An Interesting Pair of Gators

It was a reptile afternoon on our drive to the lighthouse. We saw two snakes in the road, two bigger than plate-sized turtles and eight gators at the refuge.

As with the last time we were down there, the setting sun set the grasses ablaze and it reflected in the water. It was hard to miss these two gators enjoying the last of the day's rays. The one on the right was a true monster: a huge gator. The one on the left was partially concealed in the grass, so it could have been as large as the other.

Here is a shot zooming in closer.

At home, looking at the pictures on the computer, we made two more observations. 

The monster had bloody spots around its mouth. It could be that a) it had recently been to the dentist and had some teeth pulled, or, b) it forgot to wipe its mouth after dinner.

And check out the claw!

The second observation was that the other gator appears to have only one eye---its right one. If you click on the picture, it should enlarge for you to see it better.

Sometimes when the tide is out, the gator trails can be very clearly marked. We sometimes can see their foot tracks as well as where they have dragged their wide bodies across the mud.

So you would do well, Reddish Egret, to keep watch. Even gators with one eye will eat birds that stand on one leg.