Several times I spotted these ducks but never was able to ID them.
I held off publishing anything until I had at least a decent guess as to their breed.
After a bit I have come up with the Mottled Duck.
OK, Ellen came up with the species, and I forgot to publish these.
Top of the second floor landing, old Charleston manor house.
The usual suspects. A White Ibis catches a fish, a Ring-billed Gull moves in to steal it.
In this case the Ibis was ready and made a quick move to escape.
Some fancy athletic moves too.
The Ibis won this time.
The Gull wins fairly often so I didn’t feel sorry for him.
There was a time when I would wait for ‘good light’.
That was a bad name and an even worse idea.
I now think of this as ‘good light’.
It highlights these beautiful animals, provides interesting backgrounds, and even accents the tiny droplets of mud.
Taken in the morning at ACE Basin during feeding in the shallows.
When I moved to Charleston from New England I had no idea of the history or just how far back the town went.
Since moving here I have been lucky to meet several people who are local ‘experts’. That has helped motivate me at times to get back to working in other areas, not just our wildlife.
Scenes like the above require a completely different mind set.
Technically I describe this type of photography as ‘ Very Cool’.
These birds have adapted very well to the Florida Gulf. Everywhere else I shoot them they are secretive and hide in the dark.
I appreciate it too. So much easier to photograph them.
The Great Blue mating season is not in full swing yet. There are some happy couples, but construction is a slow grind. One bird hangs around the nest, the other leaves for some unknown period.
There have been a couple good shuffles, but in general everything is low key. Chaos starts in about a month.
Until then the Heron hang around looking bored.
These two swam along directly in front of me. I was holding the lens up, not moving, waiting for them to move into the view finder.
I waited, and waited… they both stopped around the same time.
OK, enough. I snapped the shot.
These Teal are usually shy and I don’t get many good opportunities with them. Expecting them to be shy I held my gear up not moving…. approximately forever!
As expected my arm almost fell off and the birds paddled around me with not a care in the world.
