank he went…
plowing over the top of whatever was in front of him. I wonder how their eyes work?
Alligators don’t give a moment’s thought to what might be below the duck weed, they just go.
Click on photo for larger view.
The Daily Post Photo Challenge:
“This week, share a photo of things that complement each other.”
On Sunday I posted photos of turtles posing on an Alligator ramp and logs to sun themselves out of the water. Yesterday in the same spot an Alligator was using a turtle as a head rest and more turtles were clambering to join the group.
Further along in a different pond a similar activity was taking place with a much larger Alligator, only this time the turtles were on top.
Do they have no suspicion that they might be lunch?
We returned by this spot about an hour and a half later to find the Alligator had changed position but at least one free-loader was still in place.
The nature guide at Magnolia Garden identifies these turtles as Yellow-bellied Sliders.
Click on photo for larger view.
Singly or in groups, the turtles around the swamp like to climb onto about anything that protrudes out of the water on nice days.
This one came up through the duckweed leaving a shiny green coat.
They seem oblivious to the activity going on in the water around them, be it another turtle or an alligator.
This alligator platform was fair game for the turtles while it was in the shade. As the sun comes around they will likely get pushed off.
Click on any photo for larger view.
Audubon Swamp, January 2017.
Hey, Ralph, did you see something move?
Ralph? Hey, Ralph, where did you go?
It is amazing how the wading birds seem to pay so little attention to the alligators–how do they know it isn’t lunch time?
Their heads did all snap around when a Bald Eagle flew over.
One Roseate Spoonbill perched in a tree above a pond full of Alligators. I stopped counting at 60 and I’m sure there were more hidden in the reeds and along the banks.
From a distance the alligators looked like logs bobbing in the pond. Most of them didn’t move much but make no mistake they were alive.
Don’t fall in!
Donnelly Wildlife Management Area, Colleton County, South Carolina, 11/25/2016.
This group of four American White Pelicans swam round and round for over a half hour, occasionally using their bills to scoop food.
They seemed oblivious to the alligators floating nearby, but did mostly stay in a tight group, perhaps for safety. The reptiles were not moving much and were clustered near shore. It was hard to see how deep the water might have been and how that might have affected both the birds’ and the alligators’ movements.
I was hoping the Pelicans would display their flight skills, but they just continued round and round, eventually disappearing beyond the bend in the pond.
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, 11/25/2016.
A common Anole hanging out with the flowers on this early fall day. He twisted up and down stopping in yoga-like poses.
The flowers remind me of a wild aster, but different than those in New England. The bank of the canals running through the old rice fields at Caw Caw County Park are lined with them.
Click any photo to enlarge.
