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Author Title Folder Created
Leon Plympton GATOR HOLE (5)

Paynes Prairie (an overcast day) - This fully mature 'bull' gator is ~12 feet (~4 meters) in length, one of the largest alligators I've ever seen in the wild.

A couple years ago an alligator almost this large attacked a man a few miles from this location. The man survived but lost an arm.

 Common area 27-Apr-2007
Leon Plympton GATOR HOLE (6)

Paynes Prairie (an overcast day) - Up close and personal with the business end of another fully mature "bull" alligator.

Note: This partial image of the alligator skull is a life size representation of a 10-foot alligator.

 Common area 27-Apr-2007
Leon Plympton Gator Hole (7)

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.

 Common area 06-Aug-2007
Leon Plympton GATOR HOLE (8)

This fully mature bull alligator (~10 feet / ~500+ pounds) has reached his prime. He should get longer and heavier in the years to come see previous posting: GATOR HOLE (5), but when it comes to performance (speed and power) he'll never be any more dangerous than he is now, just longer and heavier.

This specimen has staked his claim on a sand bar at La Chua Sink in Paynes Prairie. A harem has gathered in the water behind him. Unfortunately, they can't be seen in this cropped image.

I was able to get reasonably close for this shot using the ZD 40-150, while still maintaining a reasonably safe distance. While I'd like to get closer I'm afraid I'll have to wait until next month for the release of the new ZD 70-300.

This image is SHQ (2560 x 1920), cropped 50% and then re-sized to its posted size (so it would not exceed the 500-kb limit). The 50% crop had minimal negative effect on the image quality; however, the IQ of the final image is diminished quite a bit by the final re-sizing step. Hopefully, within the next month the 50% cropping won't be necessary to enter the danger zone.

Thanks for looking!

-leon

 Common area 18-Sep-2007
Leon Plympton GATOR HOLE (9)

This is the bull gator in GATOR HOLE (8). He does not appear to be the least bit lonely.

 Common area 18-Sep-2007
Mark Sayers Gaudi Ceiling Mark Sayers 14-Oct-2005
Rafael Gomez Gazing into the sea

Taken in Fernandina beach, FL near Fort Clinch

 C-8080 Pics 27-Feb-2006
Michael Wollen Gear down...Flaps set Phoenix 31-Mar-2009
Wen X Zhong Gears~17th Centry

Iron Bridge Museum

Taken near the University of Birmingham Iron Bridge Institude.

 Vincent's C-8080 Folder 14-May-2005
Udo Altmann gedenkemein - omphalodes verna

A small flower similar to "forget-me-not". What I couldn't see with my eyes is revealed by the macro: a small bug - or is it a nit?

 Nature and Abstractions 04-May-2005