Oh yeah, that alligator

In a comment to a previous post, Leigh Johnson mentioned the big reptile observed during our Birder of the Year trip to south Texas.

During two previous visits (the first during the Great Texas Birding Classic, the second for last year's Birder of the Year trip), I'd seen this sign at the South Padre Island Convention Center but hadn't paid attention to it. Now I will... because this time, I finally saw an alligator -- a big 'un -- parked near the observation blind in the above picture.