I usually end up discarding any photographs I take of White Ibis: they are dirty with gobs of mud hanging off them, they are surrounded by mud without so much as a blade of grass to add to the composition, they are dirty…you get the picture.
A group of 5 or 6 surprised me in a beautiful pine tree hanging over the trail, looking pretty clean.
They flew up there when one of the local Red-shouldered Hawks was cruising the area.
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Part of the Great Blue Heron mating ritual is building the nest. The male brings sticks to the nest and they both arrange and re-arrange. Here he has just returned with a stick that was well received. I have seen sticks get rejected and the male take it to a different female.
I caught this pair from a bad light angle as he flew back and forth to a nearby tree line for branches. I moved into a better position and he flew off again.
I waited from this better spot, watching her work on the nest, but he didn’t return in the twenty minutes I stood there.
Heron Rookery, Magnolia Plantation Audubon Swamp, 2/1/2017.
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I was sitting on a bench at the edge of the swamp watching a Great Blue Heron when this pair of Blue-winged Teals swam by.
The pair mostly stayed together, only rarely separating for a solo photograph.
The Great Blue Heron can easily see over the vegetation, watching for lunch as more Teals swam behind him.
The Teal pair quickly did a U-turn when the open water ended near where the Heron stood and went back where they came from.
Magnolia Plantation Audubon Swamp, Charleston, SC.
On Sunday I posted photos of turtles posing on an Alligator ramp and logs to sun themselves out of the water. Yesterday in the same spot an Alligator was using a turtle as a head rest and more turtles were clambering to join the group.
Further along in a different pond a similar activity was taking place with a much larger Alligator, only this time the turtles were on top.
Do they have no suspicion that they might be lunch?
We returned by this spot about an hour and a half later to find the Alligator had changed position but at least one free-loader was still in place.
The nature guide at Magnolia Garden identifies these turtles as Yellow-bellied Sliders.
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This Great Blue Heron was speaking to its mate on a recent foggy morning at the rookery.
No one came so he/she took a trip around the pond, returning to repeat the ritual. I had my shutter speed set too low to get any flight shots.
The Great Blue Heron’s neck feathers were on full display to help with mate attraction.
Most of the pairs and singles were quiet by their nests for the hour we were there, seen below. There were a few Anhinga in the tree, too.
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Magnolia Plantation Heron Rookery, January 16, 2017.
Singly or in groups, the turtles around the swamp like to climb onto about anything that protrudes out of the water on nice days.
This one came up through the duckweed leaving a shiny green coat.
They seem oblivious to the activity going on in the water around them, be it another turtle or an alligator.
This alligator platform was fair game for the turtles while it was in the shade. As the sun comes around they will likely get pushed off.
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Audubon Swamp, January 2017.
The flying is easy in the open as the male Great Blue Herons bring sticks to their mates.
Until they get close in.
Maneuvering around the trees that support their nests is a bit tricky. Sometimes they circle around several times before attempting a landing.
The mate keeps a watchful eye.
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Magnolia Plantation Audubon Swamp, 01/11/2017.
This Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Red-shouldered Hawk went about their business at opposite ends of a new swamp area being created at Magnolia’s Audubon Swamp.
The trees are bare and the birds exposed, part of the routine for both.
When the trees bud out we’ll miss a lot of these photo opportunities and have to turn our attention elsewhere.
Not classic Heron poses, and leaning toward the comical, this Great Blue kept me entertained for quite awhile on a recent afternoon. These shots reminded me of some people I know that are reluctant to have their picture taken.
First we take care of the itch.
Then a few vocal protests.
What’s a photo shoot without a photo bomb?
Finally, settled for the pose, neck tucked back down looking like a scarf in the breeze, a very elegant result.
Interesting that the black patches are much more pronounced in the Great Blue Herons around Magnolia Plantation the last few weeks.
These Wood Ducks swam away from shore, circling around each other in no great hurry, but all the while getting further from me.
And always an eye towards shore.
The duck weed was making interesting patterns in the barely moving water at the edge of the former rice fields.
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