I remember a similar case when I was working as a volunteer at the
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. Some guy brought his friend's
Irish setter to the refuge, totally ignored the warning signs about no
pets allowed and then allowed the dog to splash in the shallow water
along the entrance road. Our very old, 13 foot guy we called "Sarge"
made very short work of the dog. (Sarge had an old wound on his shoulder
that looked like a sergeant's stripes)
I think I shall have to warn the new (northern) residents who have dogs.
I'm sure not all of them are aware yet that there are gators in the pond.
Chuck Norcutt
On 4/2/2015 9:28 AM, Charles Geilfuss wrote:
Nice capture, Chuck. They have been emerging from their winter nap here as
well. I've seen about a half dozen, mostly 3-4 footers and one six footer.
The small ones are no threat except to frogs and fish. Once they get to
five feet, cats and small dogs are at risk. And for the really big ones any
dog is at risk. Last year my neighbor lost his 80 lb. hound to an eight
foot gator. He made the mistake of letting the dog off the leash near a
large pond. The dog went nosing down by the waters edge and it was over in
a flash. Gators have had many millions of years to perfect their hunting
technique and they are very good at it.
Charlie
On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 8:51 PM, Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
wrote:
We have a small pond behind our house which, due to the construction of
other new houses around it is pretty muddy. I had considered it likely
devoid of much life... until the weather started warming up. Peepers had
been peeping for months but when the temperature rose last week, as the
night fell, the little guys were joined by a chorus of bull frogs from the
pond and followed by daytime visits of geese, ducks, herons large and small
and even a stork.
Yesterday I spotted a familiar dark object laying low on the water and
another resting on the bank at the end of the pond. Further investigation
led me to go grab the E-M1 outfitted with the 75-300 and a monopod.
This is what I finally shot from about 10 feet at 300mm. He wouldn't let
me get any closer than that. He looks large but he's only about 4 feet
long. You can tell he's young from the yellowish marks on his skin. He'll
be all black as he get older. His buddy was playing shy somewhere and I
estimate him at about 5 feet. <http://zone-10.com/tope2/
main.php?g2_itemId=16857>
This little guy demonstrated some interesting behavior. At first he
skedaddled when I got about 30 feet away. But he didn't go very far. I
approached him again and got to within about 20 feet. That time he made
himself scarce for a while. I walked to the other end of the pond and
started looking for the other one. Then I got distracted wondering if
there might be any snakes in a large pile of (warm) stones designed as a
spillway should the pond overflow. After a short time I looked up and saw
the little guy swimming directly at me from some distance away and he then
made a 90 degree turn and approached the bank of the pond that's near my
house. I slowly worked my way over there stopping every now and then to
take an ever closer shot. I finally got the one at the link from about 10
feet away. When I tried to get even closer still he decided the game was
over and dove under and away as fast as his tail would take him.
I saw him and his buddy both again today but didn't have time to go check
them out. I hope to play the game again soon to see how close he'll let me
approach.
There are also lots of turtles in the 8-12" diameter range. They like to
sun themselves on a small concrete culvert that empties into the pond.
They're much more afraid of me than the gators are. The turtles skedaddle
as soon as they spot me moving toward them. It's been hard to get a good
closeup shot even at 600mm equivalent.
Chuck Norcutt
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