I answered the door a few days ago to find our excited neighbor and his two pre-teen boys: “Can you tell us what kind of bird that is?”
Why, yes, I can!
Pretty neat to see a Swallow-tailed Kite swooping over our neighborhood.
They had been watching the bird off and on all day as it was feeding on dragonflies.
I hardly knew which way to look when this flock of Black Skimmers was actively feeding.
The sun was just up, but behind a cloud bank so the light was dim.
This entire pond is normally under water, but was drained for a couple of weeks to help control vegetation.
This has a bonus effect for feeding birds as any fish are concentrated in a smaller pool of water.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
May 9, 2022
There is not much I can say about these, except that I am fascinated by the Black Skimmers, so here are a few more images of them doing their thing.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
May 15, 2022
Very small catch, hence lots of trips to sustain themselves.
They swallow as they go, make a u-turn and come around again.
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
May 9, 2022
A little different view of a Great Blue Heron coming in for a landing.
It was early in the morning, with not a lot of light but I do like the silhouette feel of these.
A few grackles and another GBH rounded out the bird scene. I see I added some chromatic aberration when I processed these if you zoom in–so don’t do that 🙃.
Orlando Wetlands, FL
April 12, 2022
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
May 9, 2022
Another selection of Black Skimmers where the light was poor but the action was interesting as the birds wove around Alligators.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
May 15, 2022
The light was poor but the Black Skimmer action was outstanding.
The water had been allowed to drain from this pond for a few weeks as part of the vegetation overgrowth control efforts.
This left a very narrow strip of water where the fish were concentrated.
Some shore birds were feeding on the water’s edge and Black Skimmers were busy scooping up breakfast.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
May 15, 2022
Usually I crop bird-in-flight images rectangularly to emphasize the flight path, but this first image worked better in a 1X1 format because he was closer to the right edge of the frame.
So I picked out some others that also worked square to go with it.
The Skimmers are fascinating to watch, first flying so close together, then separating on some unseen clue.
This next one is not the perfect mirror image capture that I would have preferred. But I like it for the shadow in addition to the reflection, the second Skimmer’s wing hinting of more action, and the still visible furrow in the water where the first Skimmer had just lifted.
And I couldn’t resist another image of the Black Skimmer passing the Roseate Spoonbills.
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
May 9, 2022
This scene greeted me when I arrived at Donnelley Wildlife Management Area last week.
It was hard to know where to look first.
The Roseate Spoonbills raising their beaks like this is often a precursor to flight, like a secret signal.
Sure enough, the crowd thinned.
These few stayed a bit longer, performing various stretches then the one on the left gave the signal.
