Kingfishers are all about their favorite spots, creatures of habit. They fly from location to location, always looking for a fish while they do.
This female will sit up top of the dikes trunk, on the gate, most days. She can see all around and you rarely get close.
She always knows where you are. Below Ā Iām getting that intense stare.
Female Belted Kingfishers have the brown ‘belt’ across their front.
When out roaming in town we always walk the alleys and churchyards. There’s always a photograph there.
Charleston, South Carolina.
When we think of Spanish Moss, in the big trees, it tends to be flowing and wispy.
However that’s not always the case. Below is an Egret hunched in an old tree on an island that is probably always the location a breeze and moss meet. It piles up. Fall/Winter moss also can turn a gray color. Below the Spanish Moss almost looks like a wall.
A different perspective here.
Best viewed large.
A cool and breezy fall day when I shot these. The open water even looks a bit choppy.
However, the slight wind helped since I think it slowed the Great Egret down a little.
One of those images that is more about the scene, than proper composition, colors, and the other rules.
Early morning swamp, Great Blue Heron (and half hidden Anhinga).
Of course it was the coldest day of the year, 32 degrees, (0 Celsius), today. We don’t get all that many but this was one of them.
I have been waiting for the big White Pelicans to show up in the rice fields, today we found some. We have seen them fly over to the far marshes so it was only a matter of time. High water probably held them back.
We arrived out there a little late (did I mention cold?) and most likely they had been feeding for a while. I managed a decent amount of photographs before they all left.
I think I will be sticking around my local swamps for the next week or so. This weather is going to be here for a while yet. šš.
If you must pass by, be sure to have a hat.
Vultures, here Turkey Vultures, like to roost in the same location every night. Once they pick a spot I have heard it is hard to drive them away.
This group is always in the same pines (this is only one branch of a tree) every time we have been in the area. I think we first noticed them about five years ago.
The Great Blue decided the Great Egret had to move.Ā I caught these just as the Heron went after the Egret.
There are some species that get along, some that do not, and then there are Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets. Absolute enemies. The closer it gets to mating season the worse it gets.
Egrets will give way to the larger Great Blues. Except in rookeries. There the Egrets typically out number the Herons. The Great Blue is a solitary bird, the Egrets flock together. In that situation neither backs down.
