The Wannabe Predator!

A few weeks ago while I was on the pier, a rather unexpected thing occurred. I was, as usual, armed with my camera and on the ready for any fantastic shots that might come my way. I have learned that most of photography skills are merely a matter of being in the right place at the right time and I had hoped that perhaps that day, I was in that right place. It was quite low tide which made it easy for the egrets and herons to feed along the marsh edge. Now taking photographs of these birds is nothing new and exciting to me as I see them daily, I was hoping to catch something a little more exotic..something a little more exciting and interesting than a bird wading along the shoreline. Then I spied something that could have possibly made for the perfect action shot..the small alligator.

This was the little, three-feet-long gator that came to visit occasionally this summer. As usual, it swam right near the pier. I snapped a few pictures but was still hoping for an action shot of this alligator doing something spectacular. Get busy, gator..do something! After a bit, the little gator moseyed over to the bank. There he stayed still as can be. He almost looked like a log that had washed in with the tide. Well..that is not exciting! Do something, gator! I wondered just what this gator had on its mind.

I scanned the shoreline and noticed that a large egret was wading in the shallows while picking grasshoppers off of the marsh grass. The bird was so intent on finding the bugs that it paid no mind to any imminent danger in the water. Its path would lead it directly to the alligator. The little gator had chosen a spot that was in a small alcove in the marsh edge. This hid him from view until its prey would literally be right on top of him. Ahhh..good thinking Little Gator! The egret kept on its path..directly toward the gator. A bug! Peck! Wade, wade. A bug! Peck! Wade, wade. I thought sure that this would be my one chance at an amazing photograph!

Keep in mind that Little Gator is a newbie at this hunting game. I am sure it had never tackled anything much bigger than a fiddler crab at this point so this was sure to be some tangle. The egret is a large bird standing well on about three feet tall. True it is mostly legs and neck but still this would be a formidable foe for Little Gator! This should be some fight! I found the perfect viewing spot on the pier and focused the camera on Little Gator. I wanted to be ready for this!

By now the egret was just a few feet from Little Gator. One clump of marsh grass separated the two. Little Gator looked as if it knew something was right around the corner. The water rippled a bit as Little Gator sank beneath the surface. An ambush would be the perfect attack! The water just barely covered Little Gator's back but hid him just enough to give him the edge in the battle. The egret was still intent on catching the grasshoppers and was oblivious to the danger lurking in the water.

Step by step..nearer..nearer. Then of all things, Little Gator stayed under the water. The egret merely stepped up on Little Gator's back and kept catching the insects! After a few seconds and a few steps, the egret stepped down off of the gator and proceeded on its way down the shoreline. After it was a few feet away, Little Gator rose up out of the water and hurried in the opposite direction. Little Gator had just hidden from the egret! Perhaps he had second thoughts once he saw the size of that bird! Perhaps he just did not want to have to deal with a mouth full of feathers. Regardless of the reason, the bird went free, unaware that it had just passed directly over a mouthful of teeth!

My perfect photograph had come and gone. I only had pictures of an alligator lazily swimming around the pier and of an egret picking grasshoppers from the marsh grass! Not exactly what I had hoped for in a photo ops session. I guess maybe I was not in the right place....or maybe it was just not the right time...whatever!