Tag: Alligator

Thanksgiving Florida Style

For those of us in the States, this is the official day we designate for giving thanks to others and our own fortunes. I don’t mind having an entry on the calendar as a mental reminder, but honestly, I think this holiday is 364 days too short. If we took this to heart, we would be thankful throughout the year for all the help and successes we have on a daily basis. If nothing else, it would train us to think about the positives more and help negate the constant barrage of negativity that comes at us from every angle – news, social apps, politics, the neighbor’s cat. Life has become so polar lately the middle ground has been tilled up, doused with gas and hit with a flamethrower. We need to get back to civility if that is even possible anymore. Hell, we even have “influencers” trying to convince others to disown their own families because they won’t swallow the narrative. I do not have the answer, but it definitely wouldn’t hurt if we thought more often about the values at the foundation of this holiday. One thing I do know is the entire Intrigued family is incredibly grateful for our personal families, our friendships and especially all our wonderful subscribers and readers. Thank you for your time, comments and support – you make our efforts truly rewarding!!

Now, typically, we like to bring you the traditional symbols of Thanksgiving on this day. You know, Turkeys (link here), Quail (link here) and Cranes (link here). Translated..whatever we happen to find in the queue ha!

Being that we are currently in the southeast, how about we celebrate..Florida style this year!

Alligator found at Sweetwater Wetlands Park in Gainesville Florida in March 2023

It is Gator time, hit the jump and maybe take a step back.

Continue reading Thanksgiving Florida Style

Can be Bite-y…by Brad Marks

Howdy all! It has been a hectic time as of late, but starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel – granted, Linda frequently tells me to stay away from the bright light in the sky. Fortunately, this one comes from the lightening of the schedule. One more major dog show next week (Canine Performance Dog Nationals) in my hometown of Springfield. After that, home for a good spell so I can go into beast mode training for the daunting 50K in early July. In the bustle we did manage to hold an Intrigued bird outing last week that was quite productive…at the cost of HR berating me about an office full of “Warbler Necks”. More to come on that front. For now I am going to focus on getting packed while Brad takes you to the water’s edge. Quick note, one of the locations mentioned happens to be where a similar encounter left me prematurely grey!

Take it away Brad…

We learned a very valuable birding rule of thumb:  Be very aware of your surroundings.  There can be rocks, uneven ground, water, mud, camera equipment, snakes, holes, birds nesting on the ground, etc.  All of the above can be an inconvenience if encountered, or perhaps even painful.  But none of those can really ruin your day like today’s topic.  Since we encountered this subject all over South Carolina, I’m going to take you to many locations for today’s story.

One of our first stops was Jarvis Creek Park.  It is a very nice park with many hiking paths including a 1-mile paved walking path around the central pond.  The park was full of families picnicking and having fun.  Dogs were pulling their people all around the path.

After about halfway around the pond, Jan came across something that had its eye on the tourists and small critters on leashes.  I was up on the footpath talking with someone walking their dog, a boxer named Oscar if I remember correctly.  Jan walked down the bank by the water to get this photo.

Alligators by Brad Marks

Want to see more spiky creatures (you know you do), hit the jump!

Continue reading Can be Bite-y…by Brad Marks

Got Keratin Scales?

I must say, this weather we are experiencing pretty much sucks. True to form, Texas weather has continued against the norm, assuredly due to us being … wait for it … in TEXAS! The cool temps shifted off a bit only to be replaced by constant sprinkles if not all out rain – Linda is currently driving through sheets of rain so I can focus on getting a post out. A week to go and I only have half my self-imposed monthly quota out. Definitely do not want to break my multi-year streak in the first month of the new year. For the birders out there, we just left the Big Tree area in Rockport (outside of Goose Island State Park). We made a quick stop there to see if the “secret” birding targets were out and about. They were, so we are now officially on our way to Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge to see what is playing in the rain there. Not very optimistic, but it is on our way and now that we are 3 weeks into the “Average Year” (link here) we do not want to leave any checks on the table. I need to update that Chronicles page, but for a quick update, Ron is sitting at 152 and my counter sits a tad beyond at 154. Ron made a nice addition to our tracking spreadsheet which shows the total unique species between us which is at 170. I expect that number to significantly outpace our individual numbers until I return home due to the fact he is picking up checks not available down here and vice versa. Feeling good so far as my year count is over half of my official life list count. There are still +1L’s (Lifers) in the queue I didn’t get to and some nice adds while down here, but still technically correct per the tracker in the nav bar.

I was able to stave off some of the BaRwW (Birds are Rats with Wings) Consortium hate mail and rowdy protests outside Intrigued headquarters with the recent non-feathered post. Decided to go ahead and throw them another bone as they are a fickle bunch (you should see their weekly newsletter).

Alligator at Audubon Bird Sanctuary on Dauphin Island in April 2021

Definitely NOT a bird (but there might be a way to squeeze one in – hold that thought).

Hit the jump to read more about our scaly feature.

Continue reading Got Keratin Scales?

