I did not see this Great Egret fly in, but I assume it just did based on the wing flapping and dancing.
This was a rather long distance but lately I have been paying more attention to the surrounding area of a shot that the actual subject. Probably just mixing things up a bit.
I took this shot across a marsh, the photograph itself taken a little wide. I wanted to catch the entire scene, and any interaction that might happen between these two.
The Heron walked past the Egret and postured in the ‘ready for anything’ stance.
An adult Great Egret will choose to keep away from the larger Heron, this one was no exception.
I think the Heron was considering chasing the Egret, but since the bird didn’t move he thought better of it and continued on.
Funny, but after the Great Blue walked by I thought the Egret was going to sneak up on him. He certainly looked to be considering it.
Taken near the Ashley River outside Charleston, South Carolina.
I expected to see the bending knee, a sign of a quick take off.
He was clearly watching to see what I would do, but he never did fly, just walked by.
About as far away from anywhere you could expect to find a beautiful wild flower.
In the exact opposite direction is a mile of wide open marshlands.
Yet, here it is.
Whenever a Roseate Spoonbill starts with the neck scratches it makes a great series of photographs.
They bend around and get a really ‘goofy’ look.
It’s almost like a smile.
You can’t help but love these guys.
The Little Blue featured here is probably just a few months away from being a full adult. The white feathers are almost gone.
I find the light, almost grey colors, interesting because the bird will soon be a deep and dark blue.
The pigmentation in the existing feathers must change quickly. If the color is depending on new growth I’m guessing we would have a large number of ‘plucked chickens’ walking around the swamps.
Click any image below for a full screen image.
We joke among ourselves that some of the Alligators we recognize. These were taken in a wildlife area with large marshes that we visit often.
I read recently there are 75 Alligators in every hectare or 2 1/2 acres of marsh.
This particular Alligator noticed us and as you can see above came right over to meet us.
Eventually he slowed down and turned.
As he drifted over…it was ‘Snaggle Tooth’. A large Alligator with an unusual tooth.
A number of the larger locals have scars and old wounds. So yes, we do recognize some of them. It’s not really all that hard though.
An Egret spends half of the day preening their feathers.
Here the bird gave a pretty good show. Neither of us had anything better to do at the time anyway.
