She went above and beyond on this pose.
Female Anhinga, drying her wings.
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Tag Archives: Nature
Soaking Up The Sun, Alligator
This is one of the gators I swear hardly moves at all.
It had been a week since I was near him, and yet here he is. In fairness not the exact same spot, pretty close though.
We are in the time of year Alligators hardly eat. Their metabolism is very slow. In colder weather they can’t even digest anything, which is not good for their health so they don’t eat.
However, when it gets warmer this guy will swim off and swallow a small Volkswagen. It’s a long winter.
White Ibis
White Ibis are always here, yet for some reason I go through periods where the birds are never close.
Now the trend seems to have flipped back. Above is one of a small flock I bumped into the other day.
Fishing On The Surface, Great Egret
The marsh pond here is almost completely covered in thick algae. Even so both Herons and Egrets (and Alligators) look for food.
This bird flew over the surface multiple times. He did manage to pluck a few things from the algae.
With all the places to hunt some seem to pick the hard way.
Like an Eating Machine, White Pelicans
When these birds start out to eat they move, and consume, like a well oiled machine.
To start they form a line (of sorts) and plod along reaching down to scoop up whatever they find.
Grasses and water are spit back out and down under they go again.
If you get a good size flock, maybe 100, everything in the area can be cleaned out pretty quick.
Blue Heron Rookery
The boys are back in town.
Male Great Blue Herons are in the rookery claiming the best nesting spots.
There’s lots of changing places, some fighting, and even early repairs to last years old branches.
One of the islands has plenty of red leaves and big trees. The Herons were flying around, over, and through making great shots, if you were in the right spot.
I missed more than a few, I’m rusty, and need to get more practice.
Colors are now a combination of a few fall reds, browns, and the greens of Palmettos.
Activity will pickup and continue on through summer. There will always be quiet times, but I even saw the first female tormenting / fighting a male at a nest.
Charleston, South Carolina.
Exploring The Swamps, Heron
I walked past this Great Blue while in a local swamp last week.
A Heron rookery is down the trail so I expect to bump into more now.
This one was actually in an abandon small Heron rookery. It would be nice if some setup house here too.
Along The Cut, Heron
A nice marsh scene with a Great Blue. It’s a great place to capture open views, the big dike behind the bird is a great back drop.
