In photos: Louisiana's Hog Bayou in all its stunning beauty

From above, Hog Bayou is a winding ribbon of silver, its water moving slowly toward wetlands and from there into the Wax Lake Delta, Louisiana, U.S.

In geological time, young means thousands of years. On that scale, Louisiana's Wax Lake Delta is taking its first breaths.

Closer up, you can spot the head of a floating alligator, its length a hint of its size and age, Hog Bayou, Louisiana, U.S., May 1, 2021.

Each inch (2.5 centimeters) between the nostrils and eye ridge indicates a foot (0.3 meters) in length, at least until a gator is about nine feet (three meters) long and its girth starts expanding.

Above, an osprey takes off from a treetop, probably hunting for fish.

In between, you see a vine so strong that its embrace has created a deep spiral groove in a tree trunk.

Come closer still. See a small fiddler crab scuttling along a log.

A skink’s dark eyes gleaming in the sunlight and seemingly smiling at the camera.

A tiny green buffalo treehopper clinging, upside-down, to a leaf.

A Brazilian verbena flower so small that dozens could fit on a quarter.

Wild lantana grows along Hog Bayou, Louisiana, U.S., May 1, 2021. NASA is using high-tech airborne systems along with boats and mud-slogging work on islands for a $15 million study of these two parts of Louisiana's river delta system.

Tree roots are exposed along the bayou.

Tendrils of smilax grow in Hog Bayou, Louisiana, U.S., April 21, 2021.

It looks burnt but it is not: Spanish moss growing plentiful in the Hog Bayou, in the Atchafalaya River Delta region, Louisiana, U.S.

Marsh thistle growing lazily.

A wild magnolia blossoming in Hog Bayou, Louisiana, U.S.