MY BUDDY

He’s back!  I had an amazing experience with this creature – honestly!  Once I realized what happened, it was exciting!  About a week ago, this gator was comfortably sunning in a similar spot as I was taking several pictures of it.  The gator was noticeably bothered by the incessant camera clicking – I suppose it felt my noise and presence were scaring away a potential meal.  Also, the screen door hinge made a loud ‘clack’ every time I went in & out, so that was another noise that bothered it.  I could tell it was agitated, and with another door ‘clack’, it flipped into the water. 

It swam just past the tall reeds by the shore and turned to exactly face me, peeking through the grasses.  I sat out a long wait until it began to slowly inch it’s way onto shore again.  Then I stood and started clicking again to capture the progress.  That was a mistake, because it backed up, waited even longer then tried again - then more camera clicking.  This repeated a third time, then finally it turned and swam away.  It didn’t return for over a week, until today.  Strange as this sounds to tell about, it was a form of communicating, and it was an amazing feeling that this huge, prehistoric-looking reptile had a definite thought process related to my actions!  I’m not saying it was afraid of me, just that I was a pest.

Considering this alligator lives life mostly on golf courses with lots of water, it’s more aware of people than one from the wild.  Also, there is a bit of a rock barrier that would prevent it from coming toward me, yet the spot between the land and the reeds is a great space to hide and wait for ‘lunch’ to happen by.  It’s where it wanted to be - minus any irritation.