Here He Comes!
Here’s one from the summer…
An alligator was taking a slow cruise down along the salt marsh at low tide this past August. He said hello to his egret friend as he passed, stopped to scoop a little snack out of the mud, then continued on his way. Nice lazy summer evening in the marsh.
Phil Lanoue Photography 
Grace, fear, monster, beauty…. 🙂 they all together so beautiful… I wished to express better than this. Thank you dear Phil, I would have never thought that one day I will love this monster 🙂 Love, nia
Thank you very much Nia, this is one of the nicest comments I have ever recieved. You expressed it very well.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Gator swims up and steals Egret’s dinner. Egret moves on, grateful that HE wasn’t Gator’s dinner. With friends like that …
The alligator knows he can steal anyone’s dinner and get away with it. Well, anyone except a bigger alligator. 🙂
Thanks for looking!
Great story with pictures……… how come he didn’t go after the egret?
Thanks I’m glad you liked these pics!
When an alligator is slogging through mud and low water like that the birds know it is mostly just looking for fish and crabs. Mostly. 🙂
Boy.. you know alot about them… are you sure you don’t sleep with them?
Smashing series Phil. That meal of mud didn’t look too appetising. I’d have thought the egret would have made a tastier lunch but I’m learing from your photos Phil, these gators don’t behave how one would imagine. 🙂
I appreciate you checking out these photos and glad you like them!
There was a small crab somewhere in that mud that our boy was interested in. Sometimes you get a little more mud sauce on your crabs then you prefer but so it goes in the marsh.
I’m glad you notice that the alligators are not just savage predators always on the prowl for a meal of whatever might be unfortunate enough to be nearby. Of course the crabs may not feel so kindly toward the big guys. 🙂
Tolle Fotos.Grüße und wünsche ein schönes weekend,lieber Gruß.Gislinde
Ich bin froh, dass du wie auf den Fotos
Ich hoffe, Sie genießen Sie Ihr Wochenende
Impressionante vederli così vicini e tranquilli!!!
Bellissimi scatti
Ciao, Pat
Mi piace avere le foto di quando sono vicini.
La ringrazio per le gentili parole Pat
He’s just cruising along singing a song, all the while with his eye on you. The egret..Um..I’ll go this away, while you go that-a-way. 🙂
The egret knows that an alligator in a situation like this is unlikely stalking for birds, crabs would be the menu item of choice for our big guy on this day. But…the egret will wisely keep it’s eyes open just in case. 🙂
Hey Phil, I just realized that I have been missing most of your blog posts which is horrible because your photos are out of this world!! Do you not have that feature where you can sign up to receive emails each time you post? I am following you, but because I get so many blogs by email I forget to look at my “following” list. I would love to sign up for emails if you have that feature :).
Thanks very much for your kind words it is greatly appreciated.
That feature should be there, I know for a fact many people do get the emails every day.
Since I am logged in I don’t see it right now but I’ll try to figure it out and get back to you.
Thanks 🙂
Thanks Phil 🙂
Do you see a little box in the lower left corner of the screen that says Follow?
Click that and you should be able to add your email address. Thanks
Unfortunately, I don’t see that, but I am only on my iPad right now. I’m going out, but when I get home later today I will try on my laptop and see if it’s there. Thanks Phil!
I got it Phil!! When I commented I found a box to check so we’re all good now :).
A fascinating piece of documentary photography – well worth recording and sharing. Thanks Phil.
Well I greatly appreciate you looking and your kind comments Andrew! Thanks much!
The fascinating part is that describe it all as if it was so normal. What made egret so cool and collected?
It is pretty much business as usual on a day like that in the salt marsh. The unusual thing is find an alligator in the salt marsh at all. They do not live in salt water but will visit occasionally when they suspect they can scoop out fish and crabs at low tide. How they know when it’s low tide however continues to be a mystery to me.
The egret is not tremendously concerned at this time. It also knows the gator is prowling mostly for crabs in a situation like this. Mostly.
You can see why they (and crocs) resembling floating logs when they are partially submerged. I love the smile on the last two photos. It is a smile, isn’t it?
Sure he’s smiling. He sees me, his best photographer pal and is so happy he can’t help but smile. 😉
Actually the shape of the mouth produces that smile look. Probably why many people think they are so cute.
Ok, well I’m probably one of the only ones that thinks that but ya know how it goes… 😀
Great pics, great story. You can really see how he enjoys his littel snack.
He does seem quite happy with his snack. There was a small crab in among all the mud, that he enjoys crunching. 🙂
Thnaks I’m glad you enjoyed the photos!
What a great story and stunning photo’s.
Thanks a million Jan, I’m very happy you enjoyed the photos and story.
Fantastic shots, again – as usual 🙂
I really appreciate you looking and commenting, thanks!
Hello Phil,
love this lazy aligator, amazing series!
Wish you a nice sunday,
moni
Thank you so much moni! Yes he was taking a lazy swim around the marsh. 🙂
The first shot is straight out of Peter Pan
I like that first one best. In fact I originally was only going to post that one alone but then figured…ah what the heck, let’s toss ’em all up there.
He looks like such a friendly alligator. The egret doesn’t even bat an eyelid, that’s if they have eyelids. 🙂 I love that second pic which looks like Mr Smiley with his beady eye is creeping up from behind. They are such amazing creatures, aren’t they? I can fully understand you wanting to hang out with them all day long.
Oh he’s plenty friendly. He’s the mayor of the marsh, on his third term now so he must be doing something right.
I guess that something would be not eating his constituants. 🙂
I’m looking forward to the Spring when the action should really heat up! 😀
What great shots of this! That boy does not miss too many meals!
He was good size that’s for sure. Not too many worries when you are king of the marsh! 🙂