Our best sighting at Brazos!

 Our first morning at Brazos brought sun and...squirrels!!!
For our kids, this is Animal Planet at its best!!

These two are quite the pair.  Just yesterday I caught Zou grooming Tractor - cleaning his ears, inside and out, and doing little, careful groom-chews on his neck, which Tracky was obviously enjoying!  Bill and I also witnessed one of the funniest things a little while back.  Zou and Tracky were running up and down the length of the motorhome (a frequent occurrence, often involving Scratty as well) and play-fighting.  At one point, Zou shot past us, with Tractor hot on her trail.  When he was only inches away from her butt, he reached out to give her a bite!  He didn't make contact, and they moved on to other play techniques.  But it was too hilarious!!  

A beautifully moss-covered tree next to our RV.

Bill, Zou, and I drove over to the 40 Acre Lake to do a gator-spotting walk.  Before we struck out though, I was able to spot the great-horned owl mama, sitting on her nest.  A park naturalist had told me about her.  He also told me about another mama...one you will see soon!

 The look-out tower.

 A couple of little placards on the tower show some historical high-water marks.  The one above Bill's head reads 56.40 FEET above sea level in Dec. 1913...! 

 Zou and Bill walk down a trail that connects two lakes.  The mossy trees form a wonderful over-arching ceiling.

 Yay!  A little gator spotted!  Gator-spotting is one of my favorite things to do!!!  And this little guy is so cute!  He's maybe three feet long?  Pretty small.  This guy is probably just a few years old.  I've read that they are born about 10-12" long and can grow 2"- 12" per year.  This is according to the Louisiana Alligator Advisory Council (and they should know, because they claim Louisiana to have the largest gator population in the country!).  They also say that gator growth rates slow with age, that males get to be bigger (generally up to 13+ feet and 500+ pounds) while females may reach 9 feet and 200+ pounds - dainty little things!  However, they do mention the record gator, which made it to just over 19 feet!!!!!!!!!

 I thought these guys were cute.  Just like someone sitting on the side of a pool, talking to someone in the water, hanging on the edge...  Can't you hear the one asking the other "Hey, can you hand me my drink?"  Or maybe he was saying "Hey!  What'd you push me in for?!!"

The same naturalist who told me about Mrs. Owl also let me in on a little secret - if you see turtles out, you're more likely to see gators.  The turtles are sort of the temperature indicator - if it's warm enough for them to venture out of the water (or mud), then it's going to be warm enough for the gators too!  I told him I used the same reasoning back home in San Diego with regard to the lizards and snakes.  If you see lizards out and about, expect to see snakes too (although I think there are a lot more lizards so you're more likely to see them than you are to see snakes)!

Now on to the highlight of our day there...

 Say Hello to Mommy Gator!  You see the little striped tails by her neck, and one on her back?  I thought she had four babies (after counting the striped tails!), but after magnifying the photo on the computer, I found she had five!  There's one under her front "paw."  This was just so awesome to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  A really special treat, esp. for someone who's so enthralled with them!!

 And I just found this to be the sweetest, serenest scene.  Mommy with her eyes closed, at peace in the sun with her babies safe and sound about (and on) her.  Now don't think for a minute that she wasn't completely aware and alert to her surroundings!!  Those eyes were open and ON YOU if you moved much!  But if you just stood there, she seemed to accept you weren't much of an immediate threat, and she relaxed.  I think people are probably very respectful of them here overall, so hopefully these gators sense they are mostly protected and safe.

I have to say, remember Steve Irwin?  The Crocodile Hunter?  I think he was cool, and he was obviously enamored with wildlife in general, but esp. crocs.  I love how he was always calling the crocs "beauties!"  I'm not sure I'd call them beauties...  I do think they're fascinating!  But they're sort of ugly.  They look nasty to me, and I think they generally are nastier and do consider humans to be on their list of prey items!  Whereas...gators are cute!  Yes.  They are.  Not to say I don't have a very healthy respect for them and their killing abilities!  In fact, I guess they can be quite cannibalistic!  However, I think it's very rare for a gator to go after a human with the intent of eating them!  I think they are scared of people and try to flee if at all possible (sad to say that I actually scared a huge gator at Brazos and made him disappear rapidly!  I was just trying to get him to open his eyes again, and I stomped on the wooden bridge I was standing on.  He was obviously completely startled and whirled about in a heartbeat, vanishing underwater!  Yes, I am embarrassed and ashamed!!!!  I never intended to scare him!!!!!  I had no idea my actions would have that pronounced an effect!  Needless to say, I am MUCH more thoughtful and quiet around them now!!)   Anyways, I absolutely think of the American alligators as "beauties!!"

I was so caught up in photographing these incredible creatures, I was often way behind Bill and Zou.  And she kept looking back to check on me, "You OK Mom?  What you doing?  I'm a little worried about you...!?!"

 Can you see this guy?  Look harder!  He's pretty big but kind of hidden with all the pond scum vegetation clinging to his back.  That bird in the left-hand corner - which I think is a little blue heron - doesn't seem at all concerned by the giant looming only a few feet away from him...    

 Look at this bad boy (girl?).  This one had to be more like 9 or 10 feet?  And heavy duty!!!

And poo on me - this is the one I frightened off!  So much for their coming after you - only if you invade their space too much and they feel cornered!

A great egret, spying on a snack!

 After our great gator-spotting walk, we stopped by the nature center to play with baby alligators!  We weren't allowed to hold them, but we did get to pet them!  Absolutely adorable!!!  And so calm while they're being held!

And I know a lot of folks don't like snakes...but this one is not venomous and is so pretty!  This is a milk snake.  I found the coppermouth to be gorgeous as well, but he was too hidden behind stuff in his container, so no photo.  And, like in this picture, it looked like all the snakes had recently molted.  Maybe that's why they looked to be dressed-up even more brightly and elegantly than usual!