Shot at the Center For Birds Of Prey, Charleston. Look closely and you may see a radio transmitter. He is allowed to fly even though unable to care for himself.
I have had this photograph for about a month, but today I was inspired to publish it.
You see, I was in a dense swamp and found a young Barred Owl that had just learned to fly. And… rain, dark dense swamp, really, really, dull photos. Nothing to publish.
But I did see a young fuzzy owlet testing his new skills.
Three images of an Egret as she arrived in a rookery. They must fly in fast, bank and turn, to land on their own cypress. Acrobatics are required.
This time of year it is getting more difficult to catch these shots. It’s not a good idea to stand in the water so we are surrounded by tree limbs and the dreaded hanging Spanish Moss.
Spanish Moss is the iconic beauty, swinging in the breeze. Until you try to photograph around it. it is a wispy nothingness and always floats around your lens (or head).
This is first Ibis I have seen locally for about a month. I didn’t even realize that until I noticed this one.
I was shooting a Night Heron and just caught movement off to the side. A Green heron casually leaving while we were preoccupied.
As usual glare was an issue, but this one shot worked out.
The light was hard to work with here so this is the only photograph that worked.
I think it came out fine so it’s OK it’s the only one.
You can see the direction he’s heading. I was standing on the other side of this canal, photographing him. Almost never do they care one way or the other.
There was no threat here, but he swam over with purpose.
While coming over he finally slowed down.
Momentum kept his direction but by now he was already bored.
This was where he sat. Not being a deep thinker he probably didn’t know why he swam over here in the first place.
But it made for some nice ‘gator pics’.
I would call this a general interest photograph. No real story here, they were taking advantage of an open spot to rest.
It looks to be a good year for Great Egret chicks. Unfortunately the Egrets took some space that had been Great Blue Herons last year.
There are still plenty of Herons in the rookery, in fact some have started to fly, just not as many.
