337/365 07/25/2026

The alligator came out of nowhere. Which isn’t entirely true. Or, true at all, really. The alligator came out of the small waterway that flows into the Alachua Sink near the La Chua trail. I was photographing a blue heron, the stately bird standing regal and tall on a small sandbank near the shore. Gray-blue feathers caught the golden light of a setting sun. Ecru sand and the cacophonous greens of water hyacinth. I didn’t hear the tell-tale gut rumble of an alligator saying, “back off.”