Nature Being Nature Sequence

 I was not expecting to see what I saw recently when I walked in my backyard to photograph a Great Blue Heron that I spotted through a window. Here is the sequence I captured (Hint: poor bullfrog). 

Alligator Comes A Calling!

 

Well this was a first! Living in coastal South Carolina on a golf course with several man-made ponds, including the one that adjoins our backyard, we are used to alligator sightings in the waters, and their comings and goings slithering across yards and streets. 

But Sunday night was a first as far as one coming a little too close for comfort! This youngster came to our front porch. I spotted the reptile through a window around 7 p.m. when going up the stairs by the front door. 

I soon brought in the frog ornaments you see at the top of the steps. Maybe it thought they were real and would be an easy meal? I don’t know how gators think! 

The size indicated to me that this was a juvenile. Looking for mama or other family? 

It didn’t get closer to our porch. It stayed here for a couple hours. And fortunately was gone by the morning. 

Sunday night I shared these images on my neighborhood’s Facebook site called “Coosaw Creek Living.” Within hours fellow residents posted half a dozen recent pictures of what looked like this and other alligators on the move. 

This is part of living where we live. Don’t bother them and they won’t bother you, I say. But do be careful to always keep your doors and garages closed! 

Herons Versus Frogs: Herons Win

Sometimes the small pond behind my house resembles the “Wild Kingdom” TV show I remember watching as a kid. In recent weeks I’ve been able to capture with my camera a Green Heron, then a Little Blue Heron, catch and swallow (awkwardly) large bullfrogs.

Both times it was in about the same spot near or amid tall weeds along the far bank of the pond. And both times the resident alligator kept an eye on me taking pictures.

GREEN HERON

Alligator’s Pearly Whites

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.