A flock of Black-crowned Night-Herons have been roosting around the big pond at Charleston’s Magnolia Cemetery.
Every time someone walked underneath them, or sometimes for no apparent reason, they flew off.
A few minutes later they would fly back in ones and twos, putting on quite a show.
I’ve seen a few Black-crowned Night-Herons in this location before, but on Sunday estimated at least 30 to 40 birds. There may have been more that just staying tucked into the trees.
A Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron biding his time until the tide receded so he could more easily hunt.
A juvenile Bluebird landed between the pickets on an old metal fence at Magnolia Cemetery.
A wider view showing off the corner element of the fence.
Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, SC
August 7, 2020
Some of this year’s juvenile Little Blue Herons are still hanging around the swamp, now on their own. The parents have moved on, no longer providing meals.
I was not expecting him to fly and he almost flew out of my frame. I liked the fall-ish background so kept the image even without much leading space in front of the bird.
He didn’t go very far and when I rounded a corner on the trail he was in front of me again.
A juvenile Little Blue Heron struck a pose in a dead tree snag just off the pond.
He’s mottled, rather like the sky behind him. Little Blues turn from solid white to blue gradually between one and two years old.
August 4, 2020
Surely they didn’t mean us!
A pair of juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Herons that flushed out of a tree when I passed by landed on a dock that sits on the Ashley River.
The river is tidal and the tide was in so there would be no river bank fishing for this duo for several hours.
Gallinules announce their presence vocally so I knew there were some nearby when I walked the dike around the old rice field pond at Magnolia a couple weeks ago.
I finally spotted some…one adult, two older juveniles and a few chicks. There are at least three chicks under the larger birds, and two more to the left in the reeds.
Interestingly the young chicks have the orange beak of a mature adult, but as they get older they turn all grey. Of course with six or more birds they are never all looking the same way at once.
The banks of the dike are overgrown most of the way around limiting view into the water.
August 4, 2020
The last few groups of this year’s juvenile Little Blue Heron are learning to fly.
It was a dull day and the adult Little Blue doesn’t show up that well, but it was fun to watch.
The little fellow wasn’t that interested. Maybe he knows this is the end of “food delivery by mama”.
After unsuccessfully trying to lure the youngster upward, finally the adult tried pushing.
Junior flew out onto a nearby branch. Now what do I do?
A juvenile from another nest shows how it is done.
This juvenile Snowy Egret had ventured away from his nest, learning how to get his own meals.
He had the stretch moves down, showing off his feet which aren’t quite the bright yellow of an adult.
But he was not successful while I was watching him. He got startled and flew back towards his nest.
I saw movement but it took my eyes a few minutes to spot this little songbird staring back at me.
The Merlin Bird ID app tells me this is a Common Yellowthroat, to my eye looking a whole lot like many other young or female warblers.
He was on the hunt, jumping from branch to branch, checking behind these waxy leaves for bugs or worms.
I got a quick full body peek while he contemplated his next move, which was to zoom into the heights of this tree.
