This way even if you somehow do make a sound that attracts an aggressive alligator, you are not at risk of a dangerous encounter.Ģ. If you watch till the end of my video you’ll see a shadow that shows I am standing on a raised boardwalk with a rail, which is the optimal situation for safely observing gators. If your feet are on dirt, grass, or water, do not attempt a contact call.
![shoebill stork call shoebill stork call](https://i.redd.it/4myxjcwjva571.jpg)
I’d love to give my three personal rules for performing this call!ġ. That said, everyone with safety concerns is absolutely correct to consider the possible implications for doing contact calls in the wild, and much like performing bird calls in the wild there are ethical considerations that must be taken into account. While a mother gator will certainly swim towards a hatchling distress call (up to a certain age) to protect her young, the other babies will typically swim away from the sound, meaning a correctly done contact call shouldn’t cause a hostile reaction in a nearby momma gator. Instead, contact calls are typically used in communication between juvenile gator siblings that live together in groups called crèches. I am NOT trying to make a distress call, which is what a baby alligator would use to call mom for help, and is a different sound entirely.
![shoebill stork call shoebill stork call](https://live.staticflickr.com/6014/5974507048_130fc42d51_b.jpg)
Because this is getting popular and some have voiced safety concerns in the notes (and because I’d hate for you to think me of me ~your future spouse~ as reckless), I hope you won’t mind me derailing this post to talk a bit about alligator behavior and what I’m doing here! The noise that I am emulating in the video is my attempt at the contact call of the juvenile American alligator.