I’ve only seen Glossy Ibis a few times in South Carolina and was surprised to come upon this one feeding in an old rice field pond at the end of February.
Ibis will eat about anything they find while probing mud or wetlands.
When they turn in the light the Glossy Ibis’ colors are spectacular.
I spotted several Wood Storks wading in an overgrown rice field canal. Taken back in February, the grasses were just starting to show some new life adding a bit of color to a brown scene.
This pair was wading and feeding in synchronous motion, back and forth in this small open area.
This Great Egret was busy bringing sticks to the nest.
It was quite breezy and on this landing he overshot the nest.
Lean into it and move your neighbor off at the same time!
The female on the nest did not get up to receive the new nesting materials, perhaps because she was laying on eggs. The nest is skimpy looking and could use some more support before the chicks are moving about.
The Great Blue Heron on the nest usually alerts when the mate is returning giving the photographer a moment or two to figure out the direction before touch down occurs.
These two showed off their finery as part of the greeting ritual.
In this case the GBH that had been on the nest wasted little time on the greeting, immediately swooping off to do her thing. It was late afternoon and she wasn’t going to have much time to feed before dark.
There is not much for a heron to do while incubating eggs.
Occasionally they will stand up and poke at the nest.
Then settle back down in a different direction.
The Skinny Tree, 3/7/2019
Sometimes the best nesting material is the hardest to procure.
This Great Egret wasn’t having much luck attracting a mate with his beautiful dancing but that didn’t stop him from working on a nest.
He had a good location in the tree and I suspect did not want to give it up to go searching for building materials. With a mate selected one would stay on the nest site to keep intruders away.
Instead he grabbed pieces from the limbs around him, continuing to display those gorgeous tail feathers.
Taken 3/13/2019
This Great Blue Heron was snoozing on the nest when I came along. I was happy to see that the tree is showing some life with some green needles appearing.
At one point the heron got up, stretched and ruffled himself.
When he settled back down he took a long time adjusting from side to side making me think the eggs might have hatched.
The Great Blue was keenly aware of the Great Egret encroaching on his territory. This tree, like past years, has several Great Egret nests and some of the Great Egrets aren’t paired up yet and are searching for nesting spots.
Before the Green Heron from my post On The Hunt found a hunting spot he posed on a limb from a falen tree sticking out of the pond. There was a light breeze and the water was creating a
Green Herons tend to be shy and I expected him to take off any moment.
From that stubby perch he surprised me and flew to a spot a bit closer to shore where he showed off his goofy head feathers and long beak.
The Great Egrets perform an elaborate mating dance. Yesterday I watched this one over several hours in this tree. The other Great Egrets didn’t seem to be impressed.
