Two Great Blue Heron chicks are growing up fast in the skinny tree nest.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
April 10, 2026
Great Blue Heron Chicks
Tag Archives: Juvenile Bird
Black-bellied Whistling Duck Family
When we topped the hill heading towards the dike these ducks looked like a fallen branch or maybe a sunbathing Alligator like we’ve seen before.
One of the adults was watchful in the direction they were sort of heading.
I suspect the youngsters cannot yet fly. As we approached they finally moved off the road and down a small bank towards water. One of the adults did a fly-hop part way, but the juveniles didn’t even try.
They jumped into the pond and swam to a hummock where they huddled up for safety. There are several Eagles in the area that I expect this crew has seen up close.
Donnelley Wildlife Management Area, SC
November 23, 2025
Juvenile Little Blue Heron in Tree Art
A dead fallen limb on the edge of a pond made a lovely perch for this juvenile Little Blue Heron.
Ravenswood Pond
Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston, SC
August 27, 2025
Wood Stork Chick Triplets
Three Wood Stork chicks were standing around with adult supervision–sort of.
The chicks were in constant motion. The adult didn’t seem to move even a smidge.
A little bit closer view–you can see the feathers are developing in size and starting to get darker feathers along the wing edge.
The Great Egret chick in the background perked up, perhaps a parent was on its way with food.
Cypress Wetlands, Port Royal, SC
May 23, 2025
Tricolored Heron Nests
Tricolored Herons were in various stages of nesting around Cypress Wetlands in May.
This adult stood up to tend her eggs and then settled back down.
A few feet away another nest had three chicks, several weeks old I’d guess as they were beyond the “naked” look.
They were doing some grooming, pushing each other around–what else is their to do between feedings?
Cypress Wetlands, Port Royal, SC
May 23, 2025
Tricolored Heron, Juveniles
We spotted two Tricolored Herons along one of the canals at Bear Island WMA last week. They appear to be juveniles, not quite sure of themselves.
The one in the image above and this next one both made movements like they were about to fly, but there they stood.
On our return twenty minutes later one had flown to a water control trunk where he had a good view of the water below.
He had his eye on me as I passed by.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC
July 16, 2025
Brown Pelican Chick Cruise 2025, 2
Here are some more images from our boat trip to Bird Key – Stono. Following up on my previous post, we didn’t see any chicks, but did see some amazing activity, including this Brown Pelican poised for a dive.
Landing on the island is not allowed during nesting season. In addition to the Brown Pelicans, numerous shore birds including Laughing Gulls and Oyster Catchers nest here.
Dogs are never welcome.
The shape of the island is constantly changing, with Pelicans hanging around on all sides, resting or grooming.
This expanse of sand that faces the open ocean has recently expanded but is extremely vulnerable to storm surge as well as the normal accreting and depletion that all ocean facing beaches experience.
June 14, 2025
Bird Key – Stono, a barrier island that sits in the mouth of South Carolina’s Stono River, between Kiawah and Folly Islands.
All photos taken from a boat.
Brown Pelican Chick Cruise 2025
Ted and I had the opportunity in June to take a guided boat adventure to see juvenile Pelicans. This year we were back at Bird Key – Stono Seabird Sanctuary which failed as a breeding colony last year due to predator activity.
A number of Brown Pelicans were sitting on nests at the top of a dune and unfortunately chicks were not visible, and may not have hatched yet.
We did get some nice in-flight sightings on the boat trip out.
And some Pelicans that weren’t on nest duty were standing around on the beach.
This beauty glided by us as we were making the return trip to land.
June 14, 2025
Bird Key – Stono, a barrier island that sits in the mouth of South Carolina’s Stono River, between Kiawah and Folly Islands.
All photos taken from a boat.
Barred Owl, Camouflaged
I was walking the path along the Ashley River at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens and there he was, on broken limb directly over the path.
Based on the fuzzy look around his head this is likely one of this year’s owlets.
I passed underneath him and got a nice view looking back as he worked on some personal grooming.
A wider view shows how easy it would have been to miss him amid the dangling Spanish Moss and how closely his color and pattern match the tree limb.
Magnolia Plantation & Gardens, Charleston, SC
July 11, 2025
Wood Stork Chicks
Cypress Wetlands is hosting lots of Wood Stork nests this season and there are good views into a few of them.
The chicks were in constant motion, figuring out how to manipulate their gangly bodies.
Another visible nest had three chicks, although I only got photos of two at a time. The parents were intent on their own grooming.
Cypress Wetlands, Port Royal, SC
May 7, 2025