Bayou Black

This alligator is one that we've nicknamed "Alice". She was 14' long and weighed somewhere between 1,000 and 1200 lbs. This was one of the first shots that we got when she decided to approach us. This was taken at a distance of about 15'.

Alice as she watches me from a distance of only about 6'. I took this shot while kneeling pretty close to the edge of the water. In retrospect, the raccoons wouldn't even set foot in the water's edge. I might have been a little foolish getting this shot. We were told an account by a local guide about a similar encounter in which the alligator lunged forward without warning, grabbing the women's camera by the lens. The camera strap was still around her neck and people with her held on to her while the guide cut the camera strap with a knife. The alligator took the expensive lens, leaving the women with the camera body and her life....

We loved all of the spanish moss in the swamps. It's really beautiful.

Who Dat?

Snowy Egret

Cypress Alley This was a beautiful stretch in the myriad of natural canals called Bayous. This was an are where a little sunlight penetrated the swamp and lit this long straight nicely. We explored miles and miles of these. It would be very easy to get lost in the swamp if you missed a turn...

A great Egret. There were lots of beautiful birds in the swamps but very low light levels made them hard to photograph.

oh yeah.... and the swamp had REEEEEEEEEALLLY BIG SPIDERS!

This Heron seemed to be surveying the marsh from a tree killed by Hurricane Katrina. There was still a lot of damage evident even to us.

We saw dozens of raccoons but we never saw one set foot in the water. They were ever-wary of the gators.

We were happily surprised to see the local wildlife didn't seem to have any fear of us as we moved through the bayou. This is one of the Raccoons that lived in the bayou. A typical raccoon similar to what we have in North Alabama.

Perfect Camouflage. Low light, perfect coloring and a coating of duckweed made a lot of the smaller alligators very hard to spot.

Great Blue Herron Same species as the ones present here but they seemed to be considerably bigger and a little more colorful.

A "medium" sized alligator by Bayou Black standards, this 8' alligator popped up practically in front of our lenses.

The Vultures seemed to always be close to Val and myself.... Not very comforting....

A lot of the animals exhibited a surprising amount of curiosity, often standing to get a better look at us or perhaps a better perspective in order to spot the alligators which prey on the raccoons.