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.
High Alert, Great Egret
Tag Archives: Charleston
Little Blue Heron, Almost Blue
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.
Little Blue Heron, Almost Blue
Little Blue Heron, Almost Blue
Little Blue Heron, Almost Blue
Getting All Pretty, Great Egret
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.
Getting All Pretty, Great Egret
Getting All Pretty, Great Egret
Getting All Pretty, Great Egret
Getting All Pretty, Great Egret
Arrival, Great Blue Heron
Of all the large wading birds nothing beats the Great Blue Heron during flight.
Their large wings have multiple layers of feathers, even a cape across their back.
In these photographs you can clearly see all the different feathers, and how they are used during this landing.
Unlike the large Wood Storks, a Great Blue almost always makes the perfect touch down.
This Heron did a silent glide right to the swamp and lightly dropped down.
Found On A Walk
Part of the ongoing series of old southern headstones.
Taken in the original German community cemetery, Bethany. Charleston, South Carolina.
Up High, Great Egret
An Egret perched at the top of an old dead tree.
This must be a good spot, it is not the first that has landed here.
Look Good Even Landing In Mud, Egret
This marsh was all thick Pluff mud.
And yet this Egret, all white, made an elegant landing.
Even managed to stay clean.
He wasn’t happy about the wind messing up his feathers, but he still looked good.
Great Egret Catches A Siren
While out near old rice fields we came upon a Great Egret as he caught a decent sized siren. (additional images at PassingByPhoto).
I heard the Egret before seeing him due to some pretty vigorous splashing.
At first I saw nothing, then the bird came out from the reeds right below my spot on a dike.
A Siren looks like an eel but is actually a large aquatic salamander. Some can grow to 3 feet ( 1 meter). They will fight back, have a toxic secretion, in general not an easy meal. I have seen larger Siren fight Great Blues for hours.
Below the Egret had to wait on the fighting Siren.
Great Egret Catches A Siren
Great Egret Catches A Siren
Great Egret Catches A Siren
Great Egret Catches A Siren
Finally the bird quickly flew off with his prey. A larger Heron was stalking both of them. The Heron would steal this given the chance.
