I haven’t photographed this Great Blue Heron nest very often even though it is on the same pond as the others I’ve shown with chicks. The light never seems right or the birds’ position aren’t right. This day was a little different.
I cannot resist these beautiful blooms.
Nature at her finest.
When I first saw these flashes of white from the road I thought they were birds. It was a nice treat to find water lilies, even though I couldn’t get very close.
There was a small grouping of lilies closer to the dike that runs along the side of the pond.
A stiff breeze was flapping the lily pads out of the water in an open area where a single Cormorant was fishing.
While many of the Great Egrets and other wading birds are pairing off, making nests and mating some prefer to be off on their own.
4/5/2019
The old rice fields along South Carolina’s coast that are maintained as part of the wildlife management areas are connected by canals and the water flow is controlled by opening or closing a series of “trunks.”
Taken March 28, trees are budding and leafing out all around but there are still a lot of brown dead reeds from last year on the edges of the canals.
This second view is the same canal from a slightly different angle without the trunk.
A planting of red tulips along a fountain edge provided a show and a multitude of focus options.
Yellow Snapdragons on my side of the water added another layer of color.
A higher shutter speed captured the details of the brick wall beyond as well as the water and flowers.
Click on any photo for a larger view.
This Great Egret wasn’t having much luck attracting a mate with his beautiful dancing but that didn’t stop him from working on a nest.
He had a good location in the tree and I suspect did not want to give it up to go searching for building materials. With a mate selected one would stay on the nest site to keep intruders away.
Instead he grabbed pieces from the limbs around him, continuing to display those gorgeous tail feathers.
Taken 3/13/2019
Or perhaps “Saucer Magnolia” depending on where you look. Google quickly overwhelmed me with information in my search for how many varieties there might be. I’ll just say this particular tree has huge blossoms, 8 to 10 inches (20-25 cm) across, and they have a more delicate coloring than those in my post Tulip Magnolias in Bloom.
These blossoms didn’t seem to have the outer fuzzy covering as other tulip magnolias I have seen.
The blossoms emitted a sweet, but not overwhelming, fragrance. Some other varieties I have encountered could almost be said to stink.
Many Azaleas are also in bloom in this area and these made a nice backdrop to another unopened bloom.
Taken March 13, 2019.
A Great Egret pair were proudly showing off their building materials as they worked on making their nest while another Great Egret laid on her nest behind them.
