Ashley River Park, Summerville, SC
August 1, 2023
Alligator, Black & White
Category Archives: Reptiles
Anhinga Showoff
With an audience of an Alligator and me, this Anhinga seemed to have something to say.
Magnolia Plantation & Garden, Charleston, SC
June 16, 2023
Dragonfly On Patrol
It had been a slow morning for photographing wildlife so I stopped for this young Alligator. I didn’t see the dragonfly until I was looking at the images on my computer.
After the first image I moved along for a different angle of the Alligator, still not seeing the dragonfly. He was following a tight flight path, with just two seconds between the next and final images.
The Alligator is probably 2 to 3 years old, based on his size and camouflage coloration.
Magnolia Plantation & Garden, Charleston, SC
June 16, 2023
Snake In A Tree, LR AI Denoise
This morning I finally updated Adobe Lightroom to Version 12.3Â which includes the new AI denoise functions.
I had already processed the images for my recent snake post using Topaz Denoise, then tried them with the new Adobe function.
Same image, using Lightroom Denoise first, then the same cropping and light adjustments. On this particular image I don’t see much difference in the bigger view.
Cropped from the above images:
However, when you zoom in to the snake details, there is some improvement.
I’m not sure how this is going to play out with my image processing flow. One plus to the Topaz version is the ability to batch process, which I have used a lot.
Audubon Center at Beidler Forest, Harleyville, SC
April 14, 2023
Snake In A Tree
This odd shape caught my eye as I worked my way down the boardwalk at Francis Beidler Forrest.
Possibly a Rat Snake, he was in a tidy pile and undisturbed by my presence. It wasn’t until processing these images I noticed the insect exuvia, seen in this next image if you zoom in, just to the right of the snake’s head.
I passed by a little later and the snake had stretched his neck out along the branch, and you can see the exuvia dangling above the snake about 3/4 across the image from the left edge.
His tail had flipped around to the other side, but the rest of his body stayed in the same looped configuration.
Audubon Center at Beidler Forest, Harleyville, SC
April 14, 2023
Early Shadows At The Swamp
The rising sun hadn’t cleared the trees at the far end of Ravenswood Pond, making some long shadows. The closer Black-crowned Night-heron had no interest in turning towards the sun.
An Alligator didn’t seem to mind facing the sun.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
April 20, 2023
Roseate Spoonbill Walking Along
A trio of Roseate Spoonbills was feeding in shallow water, weaving around a few Alligators.
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
April 2, 2023
Cottonmouth Snake, Part 3 of 3
The Cottonmouth Snake went on his way and disappeared into the swamp.
Francis Beidler Forest, Harleyville, SC
March 31, 2023
Cottonmouth Snake, Part 2 of 3
More of the Cottonmouth Snake as he moved away from me…
These water ripples were caused by the snake, making an interesting interaction with the the surface tension along his side.
Some other ripples were caused by caterpillars falling from the trees.
The snake swam away slowly…
…Â in an out of the tree shadows.
Francis Beidler Forest, Harleyville, SC
March 31, 2023
Cottonmouth Snake Tasting The Water, Part 1 of 3
You’ve heard this before…I’m not much on snakes but this scene fascinated me with the combo of the snake flicking his tongue, shadows and reflections, and the tent caterpillar over the snake’s eye.
I was safely on a boardwalk above the water that I was sharing with about a million tent caterpillars.
These caterpillars are having a very successful year in SC. This one didn’t know it, but he was about to go for a ride.
Francis Beidler Forest, Harleyville, SC
March 31, 2023