January 11, 2004  Today's weather was not bad for a winter's day. Today, although it started cool, warmed up during the afternoon. The female alligator that I saw December 28th was still in
 her spot (this is the third weekend in a row). The babies were also up on shore, and although I took some pictures, they aren't much better than the ones I took on Dec. 28 (see below). I 
suspect that she has a den right near that area so that during the cold evenings she and her young are protected from the severe temperature changes. Then they just pop out and go right
onto the shore to warm up. I think that would explain why they've been at exactly the same spot 3 weekends in a row. 

December 28, 2003  Today's weather was a lot nicer than promised. It didn't rain, and the temperature was above 60. It was also sunny for most of the day. About 100 yards from the parking
lot by the Elm Lake Pavilion (about halfway to the first bench before pier #1) there was a large alligator on one of the islands. Since I'd seen a group of babies, and even a nest in that general
area; from habit I normally examine the area near any large alligators I see near, or on, shore. Today, I was rewarded by finding a pile of baby alligators just behind the large on on the bank. 
They were difficult to count, but I know there were at least seven of them (not SE7EN--what an idiotic concept). I was able to see them without binoculars, but not clearly. This is the
RICKUBISCAM picture. In case you can't pick out the alligators, here's a closer look at the mother (see HERE'S MOM, below). And here is a closer shot of the babies (see HERE'S THE 
KIDS, below).  Because of their size, I believe that these babies are at least one year old--that is, born the August before the one just passed. 

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                              HERES MOM                                                               HERE'S THE KIDS
This was a pretty long shot with my camera, even with the 10X zoom, and also, the plants in front of them made photographing difficult.

September 28, 2003  Was the weather this weekend great, or WHAT? After a lot of driving Saturday (to San Antonio and back), I got out to see the alligators (well, I hoped so) Sunday. I got
there about 8:30 am, and after getting a radio, and talking to some people at the VC/NC, I headed out to Elm Lake. This was about 9:00. I hadn't been out of the car 5 minutes, when I heard
an alligator bellowing off somewhere near the Elm Lake pavilion. I hurried around the Elm Lake trail, hoping to be in time to actually see some alligators bellowing since, if one alligator begins
bellowing, others usually answer. I think I was near pier number 3 when I began hearing other alligators, just a couple, off in the distance. As I walked down the trail towards pier 7, I heard one,
and then another begin bellowing. Some were in Pilant Slough, some were in Elm Lake, and some were in Pilant Lake. This bellowing went on until around 10:00 am. I never got to see any of
the bellowers, but hearing them certainly made my day (as it always does)!
Since the greatest volume of bellowing happens in the springtime, during mating season, quite a few people were wondering why the alligators are bellowing now. I've heard that Sharon 
Hanzik, one of the Park Naturalists, feels that they may be dividing up their territories to prepare for the coming cool weather. Sharon knows her stuff, and has a lot of experience at the park
(years and years!).  Sounds like a good reason to me.
I had to head back into the VC/NC to prepare for a program I was presenting, but on the way back, I stopped by to check on a visitor report of sighting some baby alligators. Since this was near
the area where one of the nests had been (see the August 17, and August 7 entries); I hoped that these were the same babies. No one had seen them for a while.  I wasn't prepared when I 
surprised them (I'd thought they were further along the trail), and so I alarmed them. They were between me and the sun, which is why the photo (THERE'S THE BABY, below) is so harshly 
exposed. Unfortunately, they were already giving alarm chirps (though not frantically), so I figured that the mother was already alerted. So, I couldn't move around them so the solar glare wasn't
in my eyes, since there was water on both sides of the trail.  So, the mother could have been hidden on either side of the trail.  I took a step, and stopped. Another step, and stopped. But, the 
babies still chirped, and I waited for some kind of movement, so I could be sure where the mother was. See, she could have been near the trail I'd already passed over. Until she made an 
appearance, I couldn't know which way to go. Until she made an appearance, I couldn't submit gracefully without stressing the female alligator.  I don't like to stress the alligators.
Finally, she showed up (see HERE COMES MOM, below), and moved straight towards me, with her back high. Time to leave! So, I did.
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                                                                                THERE'S THE BABY                                                                     HERE COMES MOM-

