Folly Island, Charleston, South Carolina.
Sand And Sun
Category Archives: Ocean Shore
Found On A Walk, Ocean
I guess this is more about what I didn’t find.
People.
Sand For A Change
We had a morning of sun and rain, at the same time. No lightning so all was good, the Lowcountry gets some bodacious thunder storms.
We had planned a walk down to a lighthouse in Charleston harbor but the rain changed our minds. A simple option was the shore along Folly Island facing the Atlantic. A no drama walk on the beach morning.
The tide was out showing most of the dead trees out of the water. There’s no real ‘bone yard’ here but a few dot the dunes. October/November this is one of the prettiest spots for sunsets in Charleston.
The small shore birds out number people down on the far end, so of course that was the obvious place for us to walk. It’s away from the lines of rental beach houses, fried food, and flip flops.
Charleston, South Carolina.
Diving Terns
When I first started to shoot birds I would practice on the Connecticut River with Ring-billed Gulls.
Good thing too. If I had found Terns first my camera would have been in the water the first hour.
These guys are a bit of a challenge.
Least Terns, Charleston, South Carolina.
Floating Near Shore, Brown Pelican
And yes, I shot a few more Pelican photographs. Because, why wouldn’t you ?
Saturday is bath day, with no privacy for Pelicans
If you’re a Pelican it probably doesn’t get any better than this.
Water flying everywhere, wings flapping, in general a good time.
After seeing his neighbor splashing around another joined in.
I don’t catch this often, a treat to photo two at the same time.
Brown Pelicans, Charleston, South Carolina.
Low And Slow, Pelican In The Dunes
Brown Pelican just over the dunes.
I like photographs like these, some perspective and a little different. Usually (big surprise) they are in the ocean or blue sky.
Along The Shore, South Carolina
This post is made up of a few random shots taken along the coast. Some are on the beach, others along the coastal salt marshes. Most summers we shoot primarily inland in the swamps and marshes. Early on we spent some time on the barrier islands, somehow 2022 has seen us bring home sand as much as the usual pluff mud.
Below is an American Oystercatcher. You can’t miss them, not many neon birds walking on the beaches. When in flight you can hear them from a long way off. Their wings beat so fast they make whistle sound.
If you live along an inlet in the Lowcountry you have to own a boat, and have a pier. That pier may be a very long one too. Salt marshes are everywhere, so the pier needs to run atop the marsh right out to the water.
That pier (and boat) is not cheap. But if you have the house, well the pier is the least of your expenses.
Above, a juvenile Brown Pelican floating in the surf. If you visit this site you already know I love the Pelicans. Almost never pass up a photo op.
Laughing Gulls, probably more common than people around here. These birds are just as common in the marshes as the shore.
This last shot is of course more Brown Pelicans. This was taken at the mouth of the Kiawah river. The entire coastline of South Carolina is a series of rivers entering the Atlantic Ocean. This is why the old plantations here were rice growers, not cotton.
Since we still have months of hot weather I suspect I’ll have a few more coastal articles before our fall(ish) weather starts.