It’s always nice to find a Red-tailed, usually we see the Red-shouldered Hawks. The other day we found a few of the bigger guys.
These raptors tend to stay in the pine forests around here which is not a place we walk through much. This day we had to move through some and were lucky.
Alligator are not deep thinkers. But after this long I have come to see there are some things you can just predict with them.
The most obvious is territory. Even little things territorial.
When I walked up to the bank this guy quickly jumped and swam off a bit. But it was his spot so he wanted it. Nothing vicious, just was comfortable there.
He did what I have had others do, swam nearby always watching so the minute I was gone… it was his again.
One of those times when you are looking one way and just catch something in the corner of your eye.
Half hidden but just enough visible to take the shot.
Still young enough to have the striped hide.
One of my favorite sights in the marshes.
We were out moving between marsh areas the other day. The first marsh had Storks off on the far side of the area. We decided to move along to a further area that is larger and more open.
It was good, we found a few flocks and walked miles… way too many miles. The temperature was at a minimum high 90’s and similar humidity.
We made one more stop, foolish for sure, but had enough water so we went.
The photo above was taken in a spot that a few hours earlier had nothing more than a few Alligator heads floating around.
Ellen’s mantra, ‘you don’t know if you don’t go out’ paid off again.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
Most of the wading birds stayed together as a group the other day. However, there are always a few being different.
A Roseate Spoonbill making a morning visit to a large marsh.
This time of year everything starts early. A normal temperature is in the mid 90’s, out in an open marsh it’s much hotter and very wet.
Later it gets brutal.
A small group of other Spoonbills, Wood Storks, and few Egret were starting to feed. This bird came in late. I had found a large group of Storks in another marsh earlier but drove here in hopes of finding something closer.
Getting two groups flocking, in tow separate areas is a good sign activity is starting back up. The heat bothers the marsh critters just as much as us.
Right now the grass and reeds out there are much taller than me. Getting them in flight is the only option until you get luck enough to find an open spot.
A nice morning back light was a bonus.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
A marsh scene, the start of large flocks. In this case Wood Storks.
Best viewed large.
I did not see, or hear, of any July flocking. So, they are late. However, once they start it can get interesting.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
Every town and city in America had one at some point.
The tiled entrance is pure Americana.
In NYC every small store had this type of entrance. Tenements built in the late 1800’s used these tiles in hallways, bathrooms, about any place they could. I grew up with them.
I actually found tiled entrances in an old ‘gold rush’ town ruins in Arizona.
Charleston, South Carolina.
