Adult Great Egrets get quite a workout feeding their young, and all this after procuring something for them to eat.
The chicks are aggressive about getting their share.
You can hear the “feed me” chorus, which is how the photographer often knows there is action afoot.
One more go at the regurgitation. I never saw the food, at this age it goes directly into the juvenile’s throats.
That’s it, I’m out.
The spider from my post Daddy Long Legs and Friend traveled quite a distance in a small space over the few hours I checked on him.
He made repeated trips around this stem, occasionally showing me his entire leg structure.
I’m sure he had a purpose but it wasn’t obvious to me.
A second spider was attached to the porch screen a few feet away and didn’t appear to move even a smidge over several hours.
June 13, 2021
I spotted a single Yellow-crowned Night-heron at the far edge of a rookery, high above my head.
Something gave him a start, not dangerous enough to fly off, but he looked concerned.
I was stalking a Daddy Long Legs on my patio when I spotted additional movement on his perch.
The spider had been all around the stem and leaves of this plant that I think is Melissa Balm; the debris to the the right of the Leaf-hopper is a dropped flower.
Whatever signal the Leafhopper was sending was lost on me and the spider. Maybe the signal was for the flower.
A stake in one of my patio flowerpots served as a perch for a dragonfly on a recent sunny day.
It alternated between the obelisk “hand stand” posture and a lower position.
I was able to maneuver to an angle with a snap-dragon in the back ground.
There was a second dragonfly landing a few feet away but this one chased it off before returning to the same perch.
A big leaf pierced its neighbor making a nice pocket for a Tree Frog to settle for a nap.
I rarely go to the swamp in the rain. My camera is water-resistant, but not water-proof, and in South Carolina rain is often accompanied by lightening. I don’t want to ruin my camera and more so don’t want to get electrocuted.
Sometimes you get a surprise. Fortunately there is a covered area of the walkway along this side of the pond.
There are a few Great Egret juveniles that haven’t fledged yet and this one backed into the boughs for a little protection.
This fellow was more curious.
The juveniles above are the two seen in the middle tree in the wider view below. There are three others visible in the further tree, along with an Anhinga.
We have been blessed with a lot of rain this month and green is the predominant color right now.
After having seen a hummingbird at the Powdery Alligator-flag two years ago I always give it a once-over when I pass by a patch.
A thunder storm was closing in on us and the light wasn’t great but it didn’t stop this Carolina Chickadee from gathering some snacks.
The light changed again, giving me hope that the storm was going away.
The extra light was brief and it started raining a short time later.
I hear frogs croaking and splashing into the water ahead of me, but rarely see them around the swamp. This fellow caught my attention with a small croak, and then was perfectly still.
Sitting on a fallen Powdery Alligator-flag leaf, he blended into the wet leaves pretty well and it took me a minute to spot him.
