The powers that be re-opened the wildlife drive near me, where there are scads of alligators and birds to view safely from one's car. It had been closed because of the pandemic. Apparently the alligators are more plentiful than ever, and lie in the road now. IN the road, not alongside it like the pictures below. After a couple of months with no cars, they think they own the place.
We usually go for a bike ride (or a walk) every morning. Today my knee is "hinky" and I'm going to take a day off to rest it. My husband took this as the opportunity to bike on the aforesaid drive, which I am usually reluctant to do. He's there now. I KNOW he's going to ride his bike around the lounging gators.
I told him to be safe. That's code for "don't underestimate the alligators." He laughed and said he would. Sheesh.
11:53 am He's back, He was careful. Yay.
I would pass on that outing. Not familiar with alligators, they just look threatening and sneaky and hungry even when they might not be. They challenge my love for all creatures great and small!
ReplyDeleteThey are inscrutible.
DeleteOh, I could not ride my bike past alligators in the road, I just couldn't! Hope your knee feels better soon! Thanks for the post!
ReplyDeleteMy knee is feeling better. I'm glad I didn't go.
DeleteNo alligators here in Northern Ireland, but if there were I'd keep well away from them!
ReplyDeleteThat's what you think now, ha! If they showed up on the shoreline, people would want to go and take their pictures.
DeleteOh wow. I know that my man would do exactly the same while I would give it a miss and my knee is ok.
ReplyDeleteI wish he was more afraid of them.
DeleteYikes...alligators who have become more bold than usual. I concur with Linda Sue. I would have passed on that outing.
ReplyDeleteThey actually jump in the water as soon as they hear a bike coming, but still. I hear you.
DeleteI have rad that alligators move faster on land than we give them credit for. I'll view them from a distance thank you.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, that is quite true.
DeleteHeavens NO. It seems so strange to have you say that there are alligators in the place that you walk. I’d be a big fat chicken
ReplyDeleteOh, I don't walk there. I ride a bike or drive in a car. The noise of the bike always scares them.
DeleteI can't imagine bike around where there are alligators. OTOH, we do sometimes hike in the hills here where there have been mountain lion sightings. It's a dangerous world out there!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, it is.
DeleteYep. A good day to rest your knee. Looking at the photos, I suddenly see alligators as smaller cousins of T. Rex. Up to no good with their powerful bodies and big mouths full of sharp teeth. Thank goodness that alligators don't stand up and walk on two legs. Yikes!!!
ReplyDeleteIn fact, if you google "are alligators related to dinosaurs" you'll find this from quora "Alligators and dinosaurs are closely related, however. Reptiles fit into two groups, the archosaurs and the lepidosaurs. Dinosaurs and alligators are both archosaurs, meaning that they are more closely related to each other than to lizards or snakes (themselves being lepidosaurs).Crocodiles and dinosaurs are reptiles."
DeleteSeems they were off the road for him. Or maybe not. Just the pictures he didn't take.
ReplyDeleteHa, if only he had that power! Those photos were from a couple of years ago. I guess I should have made that clearer. I'll put up a video on my FB page that another biker took the other day. Look for it. You will be amazed.
DeleteI saw an online pix of either an Alligator or Crocodile swimming in a Venice Canal during the Pandemic due to no Gondolas and Boat Traffic. I didn't even know they had Alligators! Where you are I doubt I'd walk or bike ride {I can't ride a bike anyway}, but I'm not surprised the Alligators, with lack of Human traffic, are taking back territory they lost from us being around. A lot of Wildlife seems to be enjoying us being in Lock Down and reclaiming Habitat! In my Mom's Country my Cousins sent pixs of the Welsh Mountain Goats coming down into people's Yards to graze.
ReplyDeleteI do like how the animals think the world is theirs.
DeleteYou have this relationship with alligators, don't you? And - going back in time - the bigger the better. I was going to construct a latin word ending with -phile to identify your condition, but the latin roots are disappointing: the American alligator is known as alligator mississipiensis which doesn't give me any opportunity to show off. Gatorfreak? Nah, too damn colloquial.
ReplyDeleteIf you were alone in a car would you wind down the window a little and engage your leathery friend in conversation? Accosted by a cop, offer: "They just wanna be loved." Or is your affection strictly finite?
I am actually terrified of them, but I might roll down my window (slightly) and talk to one if it was sufficiently close to the car, and wasn't monstrously big. My husband is more of a gatorphile. I write about them because they are so prevalent here, and so astounding. There are about 6 who seem to live in the holding pond in our development. One can assume there are alligators in any body of water. As long as they tolerate us, I'll find them fascinating. There is also a bear who lives in the nearby nature preserve. S/he isn't as accomodating and has only been caught on the night camera the preserve uses to record wildlife after dark.
DeleteGators LOVE sunning themselves, so I guess a roadway would be ideal! Seems hot, though, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteLake Apopka is supposed to have legendarily large alligators, as I recall.
Lake Apopka has a LOT of big alligators, that's for sure.
DeleteA few years ago I was biking in the Everglades and there were gators all over sunning themselves. Quite a few people were going up to them for photographs and I remember one man saying that if a gator was chasing you, you should run in a zigzag pattern because, although they were fast, they could not change direction easily. Fortunately I never had cause to test that theory. Still, they are amazing animals to behold.
ReplyDeleteI've spent a fair amount of time in south Georgia and South Carolina so I've been around alligators and I have a healthy respect for them. I keep out of their way.
ReplyDelete