When I made this shot I had another also, the Heron standing up tall. I chose that one to publish. However I felt this image was nice enough that it should ‘someday’ see the light of day too.
Of course I promptly lost it, now it’s found and I still like it.
They may not look it but these birds can move fast. I don’t think there are many Anhinga flight shots in this entire web site.
Female Anhinga.
The anhinga (/ænˈhɪŋɡə/; Anhinga anhinga), sometimes called snakebird, darter, American darter, or water turkey, is a water bird of the warmer parts of the Americas. The word anhinga comes from a’ñinga in the Brazilian Tupi language and means “devil bird” or “snake bird”. The origin of the name is apparent when swimming: only the neck appears above water so the bird looks like a snake ready to strike. (Wikipedia)
Anhinga are a year round resident in the Lowcountry. They breed in a rookery near my house, and have the second ugliest babies in the bird world. Gallinule win the ugly contest, by a big margin.
Marsh water is high lately. This Great Egret was waiting for the tide to turn before feeding. He had a few hour wait.
Wildlife photographers work with what we are given. Monochrome seemed to be the best option here.
Great Egret
A few residents of a local marsh.
The first is a Tricolored Heron, unfortunately he was down where two canals met, and fed into the Ashley River. A deep cut, plenty of muck, and a pretty bird.
Not far from the Tricolor above a Great Blue Heron. Since he was out in the marsh itself we substitute muck for thick reeds and Duck Weed.
Final photograph is a female Anhinga perched on a stump. View her large and you will see small clumps of the ever present Duck Weed on her feathers.
Marsh Residents
I consider a walk like this a success when I can catch several different species.
Still in the young Little Blue white stage I found him sitting in a swamp, staring at the water like some free meal would be delivered.
Sorry little guy, those days are over. The good news is probably within 25 feet there’s enough food to feed him for a month.
By now he can hunt on his own. Probably day dreaming about the good old days of Moms free delivery.
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.
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.
