When I was a kid, tool use was the thing that separated humans from animals.  We were like, okay, humans can use tools, but other animals can't, and then it's like, well, maybe some chimpanz--well, also dolphins, and also maybe birds too, but it's still pretty unusual for animals to figure out how to use a tool to accomplish a task.  Definitely not something like a reptile would do it, right?  Definitely a 0% chance that alligators put sticks on their heads to hide from birds.

No!  Alligators wear stick hats!  Why do they wear stick hats?  We don't know.  Maybe they just like it.  Maybe they like how it feels, maybe they like how it looks, but they definitely collect sticks and put them on their heads.  

Now, there's some evidence that maybe alligators are doing this because birds want the sticks for making nests, or they are less likely to recognize that it's an alligator if there's a bunch of sticks on its head and then it can jump on the bird.  People have actually done research and it's been inconclusive, about whether or not alligators wear stick hats when birds aren't around or only when they are, but they definitely wear stick hats!