Tag Archives: South Carolina

Birds, Marsh, Swamp, Wildlife

Two Hard Wing Beats, Gone – Eagle

November 28, 2021 Ted Jennings - TPJ Photography 2 Comments

Another game of Hop Scotch. Bald Eagle dropping down along the Santee River.

It’s a Bald Eagle, so you know we took the shot every time.

Santee Delta, South Carolina.

Black and White, Cemetery, Charleston, Historical, Landscape, Monochrome, What I Saw, Wide Photographs

Found On A Walk

November 27, 2021 Ted Jennings - TPJ Photography Leave a comment

Taken in the First Scots Presbyterian church yard. One of the many churches in the center of town here, Charleston.

Founded in 1731, this current building of brick was finished in 1814. Wooden structures don’t last long here. Only a single bell is here now, donated from St. Johns Church in Preston, Lancashire, England around 1886. The original bells were melted during the US Civil War. The earthquake of 1886 damaged most of Charleston but one tower in First Scots remained strong enough to hang a single St. Johns bell.

Note; Above, a Polaroid filter image of the entrance to First Scots.

Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina.

Alligator, Marsh, Swamp, What I Saw, Wildlife

A Days Worth Of Alligators

November 27, 2021 Ted Jennings - TPJ Photography Leave a comment

November 14, two weeks ago, I had one of those days where the Alligators were out getting sun, and I just grabbed random shots walking around.

We get all k nds of questions about the Alligators, a common one is how many are actually around. A good question, not sure there is anything but some official guesstimate out there.

These photos are from a single location where two large marshes are separated by a dike. Walking along the edge of the marsh I grabbed these images.

The first is what Ellen calls ‘a pig pile’. Even making the shot full size I’m not sure there is a way to count these. Find all the tails would be a good start. They like to ‘cuddle up’ in the sun. Notice no small locals got involved.

The closest gator you can see was paying attention to us. Two others were right behind him. No single Alligator shots to be had. Look close and you will also see the very end of another’s tail. The bumpy scutes (scales) are sticking above the water.

Piles were the order of the day. Around any given heap of gators others are hanging close by.

This was another photograph where I wanted to catch a single gator. However, the scutes of another’s tail is again in the way. You don’t notice these at the time you take the shot. Yet, there they are.

Out in the open is ‘one eye’. After a few years in this spot you recognize many by their markings, which are usually scars. This is not the only ‘one eye’ out here though. Living is not easy even for these alpha predators.

Here is one I almost missed, up out of the water in the glare. Pretty big, and of course parts here of two others.

Turning on to a second dike this was the scene just on the other side. Four on the bank and shallows.

The last shot here is actually ‘almost’ the same as the previous one. I just pulled back and shifted a bit to the left.

What I did was keep some of the gators from the previous shot in the frame, however by pulling back there are now two new locals on the left side.

What all this means is that on a day like this there are more than a few Alligators, just in one particular area. This swamp, dike, and water goes straight back uninterrupted for miles.

That’s why no one can ever really know how many of the locals live here.

I do do know we are really, really, outnumbered out there. LOL