This is the type of opportunity I love. A group shot with a good number of different species. And the Alligators just floating along mixed in with the group.
Included here are;
It’s September, usually the best time for gatherings like this.
Maybe twenty (or more) napping in the sun. And some on the far side by a dike, a few smaller locals swimming too. If you don’t have some size best to stay in the water here.
Best viewed large.
This may not have been the biggest grouping. Ellen and I walked down a dike and counted approximately fifty. We did get some photos of them also but they were closer and I didn’t have a wide lens with me.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
The water was lowered in this section of the marsh. All the locals came by for an ‘all you can eat buffet’.
The other areas behind these dikes were still high. No birds at all.
Above there are Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills, Great Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Great Egrets, and Snowy Egret. This group was mostly Wood Storks.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
Below shows a meeting of two things ‘special’ about the South Carolina Lowcountry. Pluff Mud and Alligators.
The Alligators here were not totally stuck in the Pluff, but pretty close. A smaller one was determined to reach open water and fought his way over there, for what seemed like a long time. 😆. He dragged himself around and past the big guy.
Best viewed large.
Pluff Mud is like the epitome of mud. It’s created by having centuries of ‘stuff’ sink to the bottom of marshes. If you are from the coast you are aware of the low tide smell and sticky mud. Pluff is so much more interesting.
You can actually get stuck in Pluff. It can be like a nasty version of quick sand. Better, get a good whiff and it’s something you will never, ever, forget.
Salt marshes are less than pretty at times. However the local residents add a bit of color.
The other day Roseate Spoonbills were working the low water in a cut. I cannot pass up a Spoonbill.
Roseate Spoonbill, ACE Basin salt marsh.
There was a good bit of skulking around, waiting, and a little more skulk.
The result was something unidentifiable, wiggly, and covered in mud.
Seemed hardly worth it.
I seem to be in a monochrome / black and white mode lately. Might be the arrival of fall, dark mornings, the usual season change stuff. Which here is hardly a change but my internal clock still goes off.
A few wide shots walking a trail into a swamp.
A few of the locals took over the wooden dock for the night.
I guess this is a ‘found on a walk’ article.
Even by this sites standards it’s a bit of an odd Alligator image. You may struggle to spot him, you are looking at him from behind, and he staring back over his shoulder. Not many composition rules followed here.
I think it’s nice because of all the different greens, textures, and thick vegetation. Even that the gator is draped over an old log or stump.
This is best viewed large.