That Rock has Eyes

Good day everyone!  Get to spend the day at the hospital while Linda gets some medical tests done on her heart.  She has a birth defect that she has had to deal with that is now getting to a point that something probably needs to be done to correct it.  While I wait for that procedure to complete, thought I would get to the follow up from my previous post.  If you recall, I left you hanging regarding a field encounter that left me a bit rattled.  That unexpected jolt to the system was a result of the creature you can somewhat see below.

Alligator found at Harris Neck Wildlife Refuge outside Savannah Georgia, May 2015

Now, I’ve come in contact with Alligators several times in my past.  As probably every kid in the US that is fortunate enough to take vacations as a kid, I had the pleasure of ending up at one of the Florida Gator parks and getting to handle one of their babies.  To be honest, they are pretty darn cute when they are a foot or less long.  Your own prehistoric plaything.  At some point in their development they no longer become cute and transform into something nightmares are made out of.  Still fun to photograph at a distance and numerous encounters have already been documented here at Intrigued (link here, here and well here).  The first two were definitely a safe distance away, the last one was closer, but I still didn’t feel overly threatened – Linda, on the other hand ended up running for her life to the safety of the RV.  That abandonment has come up several times on our outings as a point of contention and failure to perform UB duties – promptly dismissed by Linda of course.

Alligator found at Harris Neck Wildlife Refuge outside Savannah Georgia, May 2015

Hit the jump to learn more about my unexpected encounter.

Continue reading That Rock has Eyes

GatorNeck

Once again, bringing you another break from the feathered fodder. Luckily, this time not a result of cargo loads of hate mail showing up at the door. Nope, bringing you a non-birding post on my own terms. Now, I will admit today’s post was a direct result of a birding adventure and the only reason Linda and I were even in this particular spot was to get a new mark on the birding checklist – actually, I can expand that a bit – one of the two reason we headed all the way to the Georgia swamps was to stand at the very spot these shots were taken. I’ll get to those two reasons in a future posts – for now, let’s take a gander at the shot below.

Alligators shot at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refugee, near Savannah Georgia May 2015

Back in May of 2015 (no idea what happened, the best I can tell is we time warped directly to 2019 – scary) we were visiting Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge which is about 30 miles outside Savannah, Georgia. For those of you not familiar with this refuge, it was established in 1962 on an abandoned military airfield. There are still runways hidden in the overgrown fields along with about 2,800 acres of mixed saltwater marsh, fields and woods. The unique name comes from the peninsula it sits on being originally named Dickenson’s Neck and then later renamed for the principal proprietor in the 18th century, William Harris.

Alligators shot at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refugee, near Savannah Georgia May 2015

Form your impression of the shots above and then hit the jump to read some intriguing details.

Continue reading GatorNeck

Dangerous Waters

Hello everyone! We are quickly approaching the end of another year of blogging – my 11th year to be specific – and hoping to get a few more posts out before Father Time turns over the hourglass. The good news is other than a few cleanups here and there I am officially on vacation until the New Year giving me plenty of time to get that done. Of course, there are Halloween props to build (yes, that is a year long activity), books to read, house projects to finally wrap up and fingers crossed, some birding to get to. Fortunately, I was able to get a lot of the images for upcoming musings done while traveling Sunday removing the most difficult part of the blog process. The birds have been dominating the slots as of late and therefore switching it up a bait .. err … bit.
Alligator shot at Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, December 2017

Nothing says Christmas like Alligators. Okay, maybe not, but I needed an excuse to feature this series of shots taken at the beginning of the year (note, that might seem a long time ago, but my back queue of shots has officially crested over 4 years – an embarrassing amount, but relieved to know my brother Ron having once chastised me for my inefficiencies is now experiencing a similar queue buildup ha!). Our menacing looking specimen comes to us courtesy of South Padre Island Bird Viewing and Nature Center.

Alligator shot at Padre Island Birding and Nature Center, December 2017

Hit the jump to read a bit more about this menacing creature.

Continue reading Dangerous Waters

Gator for Fast Food Delivery

The month counter has officially gone up by one which means the post count falls all the way back to zero. Figured it was time to give my non-birding friends a break from the barrage of birds last month. Don’t be fooled though, you are not out of the woods yet .. or more appropriately I guess, not out of the Gulf Coast yet. If things go as planned, there will be a bevy of new birds to read about this month from our Texas trips. First, let’s have a chuckle!

Birding Gator Speak for Food Delivery

That there is one scary beast. For some reason I really wasn’t thinking about the dangers of birding on my first trip to Texas several years back. It wasn’t until our second visit to Padre Island that we came face to face with a living dinosaur or rather BIG ASS LIZARDS. Our first day at Padre Island Birding and Nature Center back in January 2017, we saw a number of signs on the railings supposedly indicating an Alligator sighting. We didn’t see a single one that morning and both of us decided it was all a grand hoax to tease the visitors.

Alligators encountered while birding Texas in January 2017 - South Padre Island

Hit the jump to see the rest of the Gator shots we were able to get in the tin!

Continue reading Gator for Fast Food Delivery