Having a small pond really close to our house is a great value added feature of where we have lived for (hard to believe) 25 years now. I was not a bird enthusiast when we moved here and the bug didn’t bite until 2008 at Magnolia Cemetery when a pair of Wood Storks captured my fancy and camera. I tell that story in my 2011 book, “The Birds of Magnolia Cemetery: Charleston’s Secret Bird Sanctuary.” One of my Wood Stork pictures graces the cover of that coffee table book published in 2011.
Anyway back to the backyard pond. It was helped expand my bird identification count, as this ecosystem attracts and perpetuates its own food chain.
Just yesterday while I was raking leaves I saw a hawk fly by in the direction of the pond. When I walked over for a better view I could see the bird had landed in a nearby tree.
Setting the rake aside, I went in the house to grab my camera. I was able to get a few photos of a later confirmed Red-shouldered Hawk.
But the real treat was when I walked along the pond to try to get a better angle on the hawk in the tree I stopped in my tracks at this site.
Yep, there it was a second Red-shouldered Hawk, perched on an alligator warning sign. I don’t usually think of Hawks as being cute. But the face on this one, possibly a juvenile, had me thinking cute. I pointed out the neat site to my neighbor who was passing by on a walk. She saw it too just as the bird took off.
Up in the tree, here’s the first Hawk I saw. I was pleased to get a few decent long distance shots.
Even from behind, a thing of beauty is the Hawk.
While I’m “pond”tificating, I finally photographed (below) the cackling Belted Kingfisher I had been hearing and catching glimpses of for several weeks.
A few days before Christmas I took these photos of the colorful Kingfisher looking out over the pond from a tree.
Birding is a fun hobby and one that can be enjoyed sometimes without even leaving your property!
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