I recently camped out at Brazos Bend state park, a little under an hour's drive from my home. I hadn't been there in a couple of years and I was somewhat surprised at how low the water levels were. I shouldn't have been surprised – after all, Texas is suffering a major drought this year.
Brazos Bend State park in Texas is know for two things; the George Observatory and North American Alligators! With the water much lower than when I've previously visited, owing to the drought, alligator spotting was relatively easy. And, rather than seeing the alligators swimming around, we got to see them walking part in and part out of the water.
Sometimes you can get a decent alligator photo with a short telephoto – say a 200mm – at Brazos Bend because of the viewing stands that have been built. But more often you'll need a long zoom – such as a 400mm – and sometimes even longer, adding a tele converter to get closer alligator photographs. Most of the time the alligators seem to idle the time away, but they're always on the watch for their next meal.
Walking around one lake we came upon a large alligator that had managed to catch a nutria. But in the slimy mud, he was having a challenge consuming it. We watched him for a while before moving on. I don't know if he tried to consume it all covered in mud and slime or if he dragged it back to deeper water to wash it off some. As it was, it didn't look a very appealing meal.
As for the question at the start of the post – what's the difference between an alligator and a crocodile – I learned from the displays in the nature center that a crocodile has a more pointy head and that a crocodile's teeth interlace when it closes its mouth while an alligators teeth on the top jaw sit outside its teeth on the bottom jaw when its mouth is closed.
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I also learned from this trip that I should have carried my Hoodman loupe with me. A number of shots that looked good on the LCD on the back of the camera proved to have a very shallow depth of field when viewed on the computer screen so some of the shots I was really happy with in the field are now quite disappointing to me. But all is not lost – I can always return to the park. I'm just glad these weren't from some really exotic location to which returning would be well nigh impossible.
Production Data
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II (B&H)
Lens: Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM Autofocus Lens (B&H)
Accessory: Hoodman HoodLoupe (B&H)
Accessory: Black¤Rapid RS-4 Camera Strap with FastenerR-3 (Black) (B&H)
Processing: Lightroom 3 (B&H)
