Gulf Fritillary

some #5-4 shots, one with a Ringneck snake

Rick
Great photos, thanks for posting. What Randall do you use on gators?

Peter

Whoa! Love the shot with the snake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!


If I really had to use a Randall on a gator, this one would be my first choice.

Rick

Thank you for taking the time to post. As usual, excellent pictures.

Come to think of it, I've never had any problems with gators. I did have one follow me around one time. It was in the water and I was on the shore and then on a dock. I suspect that someone had been feeding it, and it was hoping for the same from me.

Incidentally, I saw an interesting show on PBS over the weekend about gator farming. The biologists interviewed said that the sale of gator hides (and products made from them) and gator meat actually helps to protect the wild gator population. Plus, the hides are readily available internationally, which reduces the market for poachers of other crocodilian species in other countries.

There is legal gator hunting in Florida, the FWC's Statewide Alligator Harvest Program. I haven't ever done it.

Thanks, Rod!

Here are some pics taken at various times at a Tampa Bay estuary.

Mangroves act as a sort of fish nursery and are so essential to the ecosystem that they are protected by law.

Some pics deeper into the mangroves. The seed pods drop off and stick in the mud or float away to another location.