I usually see Phoebes down close to the water or ground scouting for insects but this one decided a tree top was a better spot for a few minutes.
The Phoebe was perched in one of these trees that line a path on a dike between two ponds.
South Carolina’s Tom Yawkey Wildlife Center is composed of 31 square miles on two barrier islands and include some open fields where these wildflowers were blooming earlier this month.
The field was surrounded by a wet ditch so I didn’t get real close, but a few plants were growing on edge of the dirt roadway.
It was very breezy that day and only a few tenacious insects were flying around. This was good for keeping mosquitoes away but not so good for photographing bouncing blossoms.
An unknown caterpillar was munching his way to the top of this plant.
Swamp sunflowers attract all kinds of insects including this Gulf Fritillary and a tiny photobombing one at the butterfly’s feet.
Yesterday was the first time I’ve seen more than two or three Wood Ducks together since last spring’s ducklings matured earlier in the summer.
Several were lined up on an Alligator ramp as I approached and a few small groups were paddling around in the pond. They tend to be skittish and their general direction was away from me, but a couple more flew onto the ramp.
I heard a Hawk call in the distance and these two groups and about twenty more that I didn’t even know were there in the tree line along my path flew off in a frenzy. Sadly, no photos of that!
It’s fall and the Gulf Fritillaries are flitting around in the beach dunes.
This one was mostly showing off his underside, which is intricately patterned and very different than the upper side.
September 24, 2019, Kiawah Beach Dunes
Lantana bloom all summer long but are really noticeable in the fall when a lot of the annuals in flower beds have passed their prime.
In the first two images the bee’s eye has rather a weird glow, perhaps part reflection from the flowers.
The bee was fully investigating the flowers.
He was quite methodical, going back and forth, completely covering the flower head and giving me a variety of body angles.
This was not a great photography morning. I saw a lot of birds, but too far for good shots. The air was hazy and sunlight harsh. The Alligators doing their thing in this pond caught my eye. Fish were jumping and several Alligators floated in between. The grasses along the bank are starting to look like fall.
Small and chunky, the Pied-billed Grebe always looks like a baby-faced juvenile to me.
Last week several of them were swimming in the rice field canal. Saltbrush seeds from shrubs that lined the bank were drifting over the water.
The lowering late afternoon light and growth on the opposite bank changed the look of the water as I proceeded down the canal.
Further along the Saltbrush seeds looked like sparkly feathers floating on the water. Saltbrush, Baccharis halimifolia, is a woody shrub or small tree in the Asteraceae family, and is also known as Groundsel.
If they follow last year’s pattern this tree will soon be occupied by nesting Great Blue Heron and Great Egret couples. Until then White Ibis have taken over the tree for sunning.
Doing the one-legged doze the Ibis stood right here for a couple of hours at least.
There is not a bit of material left from last year’s nests. Any Great Blues or Great Egrets that stake this out to start a family will be starting nest building from zero.
Taken as fall is coming to an end, 12/18/2018.
These wooden posts are leftovers from an old dock or walkway at the edge of a rice field pond and the wading birds often perch on them.
The Great Egret was standing still so a slower shutter speed allowed me to capture some images even though the sun had dipped below the tree line and there wasn’t much light in this end of the pond.
Looking in the opposite direction an Alligator was swimming towards a spot to settle for the night.
