Friday 24 November 2017

Florida Alligators


If there's one thing that Florida is famous for (besides oranges and Florida man), it's alligators! You can find them pretty much everywhere in the Everglades, and can be found in city drainage ditches, canals, golf courses and swimming pools, setting up basically anywhere they wherever there's fresh water and food. Fortunately, while American alligators are large, apex predators, they pose no real threat to adult humans, prefering to avoid us and feed on smaller prey like birds, fish, reptiles, amphibians or smaller mammals.

A female alligator, watching us pass.

One of our favourite ways to see alligators is to take an airboat ride out in the Everglades. There are a ton of different operators to choose from, but we tend to go out from the Everglades Safari Park because they offer a good tour and it's relatively close to where we live. They're obviously geared mostly towards alligator sightings, but there are usually plenty of birds to see as well (though that's for another blog!), and you can get some beautiful evening light if you head over there for the late afternoon trips (~ 4pm).

My what shiny teeth you have!

Anyway, without further ado, here are a few of my favourite 'gator photos so far! You can see all of these images (and more) in my website gallery. As usual, you can click on each image to see a larger image.

A one-eyed alligator relaxing on a muddy rise in the Everglades

Reflections

Alligator portrait

Floating and watching

A small female alligator swimming towards us in the evening light

Sunday 12 November 2017

Big Cypress in the Rain

We get a lot of rain in Florida. Usually, it's the type of rain that just dumps out of the sky for a few minutes and then passes, but occassionally we get a day that's just grey and wet for hours and refuses to let up. Kind of like Scotland except, you know, warm.


Little blue heron (adult)

Juvenile little blue heron

A woodpecker

A murder log (American alligator)
 
Still, I've always really liked rainy days for taking wildlife photos. The colours are richer, the days aren't so dazzlingly bright, and the animals all just look that bit more scunnered about everything!

Killdeer crossing

A black vulture

A mockingbird

Possibly a small warbler


These photos are from all the way back in January, and mark the first in a series of batches I'll be posting now I've had some free time to clear a bit of my backlog! I hope you enjoy them. As always, you can click on each image to see a larger version.

A juvenile blue heron.