I thought these shots were a nice representation of which animals actually live out there. This is just scratching the surface of the species we find, but it does give an idea of a typical marsh scene.
These photographs were taken in the Donnelley wildlife area within the ACE Basin of South Carolina.
Included in these images are;
An unlikely group hanging around together, but pretty common in the marshes.
Wood Storks / AlligatorsAmerican Alligator, Wood Storks, ACE Basin, South Carolina.
When in the water, and they almost always are, it’s hard to judge just how big they really are.
A guess is a minimum of 11 feet for this one.
ACE Basin,South Carolina.
This is the largest of the Skimmer family with a length of 2 feet, a wingspan around 5 feet.
They will travel along the southern US coast, however their primary range is throughout South America.
Skimmers are the ‘speedsters’ of the shore birds making them one the hardest birds to photograph.
Slowly I’m actually learning patience. Once in a while I’ll add something new to this web site. I was pretty busy shooting this spring now I need to tackle the PC as a leftie 😂😂
I guess it was ‘good enough’ . We all have those moments.
The photographs here were shot at Donnelley WMA in South Carolina. The water was shallow on this day which means that all the locals come to the same spot to feed. This happens maybe two or three times each Spring/Summer.
All these species live here but they don’t all get together every day like this. That’s what makes a find like this so special.
Below you can see how the big gators actually do get along, as long as they are not hungry, or mating. Each one of them were like small cars 😆.
Next is always a crazy site. The Alligator is not even thinking about trying to catch one of the close birds. He is very fast, they are even faster. Alligators are opportunistic hunters, they wait for the perfect moment. Also they not eat once a week or so, and not all that much.
As you can imagine, when we come up on a scene like this we fill memory cards and drain batteries. We came to this marsh a few times while the water was low. I will be deleting and sorting files and folders for months 😂🤣.
Timing was perfect for this. I’ll be getting my back and neck rebuilt 🥹 soon and not heading out for a few months.
A quick shot here as I walked by this local in a swamp. Pretty much a point and click type action.
However, I never did notice his buddy swimming nearby.
Never Noticed, AlligatorEven in the flat swamp water, they blend right in.
We were standing watching a few Egrets when one of the locals decided to come past.
What makes this remarkable is how unremarkable this has become.
