You would think this scene wouldn’t happen. Yet this is very common. The big guys don’t really want to tangle with each other, unless it’s mating season / babies being protected.
I’m not sure I’d call it cuddles however lots a photos of them sticking close here.
The best way to shoot Pelicans, at least in flights, is down at their level. When they are gliding along a thermal you have a chance at the classic Pelican shot.
Of course this requires a boat, and someone who knows how to keep it steady 😁. Even steady I miss focus more than I care to admit.
Taken on a small barrier island off the coast of South Carolina.
Tricolored Herons were nesting here rather than the typical swamp rookeries. Being isolated out here it was safe from most predators. Not all, there were Bald Eagles around. There was ’safety in numbers’ though.
The Botany Bay Plantation was created much later than what we come to think of as plantations, 1930. However it is really two colonial era plantations, Sea Cloud Plantation and Bleak Hall Plantation, that were purchased and merged together. The land is now owned by South Carolina as a wildlife management area.
The photograph below was shot at sundown as we wandered around some back roads. We were heading to a friends gallery show opening and arrived in the area early.
Never leave home without a camera kit. I loved this shot and realized it was buried in an old archive.
While in town the other day we stopped to see if the small herons had nested in a local park. There are a few places, right in Charleston, that have become home to both Green and Night Herons. While it’s early we did catch a quick view of a couple.
Gulls of course are at home in urban environments. Charleston is a seaport so we find all different species just about anywhere.
Laughing Gulls
Above two Gulls made themselves at home along side a fountain.