An afternoon excursion on a pretty spring day led us to the nearby King's Grant neighborhood that
has a nice park where a golf course used to be.
On this fine day, the fishing was slow. There may be fish here, there may not. We saw another guy fishing and he wasn’t catching anything either.
Fortunately, I brought my camera and trusty monopod. The big catch of the day would be the activity on the other side of the pond.
My attention was drawn to this gathering of large turtles, nine by my count. I was able to zoom in on their beach party that seemed pleasant and relaxing. They were chilling while sunning themselves in the warm sun.
But a few minutes later the mood changed, when entering stage left, came an alligator, a mid-sized fairly youthful one by my estimation.
Notice all the craning necks. Wally Gator definitely had the attention of the turtle brigade. And crashing the party with mouth open like this gave extra cause for concern, no doubt.
Alligators will eat turtles, from what I’ve read. I’m sure turtles know that, so exit stage right they went. I would say they quickly departed but they are turtles...
The gator kept its mouth open for a long time. Not sure why. Maybe just proud to show off those pearly whites!
Eventually, the mouth closed and the eyes glared. A boy who was there trying to catch minnows told us “George” is a regular in and around the pond. Guess so, if he (or she?) has been given a name (though I’ll stick with Wally).
Always good to have the camera and its stabilizing monopod around, right? Believe me I kept my distance from the gator.
As we parked our car I could see a bird in the water. So I photographed this first. Turns out to be a pair of Double-crested Cormorants.
For more on this nice park located off Dorchester Road across from the big Lowe's store, click here for a post I did in May 2019.
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