September 07, 2003  It was just a beautiful day. The weather was milder than it had been in a while.  I was walking the trails when I spotted the alligator in the picture below (Baskin' Baby) lying up
near the Spillway Trail.  As I stood there, talking to park visitors, this small alligator turned and started down towards the water. In the meantime, another small alligator (there were 4 more in the 
water and all of these were about 1.5-2.0 feet long) began swimming towards the shore. Near the time the gator on land had turned and started walking towards the water, the other one began 
walking up--right towards the same spot, right in front of us. There was a small opening pressed in the grass between the water and the trail, and both of these small alligators passed each other.
As they did, the one that had been on land made a few vocalisations, which were answered a few times from the others in the water. The second one is in the picture below (See MY TURN, below)
From what I can hear, the alarm chirping of the juvenile alligators sounds like "eeyurp! eeyurp!" with a higher pitch at the "eey".  The "all is well", or recognition chirp sounds, to me, like "urp! urp!" 
with a sort of straight sound across the chirp.  What I heard were these recognition chirps.   It's also possible that these alligators were from a pod sighted in the area last year, and might just be a
year old. In the wild, though, they grow better.
Then, around 11:30, Sharon called me on the radio to report alligators bellowing near the lower-numbered piers at Elm Lake. This was a surprise, and I was a little disappointed. Until, about 15 
minutes later, alligators started bellowing near me on the Spillway Trail. Park visitors mentioned that it seemed that the alligators were bellowing all around Elm and Pilant Lakes. This was GREAT!
Although I couldn't see them bellow, it was still great to hear. 

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                                                  BASKIN' BABY                                                        IT'S MY TURN
I'll also mention that we only lost one of our captive-hatched alligators from a week and a half ago. ALL the rest are fine, strong, and eating well! IS THAT COOL, OR WHAT?

August 27, 2003  When the "second" alligator nest was inspected today, it was discovered that the eggs had hatched!  Since the eggs we had in the VC/NC came from that nest (we had 12), it was
decided to hatch them this afternoon.  I was informed of this plan, and was able to leave work early to help. EXCELLENT!  Once it was time to start, I watched one of our very knowledgeable park 
naturalists, Sharon Hanzik, open an egg. The images below show how an expert does it.
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                  CAREFULLY CUT SHELL                                                  PEEL THE SHELL                                                 REMOVE THE SHELL            

   
                   REMOVE MEMBRANES                                                  2003 MODEL 'GATOR!

Well, I'd never done it before, so I was a little nervous; probably because, the thought of holding one of these newborn "dragons" in my palm  while it took its first view of the world was kind of
important to me. The three pictures below (HATCHING part 1, 2, 3) are frames from video that was taken for me with my video camera by one of the rangers. (Thanks, Dusty!).  Click on the 
captions below the pictures to see the flv video clips. I wanted to get more photos, but after my first egg, my hands were a bit...gooey.
In the wild, no one can say how long one of these babies would survive. Although they are protected by the female alligator, only one in sixty will survive the first three years (there were 35 in 
this nest). The babies that we have in the VC/NC usually have their survival assured, at least for the first year. Generally they are released after about a year and a half--put back into a pod of
babies with a mother in the wild. The female will accept them and protect them, as long as they are small enough and make the sounds which allow the adult female to recognize them as 
young alligators (though not necessarily her offspring).  It is surprising, but babies kept captive for a year or so will still recognize an adult female alligator, and will begin feeding and acting
just like the "wild" babies immediately. They seem retain have memory at all of human contact at this age.
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          HATCHING PART 1(859 kb)                                   HATCHING PART 2(1908 kb  )                             HATCHING PART 3(1809 kb)                               AND *I* HELPED!(199 kb) 

I was able to assist the hatching of 2 eggs. The picture below (BRAND SPANKIN' NEW) is the baby that came out of the second one. The video clips are from the first egg. After I'd done the
first egg, someone (I must admit that my mind wasn't really on the people around me. I was watching the babies.) said something about me looking at the camera as a proud papa. The picture
above (I HELPED) was my response to this. Yes, there is a link to that clip also, since it's good to laugh now and then, even at me.
As time permits, I'll track down some more facts about crocodilian eggs and they will show up here.
FURTHER NOTE, SUNDAY AUG. 31:  Out of the first 12 eggs that were borrowed from the nest, 11 had live young, and one was not fertile. Out of the 11 hatched, about 4 seemed a bit 
"premature". They had large yolk sacs and were a bit weaker than the rest.  Today, 4 days later, one of the "preemies" had not survived, though all the others seem to be ok. Two of those were
still in a separate tank although showing signs of being stronger, and one has been put in the tank with the other, bigger ones. All of them are vigorous and alert (see FOUR DAYS OLD, below).
Four days ago, when the nest was found to have hatched, 3 eggs had been abandoned there, and three hatched babies were near the nest, covered in fire ants. But they were saved, and are 
part of our group. They haven't been fed yet (normally they don't eat for about a week), but I was able to observe the wild siblings through a spotting scope this morning (they're hard to pick out),
and I saw them feeding. So, hopefully our adopted babies will be eating soon.
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                       BRAND SPANKIN' NEW                                                                       FOUR DAYS OLD
 

 

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