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Gator Hole (7)

Gator Hole (7)
Copyright ©2007, Leon Plympton
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I heard this 'bull gator' before I saw him. A bellowing bull gator is a sound not soon forgotten. They fill their lungs with air and then let out a low frequency rumble that makes the water dance on their backs as they exhale, bobbing up and down in the water all the while. Their rumble also makes the hair on your neck stand on end (!).

During 'normal' breeding season (April - May) it is not uncommon to hear several bull gators at a time competing with one another to attract females. This (8+ foot) specimen had no competition from the smaller males while I was on the prairie this weekend, and no females seemed attracted by his call.

This year we've had a serious drought during the normal breeding season - and little to no gator breeding in this part of the state of Florida. The past couple of weeks, however, we've received enough rain to flood some parts of Paynes Prairie, and no doubt this bull gator figures there's no time like the present to make baby gators.

Photographer: Leon Plympton
Folder: Common area
Uploaded: 06-Aug-2007 03:15 CEST
Model release available:
Camera: Olympus E1
Exposure time: 1/320
Aperture: f-8
Focal length: 150 (300) mm
Lens: ZD 40-150mm
Focusing method: Spot
ISO: 200
White balance: Auto
Flash: no
Image format: SHQ
Processing applied:
Various:
Image resized to: 578x960

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Great shot ......stay clear and on a safe distance...;-))
Cheers...Fons

Fonzy - at 10:49 CEST on 06-Aug-2007 [Reply]

Gator Hole (7) - re-visited:

Fons -

Thanks again! This fellow put on quite a show for me, but like I said before he didn't seem to impress the ladies too much.

-leon

Leon Plympton at 14:28 CEST on 06-Aug-2007 [Reply]

Gator Hole (7) - re-visited:

Rina -

Thanks once again!
Believe me, I wasn't all that close, maybe 30 meters or so; the 150mm (300mm) lens just makes it seem a lot closer.
I also cropped some images (50%) - not yet posted, and that really made it look as though I was able to reach out and touch'm.

-leon

Leon Plympton at 03:32 CEST on 07-Aug-2007 [Reply]