Our vacations have become a kind of ritual in the past few years. We seek out interesting places to visit, stake out the best restaurants, buy new walking shoes, visit a few museums, take in a historic site or two and then we go hunting for birds and gardens!
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| Great Blue Heron |
Take our recent jaunt to the Carolinas. We went for a wedding and stayed for the sights. A quick drive to Charleston yielded several days of interesting sights. First we satisfied the Admiral's interest in things historical by touring Fort Sumter and taking a walking tour of the historic city. The tour, which focused a great deal on the Revolutionary War, included a refreshing glass of lemonade in the guide's tiny courtyard right in the center of the old historic district.
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| Great White Heron |
I love being outdoors and observing the flora and fauna when I visit places that are different in climate and terrain.
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| Anhinga drying its wings |
We look for state and federal parks, gardens and preserves. On this recent trip, we visited the Magnolia Gardens, an old plantation, where the Audubon Society maintains a Swamp Garden and bird sanctuary.
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| White Ibis |
I enjoyed the flower gardens but I LOVED the Swamp Garden.
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| Black Crowned Night Heron |
The birds were plentiful and very willing to be observed and photographed. We saw several species of birds that were new to us. Thankfully, there were no mosquitoes in evidence the day we visited and I wandered around for several hours enjoying the birds.
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| Anhinga |
The Anhinga, a new bird for us, was stunningly beautiful and my photos do not do it justice.
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| Common Gallinule |
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| Anole |
This little fellow, called an anole, whom I caught creeping along on a fence, had a peculiar habit of blowing up his neck area, at which time it would turn bright orange, but only for a second. Needless to say, he did not cooperate for the photo-op!
I have identified all of these birds using my old 'birds of North America' book so if any are identified incorrectly, I would love to know their proper names!
Thought for the Day : Wherever I go, there are birds to see and hear and photograph (if I am lucky)
Śliczne ptaki, a zdjęcie trzeciego jest wspaniałe. Zielony anole jest uroczy. Pozdrawiam.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful birds, and the third picture is great. Green anole is charming. Yours.
Fantastic photography, wonderful story.
ReplyDeleteWonderful photographs, beautiful story.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful creatures. Thanks so much for sharing.
ReplyDeleteA fellow bird lover!! How delightful :-) All those birds are here in my part of Florida and I love all of them! You really did an amazing job on that photo of the Great White Heron, love that plumage. Here I call it a Great Egret, but I think either is correct. We have flocks of White Ibis running around our neighborhood poking the lawn for food--if there's brown on them then they're juveniles :-)
ReplyDeleteI am going to send your blog is another bird lover friend I have named Jean.
ReplyDeleteYour photography is just exquisite! In the second picture he looks like he has a long white robe on! sandie
Hi! Sandie sent me the link to your blog and I am glad she did. What a great bird photos!
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog via Ignatian Spirituality. What great photos - thank you for sharing them!
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