Alligator Attack and hiking South Texas Refuges

June has been a HOT and exciting month so far. Last week we were attacked by an underwater lurking 8 foot long ALLIGATOR at Sea Rim State Park near Sabine Pass, Texas. The Alligator attacked twice but luckily we were fast enough to get out of the way and escape unharmed. Texas Point Wildlife refuge seemed like a nice place to hike until we were SWARMED by hundreds of biting DEER FLIES! ....McFadden Wildlife Refuge offered up glimpses of resting Nighthawks, plenty of Cliff Swallows, a rare look at an immature Orchard Oriole, we also had great views of Willets, Sandpipers, American Avocets, Stilts, assorted gulls, snowy egrets, great egrets, little green herons, double-crested cormorants, big boat-tailed grackles, and of course RED Winged Blackbirds... ... ... A day tour of Brazos Bend State Park always yields great birding and plenty of alligators! In fact we found many baby alligators in the shallows. The big alligators were feasting on fish, slapping the water with their large jaws! Gallinules and Coots were followed by their fuzzy chicks in the marsh grass. ... ... ... We also made a stop near Beaumont, Texas at GATOR Country as seen on Gator 911 on CMT. Once they saw my wildlife art we got to have some close up encounters with their reptiles! These guys were great pulling out every reptile from its enclosure to let me hold and get up close. Decided I will send them a free art print for their nice showing! I had a sixteen foot python wrapped around me, got to hold assorted lizards, monitors, and a TEGU, and get up close and personal with a monster Alligator Snapping turtle they pulled from a pond for us! GREAT PLACE GATOR COUNTRY!!!.... .... ...NEXT month we leave for Brazil and the Pantanal south of Amazonia in search of the elusive amazing spotted cat, THE JAGUAR. Here are some of my latest art endeavors: