I love watching Black Skimmers doing what their name implies. Their flying skills are extraordinary, including not needing to watch where they are going when they plunge their heads into the water.
Very agile, a slight tip of the wings is all they need to change direction or speed.
I didn’t see a fish, but sometimes they pull up just a bit to swallow something they’ve caught before continuing to skim the water.
Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, SC, July 15, 2018.
We are seeing more flocks of honking Canada Geese in the sky, a sure sign that fall migrations aren’t far off. These four were part of a flock of about twenty that appeared to be trying to get into formation. They were not successful and ultimately circled noisily back and landed where they started.
Great Blue Heron waits
Black Skimmer glides by slowly
Intersection now
A flock of American White Pelicans was standing in a line as the sun came up over this shallow pond. The water was not deep enough for them to dive for fish so I was expecting them to take off any minute to look for breakfast.
I positioned myself to hopefully catch them taking off. Instead, they quietly preened as a few Roseate Spoonbills and Wood Storks did the same.
They moved very little in the 90 minutes I was at this pond. Unfortunately they didn’t like it so much that they had repeated this routine when I returned a few days later.
A row of wading birds was lined up along the shore of this shallow pond. Wood Storks, Roseate Spoonbills, Laughing Gulls and a lone Tricolored Heron went about their morning rituals with little fuss.
A mother Wood Duck usually stays with her ducklings until they are grown to near adult size, the “teen age” stage. The males are sometimes around but don’t seem to supervise the young the way I’ve seen the females herd their charges around.
No adult was in sight for these three ducklings and I suspect the mother became lunch for a predator. The survival rate for the ducklings is low and the adults can fall victim to alligators, hawks, or eagles. These three were sticking together, swimming around the pond to various perches. As plant eaters these ducklings don’t rely on the parent bringing food, they just eat what is around them.
This board they are settled on is an Alligator ramp that has been slowly sinking into the pond over the last year.
The surface of the pond is covered with a mixture of green Duck Weed and some variation of Mosquito Fern, the red plant. Zoom in on the closer image of the dragonfly perched on the surface to see the plants in more detail.
Alligators follow their instincts when they hear a splash in the water…lets go check it out.
An Anhinga had jumped into the pond and was swimming with his head up. First one then two Alligators were in hot pursuit.
I was too far away to really see what was happening. In fact I probably shouldn’t have bothered with these images with the glare on the water, but it was like watching a train wreck. I’m not sure if this churning of the water was the two Alligators having a spat or if the bird had ducked under and the gators lunged.
The Alligators backed away a bit then the Anhinga popped up between them then leisurely swam along as if he were alone. A minute or two later they all lost interest and went their separate ways.
Click on images for larger view.
The oldest Wood Duck chicks on the pond right now are almost indistinguishable from their mothers.
This old alligator platform gets smaller every week, either sinking or rotting into the pond. This small family squeezes together on it to groom and soak up the afternoon sun.
From the end of the pond you get a view of the platform with the sun glaring off the duckweed. In silhouette you can see mother duck standing a little taller and with more head feathers than her four youngsters. She had turned just a bit to see which way I was headed.
A few Canada Geese were making their presence known with some squawking and flapping. This one skidding across the pond was taking issue with something. Several pairs had young in the area and others, along with some ducks, were just hanging around seemingly minding their own business. But who knows how a goose feels about that?
A Canada Goose family was wandering through the edge of the cypress swamp, with the goslings foraging for food under the watchful eyes of their parents.
It was a cloudy morning and there was a full canopy above us so the images had a very high ISO. I reduced the noise and clarity which gave the youngsters a soft look that I found appealing.
They stayed surprisingly close to the boardwalk even as we approached, but before long the adults steered their charges back into the water.
Click on any image for a larger view.
