Gators on the St Johns River

We had a wonderful day on the river. Seemed like every where we looked there was a nice sized gator sunning itself. This one was sharing the area with a turtle and a White Heron.

The water was so flat the reflections are almost perfect.

 

This one sat for a short video before heading into the water.

I definitely missed getting some good pictures of the biggest gator we’ve seen out here.

He had a nice spot behind a few big trees with some brush for cover. As we got closer, he raised up and walked a few steps.

Then he dropped down and waited to see what we were going to do. Look at the size of that hind foot and claws.

Before we could get around the tree he went into the water. We have his spot marked on the chart and will be looking for him on the way back up river. He was huge!!

Gators….

Haven't been on the boat for a few weeks so I went back through my photos and found a few nice gators. This one was sunning itself with a smaller one.

Here they are swimming out toward the boat.

This gator was sitting with his back to us…we cruised up as close as we could.

As we got closer it turned to watch us….then went into the water.

I find these creatures fascinating and never tire of watching for and photographing them.  We cruise much slower than most boats on the river (6 mph) and create very little wake. If they are out there…we spot them. Oh…don’t think for a minute that because you don’t see them….that they aren’t there….Just start shining the shoreline after dark…all those eyes are most likely gators….big and small.

Great White Heron

This Great White Heron was working the shoreline at Salt River Springs when Raisin and I rowed shore.

It wandered off a bit…but didn’t seem bothered by our presence. Raisin is used to seeing large birds in the yard and knows she isn’t supposed to chase them. We have wild turkeys coming in all the time.

 

Just one of the beautiful birds found in this area.