Bear Island, ACE Basin.
A view from a dirt road towards the back of Bear Island. We had been walking for a while and had not seen much wildlife at this point. I turned back and shot a few random photographs of the marsh.
The Alligators were a distance down the open water. There are three, one is far and in the reeds. Always interesting scenery.
We had left the last marsh, it was close to noon, definitely time to quit. Of course a big bird flew up from the center of the road. Assuming it was a vulture we almost passed by. The white tail gave him away.
The trees are thick and dark, even the road is under a canopy.
I had a quick chance to get a few shots in the trees before he dropped out of site.
The long Leica/Panasonic lens has not been delivered yet so this was taken with a spur of the moment purchase. A 150 mm budget lens.
Bald Eagle, ACE Basin, South Carolina.
All the larger buildings here were rebuilt or repaired after the US Civil War. In many cases the original bricks were used. It makes sense to use brick, even in the 1700’s. This land is marshes with clay, has termites, and fire was always a danger. There were a few rice plantations that also had a thriving business making bricks.
The pond in the foreground above had been for Water Buffalo. During the rice planting era Water Buffalo were imported and used in the rice fields like all other rice growers around the world. During the federal army’s marsh past Charleston the Buffalo were confiscated. Several actually turned up in the NYC Central Park zoo.
The other night we were chatting with some other photographers in the old avenue of Oaks that leads up to the Magnolia Plantation main house. There is always something blooming along here, now it’s some Iris.
The main plantation home is the backdrop for these bright blooms.
This is one of many Stork and Spoonbill interactions taken one morning in a rice field at Donnelley wildlife area.
There were a number of times a Wood Stork chased Spoonbills away from the only log in the area. A Roseate Spoonbill would climb on the log, another would push him off, then repeat, finally a Stork snapped. Storks are like calm old men, Spoonbills are clowns.
I think there were so many like this some images were just skipped at random. At least I had color coded these in the PC as to do files.
End of the day, all the visitors had left.
A few photographers stayed late and were wandering around. We were hoping for a colorful sunset. This is the best we had. A storm was passing by off the coast bringing winds and clouds.
Most of us had stocked up on snacks and sweet tea (unsweet tea) curtesy of the plantation and had moved on to their favorite spots to shoot a bit before heading home.
Magnolia Plantation, Charleston, South Carolina.
The web site here has taken a shift towards wider shots, landscape, and the Lowcountry. However this is still a site with the vast majority of photographs wildlife.
That said I visited the ‘to do’ files and found a series of Wood Storks feeding in the ACE Basin. Well, four feeding, one just watching.
The wrought iron fences from 100+ years ago is a continuous fascinating photo subject for me. The ‘rust and ruin’ can be beautiful.
The other day I made a point of focusing (pun intended) of the different styles I found on a walk.
Besides an interesting subject it was a good way to work some new gear, and teach my fingers an entirely new set of buttons and dials.
This is a family plot dating to 1858, pre Civil War. The date is important since in a short 5 years the wealth and style here would completely change due to the war.
The fence looks like a garden arbor.
Not all the fence has survived unfortunately. It’s still better than some which are out in the open to the wet, sun, and storms of the Lowcountry.
