I guess they don’t need to blend in to their surroundings. They obviously don’t.
The bright orange beak and ruby red eyes are like neon signs out there.
American Oystercatcher, coastal South Carolina.
Hard To Miss, Oystercatcher
Tag Archives: birds
A Few Juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Herons
Night Herons had been nesting in the trees at the old Magnolia Cemetery ponds. This large pond is thick with brush and trees giving them plenty of cover.
This particular Heron would just freeze in place, even in an open spot, when he noticed me. Most move off and I hope he learns that soon. This old cemetery sits on the Charleston salt marshes. Anything you can think of wanders around in there.
The other juveniles stayed in, or near, cover making some shots harder to get. At this size they are feeding themselves most of the time.
Yellow-crowns have no problem nesting near people, maybe the only Heron that consistently will. The busy park in Charleston on the harbor, the Battery, is a tourist magnet. Dozens of Yellow-crowns nest there early summer. While residents don’t walk under the trees, tourist will.
I Was There First, Egret
I don’t know why he was yelling at me.
Leaning against a tree in this swamp I watched the Great Egret fly right to me. Then he was squawking at me as he landed… on the other side of my tree.
Not sure where he finally dropped down I looked around the tree.
So did he.
Not wanting to scare him I stayed where I was, the Egret moved off down the swamp to my right.
I had hoped he would take off in front of me, which was why I waited. Well, he only made the ‘too close’ mistake once. Still I did get these shots.
Red-tailed Hawk
Usually hard to find, but not lately.
The Lowcountry has more than swamps and marshes. The third part of our ecosystem is tall pine forests. They usually start right at the edge of the swamps, and the pines here are tall, very tall. A height of 115 feet (35 meters) is not uncommon.
The large Hawks, Owls, and Eagles love these woods.
The last few weeks I have been seeing the Red-tails more than usual.
This one sat up over a trail, not very high, and watched us. I expected him to quickly leave. However we did not worry him at all.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.
Great Egrets
Even though mating season has ended the Great Egrets are still the most numerous large birds around here.
I have had these photographs uploaded to the site for weeks now. I thought the easiest way to publish them was in a random article presenting nothing more than beautiful big white birds.
Hope you enjoy.
Taken in various locations around the Lowcountry.
Night Heron, Young Black-crowned
We have a rookery nearby that was abandoned a few years ago. One year it was busy with small wading birds breeding, the next none. There were a few ‘maybe’ reasons, but it was a dramatic change.
However…
This youngster was there recently. I spotted him since I make a point of walking through fairly often.
I may have seen another the same day as this, so there could be two.
The birds that nested here have moved just down the trail and set up house on a small island, protected by water and of course Alligators. He might have flown down.
It would be nice if they started to return here too.
Charleston, South Carolina.
White Ibis
Today the heat was bearable !
Recently the heat index has been 112 – 117 degrees , actual 95 – 100. In Celsius an average of 37 to 46. Oh yeah humidity near 100% with no rain… somehow that’s a real thing.
Today it is 88, almost cool.
We ventured out and were quickly greeted by a White Ibis.
Better yet, he was without mud.
I consider this a win.
Stork, (Over) Old Rice Fields
There is no shot of the rice fields, just the Stork fly by. However, I was on a dike between the marshes and old rice field. Here 99% of all stork shots are flying in the other direction.
He surprised me and I almost didn’t take any shots.
Below you can see the green tint on the black wing tips. The light must hit the wings a certain way for that to be visible.
He continued going in the ‘wrong’ direction ultimately landing in the back end of the marsh. Where of course there is no access.
ACE Basin, South Carolina.