Mary spotted this little guy sunning himself on the western shore of our pond this morning. Eight peafowl were checking him out (I had to look away because I was afraid one of our Pea-Friends was going to get chomped). Fortunately no pea's were injured. He was avoiding having his picture taken.
Eventually our new gator friend decided to jump into our private lake (there are a lot of yummy fish in there, nom nom nom). I tried a couple of times to get a photo of him. Finally I got this revealing shot using my iPhone.
Generally these big lizards move out pretty quick (it's dangerous for them to spend much time around humans), sometimes takes two to three days (the longest we've seen is a week). They travel through the Canal 65 drain channel which runs behind our property, there is always a foot or two of water in the canal.
Gators travel West up the canal in the Spring to mate and East from their birthing nests in the Fall. Our current uninvited guest appears to be a little under five-feet in length. Not big enough to kill an adult but certainly capable of a vicious damaging bite. RESPECT!
Alligators can jump, they can use their tail to propel themselves forward towards prey, it's like the surprise strike of a venemous snake, ultra fast, unexpected, painful for humans and other food sources.
Gators are beautiful, powerful and a symbol of prehistoric life that is still alive in Florida. We like him, above all RESPECT HIM and we can't wait for him to LEAVE!
GATOR UPDATE - DAY TWO OF "FALL ALLIGATOR 2022"
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| Catching some rays |
He is still here. Our unwanted visitor crawled out and was sunning himself about 15-feet from our back door.
GATOR CAM
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| Here is our chicken TV master monitor, 8-screens showing |
I've been experimenting with a solar-powered wireless camera. I located it so we could watch the shore line to see if Gator was visiting. It's camera #8 in this system, that's the image on the bottom right of the screen.
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| Zoomed channel #8, aka "Gator Cam" |
Here is camera #8 blown up to full screen.
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| It looks a lot better in real life, much more clear view of gator at waters edge |
The image looks a lot better in real life than it does in these photos.
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| Gator in the water at the edge of the pond, he's H U N G R Y |
Whenever and wherever in Florida you should always keep a sharp eye to your surroundings, even a small alligator can do a lot of damage to a tender human foot or leg.
NEWS FLASH - JUST IN, EARLY BIRD EDITION
Mary has named the Fall 2022 Gator "Tiny" and he is back on our lake shore, about 20-feet from the back door, fortunately he is smiling.
DAY #3 OF GATOR VISIT
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| H E L L L L O O O o o o . . . |
He is still here, laying in wait for something to get a little "too close" to the edge of the water.
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| Gator at waters edge keeps the brown ducks away from their breakfast |
Ducks have built in "Gator Radar", they know if he's here and they don't like him.
He is really a nice boy, just misunderstood. NOT!
DAY FOUR, STILL HERE
Mary just spotted "Tiny" and "Mammoo" (a giant water turtle) hanging out together on our Bamboo Beach, in the sun (because reptiles like it hot)..
Massive 20-24" water turtle and an alligator, having a nice relaxing time together on the beach. Sorry, no photo but you can imagine these two REPTILES having a broment together. "Tiny" says "hey Mammoo, how about a few more of those eggs" (with a sly grin).
