Egrets on Jones Lake

Jones Lake is on the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge on the Texas gulf coast. This scene is from the viewing platform that is on the lake. When I was there last week, there were some baby alligators in the nearby reeds. I got some good pictures of them and posted one of the pictures on my blog on my web site. The water level in the lake is very low. Normally the water level would be over near the trees in the distance.

Although Aransas NWR is best known as the winter grounds for the whooping cranes, it should also be well known for its big alligators. Last year I encountered one on the Heron Trail that had to be over fourteen feet long. To see a meat-eating monster like that ahead of me in the trail, without a tree to climb, made me decide to do a quick about-face and march back to the car.

When I walk on the elevated wooden walkway out to the viewing platform on Jones Lake, I am always extra careful not to drop anything into the lake. I was even more careful this last visit because the lake level was so low causing the alligators to be more concentrated in a smaller area near the viewing platform. If I should drop something, which is valuable to me, into the lake, I will have to make the decision as to whether or not to wade out from the lake bank to retrieve it. That decision would be kind of a coastal Texas version of Deal or No Deal.

In the painting, I put an alligator floating in the water, just beyond the reeds, watching the egrets. I would imagine that ducks and all the wading birds on these lakes are a major source of prey for the alligators.