Morning Alligators
This morning I decided to go over by the swamp to see if anything was going on. I wasn’t there five minutes when I saw this good ole’ boy sneaking his nose out from behind the weeds. After giving me a quick lookover and figuring I was ok, he went lumbering across a paved road that runs along one edge of the swamp and dropped into it. The second photo shows him after he settled down among the swamp muck. A bit further down in the swamp I discovered another alligator attempting to camouflage himself in the duckweed.
Sorry if my video camera work is a bit shaky…three cups of coffee can sometimes do that to me!
Phil Lanoue Photography 
Elegant and regal come to mind!!
Well I’m glad you like our gator pals!
It’s really difficult to imagine these beasts just wandering about the place. They’re really quite fearsome. Enjoying the video clips Phil. Love the last picture particularly. 🙂
They only occasionally hop out to take a little stroll and they are quite calm just going about their business going from one place to the next. They don’t really have a whole lot to worry about so they mostly just take it easy. 😀
So glad you liked the video and pics!
Oh MY!! That video is positively prehistoric. 😀 Three cups of coffee? I’d need a double whiskey after that, and I don’t even like whiskey. 🙂 Fabulous photography, Phil. Happy weekend to you.
They are the closest thing we have to a living dinosaur and I never fail to be amazed seeing one walking out on land.
A little early for whiskey but that is my plan for later this evening! 😀
Thanks for looking and commenting Sylvia! Enjoy your weekend.
Oh that gator in the duckweed is positively creepy…love it!
He is a little creepy…:shock: but he’s a swell guy. 😀
Glad you like the pics Katie!
Hey cool video, Phil by the way if you run the anti shake program in youtube it really works well. Give it a try.
Just a suggestion. Just constructive Thanks
Thanks a lot for looking TJ.
Great shots.
Thanks, appreciate it.
I’m so glad you love your ‘gators ’cause I could easily do without them. I’ll take our seals or sea lions anytime over your reptiles. But they’re great to watch as long as they stay inside my computer….. 😉
Well they are a ton of fun right there on your computer screen right?! 😀
I appreciate you checking out the video and pics Gunta!
Absolutely (a ton of fun)… just so long as they don’t crawl out on my desk! I love checking out your pics and videos. (it wasn’t all that shaky.)
I don’t think they should crawl out onto your desk, they are normally very well behaved with excellent manners.
Alright, well maybe not *excellent* manners, they have been known to track mud on carpeting.
With no natural enemies it’s surprising that they don’t take over the place or do humans take their toll? Lumbering is a great way to describe their motion.
One of the things about the alligators in this particulare area is that they have no predators (other then each other since they do fight) as there is no alligator hunting here. So they are at the top of the food chain. But instead of that making them aggressive, they are actually relatively passive, presumably because they have little to worry about.
And yes, they do kind of lumber about on the rare occasions they are on land. But…I have seen them run.
Awesome shots! It’s amazing how you can get so close to capture them. Do you ever get scared?
Thanks Gracie! I don’t really get scared very much. I keep a respectful distance and try to make myself as inconspicuous as possible.
Da warst du ja ganz nah, hat er dich nicht entdeckt? Und riesig ist der 😯
Ich war nah, aber er ist nicht an mir interessiert. Er mag mich! 😛 😀
What was the difference between you and him? I wouldn’t hold my hand steady enough to film!
He was close but he was mostly just ignoring me, he only wanted to get into his swamp. 🙂
Fantastico, incredibile che ci si possa avvicinare così tanto, ma lui ti è amico…
Oh sì, lui è mio amico. Spero che è mio amico. 😯 😀
My daughter’s response: “WHOOOAAA!” Neither of us has seen an alligator in person.
I’m glad you and your daughter got a kick out of these alligator pics and video Sid!
They are impressive animals in my view, especially when viewed up close.
How fast can an alligator go? He was thinking carefully of every step that he took. I love the next to the last photo with the green algae on his head. Wonderful!
Bella I have seen them run! They can move quite rapidly if they feel the need, and they can swim very fast as well.
I might have video of one running, I’ll have to look for it.
Glad you liked these pics and video. It was an interesting morning. 🙂
You just have way too much fun in the swamp. Sure you’re not a Florida Gator?
