I wasn’t happy with any of my bird photos yesterday, but I did get a couple of small American alligators.

This one had a neat spiral pattern on its back leg.

We had been out at Kitching Creek Preserve in Hobe Sound and then decided to explore a road that dead-ended at the northern side of Jonathan Dickinson State Park. The gate was closed but I hopped out of the truck with my camera because I saw a Swallow-tailed Kite. The kite whirled out of sight but I glanced down at a roadside ditch and saw first one, then another gator.

They were about 30 feet apart from each other, both holding completely still like statues in that reptilian alligator way.

I thought, if I can see two alligators right here then how many more are in the 10,000-acre state park and nature preserve just in front of me?

A quick online search reveals there are roughly 1.3 million alligators in Florida.