March 14th, 2023

Time for another Photo Safari Report!  This one is going to be called The One Big Surprise Hike because while most of what we saw was same old, same old, one thing was most  definitely unexpected.

We went back to Carlton Reserve last Thursday for several reasons, not the least of which was that a lot of our other hiking spots are currently closed.  But honestly, Carlton is never a bad choice. There are more than 25,000 acres and at least a hundred miles of trails.  Since we have never (and will never) cover all of it in a day, every time we go, we get to sojourn down different paths and therefore, see different things.  

That is a good thing.

Right off the bat I will say that we not only saw very few birds, we didn't even hear many.  Not sure where are but perhaps they are wintering elsewhere.  Snowbirding as it were.  teehee.  But I did get these three.  I wish there were someway to describe how huge and fierce that hawk is.  Let's just say that I'm glad that I'm too big to be considered "prey".  They look like warrior birds!  Which is so cool.

I know that, technically, it's still winter and lots of parts of the US are still digging their way out of snowbanks but here it feels a lot more like spring and, as a nod toward that, we are seeing more and more flowers on our hikes each week!  That is Never a problem :) (other than the achoo factor of course)

And then there was the surprise.

Right now, during winter, this is our dry season.  As a result, sometimes areas that are normally good sized ponds or even lakes are greatly reduced in size.  Sometimes they, temporarily, disappear completely.  This is particularly true of small creeks or the water that normally exists in the gulley that run alongside some roads.

Joy and I were observing this fact as we were strolling down one particular part of a trail.  Normally there would have been a wetlands area on the left side, marshy bits at the very least which means there would also be the creatures that such areas attract like turtles and egrets and ducks.  So at one point, instead of continuing down the middle of the trail, like a normal person, I canted a little to the left so that I was walking along the outer edge of the trail.  As I was scouting to my left  Joy asked what I was doing.  I responded that there was a wet area up ahead and I wanted to see if there were any turtles.

Well who doesn't like a turtle?  I stood there alongside the Very Shallow bit of water scanning for wildlife when I caught a sudden motion just in front of me.  I looked closer.  What on earth?  

"Hey Jo" I called out, "I think we've got a couple of baby alligators here".  She came stepped closer to where I was just in time to see them slip into the water.  She was suitably impressed and we took a few photos of the little baby alligators.  From the tips of their snouts to the tips of the tails they were, maybe 8-10 inches long.  Definitely very young.

Then Joy says, "that must be Mama over there".   She pointed to our left though not nearly far enough to our left to suit me frankly as I turned my head to the left and saw this:
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I couldn't even see all of her and I could still tell that she was a big girl.  I believe I said something like, "Ok I'm good" and I was seriously ready to step away when I caught a flurry of motion out of the corner of my eye which brought me to look directly in front of where I was standing once again.  And that's when I saw what had to be at least a dozen, probably more, baby alligators all swarming toward the water at the same time. Yikes!

I froze for a second, then stepped back, and started walking because there was something about that slithering mass of dinosaur looking baby alligators that creeped me out so much!  I didn't want to feel that way.  I mean it's nature and nature is beautiful. But this wasn't pretty.  It was icky and a little scary and I was ready to go.

So there you have it, the big surprise.  I've never seen anything like it before. Glad I saw it, but I never really need to see it again.

I think there are a couple of other pictures but not many:

Hope you enjoyed the One Big Surprise Hike!  I certainly was surprised!  You?