I’m a SC gator. 😛 Yes I do have fun in the swamp. Wait, that sounds weird 😕 😀
Not to a bleeding Orange and Blue fan like myself…Go Gators !! Chomp Chomp
These are fantastic! I love the 3rd pic with all of the green covering the gator. I can totally relate to the shakes after coffee. I was trying to shoot macro this morning without a tripod. Not a great idea after a large coffee 🙂
Yes macro work with no tripod and shaky hands is not an ideal situation. 🙂
Thanks I’m glad you like the gator pics!
Wow he’s really scary looking walking across the road. Wonderful shots but the 3rd one is fantastic.
It is sort of odd and disconcerting to see one walking, they do look rather prehistoric.
Thanks for checking out the pics!
I love the shots with the duckweed. I see that from time to time around our area, but just learned its name this summer. It’s quite a lovely plant, really – I took at photo at Louisiana’s Lake Martin a couple of years ago that had a wonderful green “something” over the water. I thought it was algae, but now think it was duckweed. In any event, Mr. Alligator looks just fine peering out from it.
I’m glad you enjoyed the swamp gator photos! They do seem perfectly content to lounge around the green muck. 😀
Whooooo: fantastic photos end video. I like the Gator, is a very wonderful. Bye Phil Giovanna
Thank you so much Giovanna!
I’m just a bump on a log. Nothing going here. 🙂
Exactly, keep moving, nothing to see here, certainly not a large reptile lurking in the weed. 😯 😀
That’s impressive, but so frightening to me ! I think it’s because of its look…
You mean the big grin he has on his face?! 😛
Thanks for checking these out Karine!
Don’t think I’d want to get up and close and personal with this guy
Oh sure you would. He’s just like a big ole cuddly teddy bear. 😀
Glad you got the video of the big boy crossing the road… We just missed it in the afternoon. He came into the pond and went into the corner where the storks are. Took a tour around the pond, past his island, before he got close to the storks. Maybe we will see you this week again.
Hi Peggy, that one you saw is quite likely a different alligator. There is one that lives in the back corner of the pond near where the storks hang out. I don’t think that one ever makes it all the way over to the swamp.
I appreciate you looking and commenting!
That alligator looks waaaaay too kind on the first pic!! “Come closer, I won’t eat you anyway” :DD
Oh he’s a good old boy! Plus he is not allowed to eat me. 😯
Where are these taken? Amazing photos 🙂 You are very talented!
Thanks very much Mari! I live in the coastal South Carolina USA area and that’s where all the photos were taken.
Glad you liked the alligators! 😀 Cool to see them walk isn’t it?!
You sure it was the 3 cups of coffee giving you the shakes and not that big boy? I think it was the gator! 😉 Lovely photos and loved the video. Glad Mr. Gator didn’t think you would be a tasty morsel that morning.
I’m happy to have emerged unscathed. That coffee combined with a wild alligator walking in front of me may have contributed to some shakiness. 😛 😀
What an amazing animal! :+) I really enjoyed watching the video and also seeing the photos.
I really appreciate you watching the video and checking out the photos, and glad you enjoyed them!
The head on in the weed is unreal trust it wasn’t a camera phone 😀 (too close for comfort)
Not a camera phone but I was close. 😯
Thanks Scott!
Gotta love that lumbering stroll!! My fav is second pic from the bottom. It is a great shot altogether but I especially like the texture of its hide and how there are no bad highlights. I find with gator pictures it is really easy to get hot spots from light glinting off the water pooling on the gator’s skin. Very enjoyable pictures!
Glad you enjoyed the alligator pics and video Judy! It is true that you can get hotspots from those little pools of water on Mr. Gator, but there are times when even that can be used to hopefully create an interesting image.
Thanks very much for looking!
He’s a handsome fella, alright. I thought we had some fearsome neighbours back in Australia!
By the way, your opening sentence in this post is one of the best I’ve read in blogs in a long while!
Yeah he’s a pretty good lookin’ guy I suppose. I make it a point not to make fun of them in any case, you never know who might be in a cranky mood that day. 😯
Thanks very much for checking out these photos and I’m glad you liked my story about the swamp.