Lake Apopka (Warning! graphic)
Jun 3, 2022 13:50:53 #
Went back out to the Lake very early this morning. Very early being 7am. which is when the gate opens. Full light this time of the year.
Saw and photographed a bunch of good stuff, but this was the most dramatic. So, I thought it deserves it's own post!
Saw and photographed a bunch of good stuff, but this was the most dramatic. So, I thought it deserves it's own post!
Jun 3, 2022 14:03:54 #
Jun 3, 2022 14:08:15 #
Toment wrote:
The look on his face says it all!
Yeah, I don't think that this is his best day.
Jun 3, 2022 14:14:04 #
Jun 3, 2022 14:44:17 #
Jun 3, 2022 14:45:39 #
Yep! Can be and is! One dies so another can live. 24/7/365.
Jun 3, 2022 14:46:04 #
Jun 3, 2022 14:47:26 #
Hope you were a good distance away from the gator and used a telephoto lens to get these images, chief.
Great shots in my opinion and a well done to you.
Great shots in my opinion and a well done to you.
Jun 3, 2022 14:53:56 #
Longshadow wrote:
Gators have to eat too.
Thank you! I'm not at all sure that the Gator is going to get that huge Turtle down. Even if he crushes the shell, I don't think he will be able to eat it in one piece. But, no the Gator isn't the bad guy here, just hungry and doing what hungry Gators do.
Jun 3, 2022 14:54:01 #
Jun 3, 2022 14:58:16 #
JRiepe wrote:
You certainly got a good close up.
Yeah, I hesitated to post this, I have several similar ones that I won't post.
Jun 3, 2022 15:11:06 #
flyguy wrote:
Hope you were a good distance away from the gator and used a telephoto lens to get these images, chief.
Great shots in my opinion and a well done to you.
Great shots in my opinion and a well done to you.
I was and I did. Thanks, one second later and I would have missed it!
Jun 3, 2022 15:15:16 #
Retired CPO wrote:
Thank you! I'm not at all sure that the Gator is going to get that huge Turtle down. Even if he crushes the shell, I don't think he will be able to eat it in one piece. But, no the Gator isn't the bad guy here, just hungry and doing what hungry Gators do.
I was wondering about that. I can see them eating small turtles whole, but that one is larger than his gullet.
Jun 3, 2022 15:16:08 #
Strange…sometimes there's nothing. I was there on May 27 and was at the gate before sunrise (0630 or so) which was when I thought it opened. Right at 0630, a couple of trucks rolled up, opened the gate and went in. The gate didn't close and it was sunrise almost to the minute so after a couple of minutes I rolled in as well and started around. Stopped at the portapotty and then rolled along…light but not severely light yet. Few Moorhens and a single GBH…plus lots of walkers and bikers so I figured I would roll on…gate was still open 4 or 5 minutes after I went through it. Didn't see much but down about 2 miles or so where you go around the first little jog to the left and back to the right to get around the bulkhead or whatever it is there and this car was tearing up behind me. Pulled over to let the obviously in a hurry person go by…he pulled up and said what was I doing there. Told him, he said it wasn't open, told him I had been there several times before and thought it opened at sunrise. He said not for over 2 years, told him that the web site still said sunrise (checked again later that day). We agreed it wasn't open yet…he said the bikers and hikers were different because…reasons…and I couldn't do the drive yet. By this time it was 10 or 11 minutes to 7…and a 2 mile back down the one way road the wrong way to the gate…so I offered to park where I was until 0700. No can do though…said I had to return back the wrong way down the one way road and exit until 0700 despite the fact that it would be 0700 by the time I got back to the gate. He insisted I leave and continued the right way on the road. Rolled back to the gate, spotted a couple of otters with pups but still no other wildlife to speak of although I did see one really really big gator in the canal close to the portapotty spot. Got back to the gate, opened and closed again behind me and got back in line…0656 by then. But was bummed out by the lack of seeing much and the crap given me by the management district employee with not recognizing an inadvertent mistake and what I thought was a reasonable fix for the next 10 minutes I just gave up and left. Checked again just a bit ago and web site *still* says sunrise. Small sign on the gate says 0700 but looking back at my photo times from the winter we were there several times and either they opened the gate at sunrise which was 0730ish at the time or else I took 40 minutes to get from the gate to half a mile into the drive which doesn't seem likely…and as I recall it did open at sunrise. So…lesson learned I guess…it opens at 0700 no matter what the web site says or you remember.
We were visiting Orlando for an Elks convention thing anyway…so no real loss by blowing off the drive that day but the mood was ruined by the happenings. If I had driven all the way there from down south I would have stayed anyway but breakfast back at the hotel with my bride was a good alternative to me at the time.
Did the gator get the turtle down or give up?
We were visiting Orlando for an Elks convention thing anyway…so no real loss by blowing off the drive that day but the mood was ruined by the happenings. If I had driven all the way there from down south I would have stayed anyway but breakfast back at the hotel with my bride was a good alternative to me at the time.
Did the gator get the turtle down or give up?
Jun 3, 2022 15:21:30 #
Longshadow wrote:
I was wondering about that. I can see them eating small turtles whole, but that one is larger than his gullet.
Yes, it is. It's a soft shell turtle, whatever advantage that is for the Gator. But still, I think he has his work cut out for him!
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