The rising sun hadn’t cleared the trees at the far end of Ravenswood Pond, making some long shadows. The closer Black-crowned Night-heron had no interest in turning towards the sun.
An Alligator didn’t seem to mind facing the sun.
Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, Charleston, SC
April 20, 2023
The dark wings of the Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly make great shadows when they land in a patch of sun.
An interesting leaf is a bonus.
Even without the shadow they are pretty neat looking.
Francis Beidler Forest, SC
July 9, 2022
The tide was out and the mud was up to his knees. Extra effort must have been needed to take off.
However, that didn’t stop him from landing in another quagmire.
Willets are shore birds that tend to mind their own business and with their sand coloring it is easy to miss them. As the sun was coming up this one decided to take a stroll away from the water and there was a bit of contrast between him and the hard packed sand. The line shadows behind him were created by a dead tree standing in the ocean surf.
Then he took off, first showing me his patterned underwings…
…then revealing a nice view of his the upper side of his wing, and a cool shadow.
I didn’t capture his shadow in this last image but I did like the driftwood background as the Willet flew away.
Botany Bay Island, SC, August 4, 2019
