Up the Suwannee Middle Fork

An excerpt from my March 2015 Okefenokee nature journal:

Thursday, 9:12 AM – The number of large basking gators quickly dwindled as we paddled up the narrower channel toward Minnie’s lake. Large lily pads crowded in toward the canoe on either side; Spanish moss hung overhead. After about a mile we came to the cove where we had spotted the juvenile gator on the boat tour the day before. He was in the same spot, on the same log.

​We turned the canoe in toward the cove and came to rest on the lily pads and thick floating vegetation. After about a minute of shooting him with different focal lengths, flash and without flash, I finally noticed an even smaller juvenile lying about five feet further down the log to the left. Glistening scales, bright yellow bands, a grinning look. We pushed even closer until the larger of the two flipped off the log into the water. We backed out and paddled further up the flowing channel.