This was taken while on one of my regular visits to the Saint Marks National Wildlife Refuge in Saint Marks Florida (south of Tallahassee).
I saw this gator on my first stop at what's called Mounds Pool #1. He was floating near the bank of the pool close by and wasn't spooked by my presence. I watch him a while. Eventually, he moved out of sight. Then I heard a loud splash. He moved from the bank to the open water of the pool, put his snout straight up and out of the water, opened his mouth like he was positioning prey for swallowing, swung his head from side to side, then swam off.
I drove further down the road, took some more shots of birds and gators, then turned around to head back.
I pulled off the road again to my original spot to check on the gator I saw (staying in my car). I spotted one about 75 yards from me. Probably the same one but I wasn't sure. He looked at me, turned, and made a straight shot for the bank and me.
When he got to the bank less than 10 feet from me he began thrashing his head from side to side and opening his jaws wide. When he was done, he backed away slowly keeping an eye on me, and me on him. He lingered close to the shore watching me until I left about 20 minutes later.
This appeared to be very unusual behavior for alligators that usually keep their distance from humans. I've lived in Florida since childhood and have been around alligators a lot, kayaking, hiking, photographing.
I haven't talked to a ranger about this yet, but I plan to. I'm interested in what a ranger would tel me about it.
This is one of a series of shots I took of this episode.
Gear: Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L II USM. Shot at 1/1600 @ f/5.6, 227mm, ISO 400.