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Richard Dashnau

On the trails at BBSP, I carry a 6' stick . Folks often ask why. On 02/02/2025 I showed folks how to use it to estimate the length of a gator that had crossed in front of us. Note the tail & head relative to trail edges. Place stick on the same spot & compare. video: rickubis.com/rick/gatorcross02

Image 1 of 4 View of a dirt trail bounded by short grass on both sides. The trail is across the bottom of the image, then narrows as it curves away from us at distance. 2 people are in the background, facing us with cameras. Between us a very large, dark grey alligator is crossing the trail from left-to-right. It is in mid-step during high-walk, so its body is lifted off the ground. Its heavy tail is dragging, and the tip of it overlaps the left trail-edge by a couple inches. The alligator's snout is above the right trail-edge and extends past that edge by most of the length of its jaw.
Image 4 of 4 Closer View of the left edge of a dirt trail bounded by short grass shown in image #1. The trail is across the bottom of the image, then narrows as it curves away from us at distance. This is the same image as #2 (along with the people), but with a larger view of the stick's position. A red oval behind under the rear hip marks a short line at the left edge, near the end of the stick, and a small pebble above the stick. This indicates the points I used to index the stick location when I estimated the length of the alligator. I've been a volunteer at this park for over 20 years, doing Nature Interpretation and other things. It is always wonderful to see the Alligators...and all the other things that live in the park.
Image 2 of 4 View of a dirt trail bounded by short grass on both sides. The trail is across the bottom of the image, then narrows as it curves away from us at distance. This is the same image as #1, but the alligator has just gone. 5 people are at middle distance. The top of the image has cut off their heads, but judging by the direction of the feet, they are looking to our right. They are actually watching the alligator that had crossed the trail in image #1 and gone into Elm Lake, which is also to our right. They are standing on the trail exactly where the alligator had crossed. A thin (1 inch diameter) stick is touching the left edge of the trail, and extends straight right to a bit past the middle of the trail. The stick is 6 feet long (1.83m). The space from the end of the stick to the right edge of the trail is more than half the length of the stick (or about 4 feet). That would mean the trail is about 10 feet across...and the alligator was longer than the trail was wide; so it was at least 10 feet long. This was on Feb. 2, 2025 at Brazos Bend State Park. The park covers 5000 acres, has 7 lakes and about 30 miles of trails. About 300 alligators of breeding size (>= 6feet) plus however many younger ones live there. They roam freely.
Image 3 of 4 Closer View of the left edge of a dirt trail bounded by short grass shown in image #1. The trail is across the bottom of the image, then narrows as it curves away from us at distance. This is the same image as #1, but with a larger view of the alligator's hindquarters. A red oval behind under the rear hip mark a short line at the left edge, and a small pebble next to the feet. This indicates the points I used to index the stick location in the following image.
Mar 23, 2025, 01:26 AM·Public·Web
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