Back on the Trail Deep in the ACE Basin

 

Two days before Thanksgiving worked out well for a visit to the ACE Basin, the Lowcountry treasure of vast wilderness and wildlife. 

With the Donnelley and Bear Island state nature preserves closed for seasonal hunting I made the 50-mile drive to the Ernest F. Hollings National Wildlife Refuge, which prohibits hunting.

This refuge near Hollywood and Meggett was established in 1990. It consists of 11,815 acres. The ACE in ACE Basin stands for three rivers- the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto that run and drain through a protected system of 350,000 acres representing one of the largest undeveloped wetland ecosystems remaining on America’s East Coast. Ernest Hollings (1922-2019) of Charleston was a longtime and colorful political figure as a South Carolina governor and U.S. senator. 

Among the features is the Grove Plantation house that was built in 1828 by George Washington Morris (1799-1834), grandson of Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The late Federal-style structure is one of the few antebellum mansions in the region to survive the Civil War. Today it serves as offices for U.S. Fish and Wildlife staffers who maintain the vast property. 

The front of the house faces toward the Edisto River. Back then the river was a key mode of transportation and transport so when friends, family, or business associates arrived by boat they would see the front of the home. 

Nature Being Nature Sequence

 I was not expecting to see what I saw recently when I walked in my backyard to photograph a Great Blue Heron that I spotted through a window. Here is the sequence I captured (Hint: poor bullfrog). 

Spring Bird Roundup

I have been more active in recent weeks with my bird photography in my backyard area,  nearby parks and other places. Here are some recent favorites. 

Wood Duck family

I have seen this flight of Wood Ducks on the big pond at the former Kings Grant golf course. 

In sharing some of these photos on social media I learned that the strikingly colorful male of this species doesn’t stick around to help mama raise the youngsters. 

Other research revealed something else I did not know- that Carolina Duck is another name for this duck. 

Little Blue and Great Blue Herons in Flight

 I am fortunate to live by a golf course pond that is a wonderful ecosystem. It attracts a variety of wading birds (Egrets and Herons especially), turtles, frogs, alligators, and the occasional snake. And there are some fish in there too and residents and guests occasionally fish the pond. Over the years, though not lately because the pond is no longer stocked with bass, I have caught and released a number of bass, crappie and sunfish. 

The other day I photographed a Little Blue Heron that I have seen at the pond for a while. After popping off a few shots as I got closer and closer I set the camera to burst mode to see if I could capture a decent in-flight shot or two. Take note of the dragonfly in a couple of pond-side shots. 

Back To My Birding Roots: Magnolia Cemetery!

Selfie- note the sweaty arm reflection- it was a hot day!

With Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irma impacting South Carolina today (Sept. 11), I am hunkered down at home and hoping for the best!

With no school, I'm trying to be productive by getting to a few blog posts I've been wanting to write.

Last month on a Sunday, Alesia and I went to Magnolia Cemetery to walk around and see what birds we can photograph.

Mississippi Kite and Heron In My Hood!

It's pretty neat (and convenient!) as a birder and nature photographer to have a regular "supply" of birds- large and small- frequent my neighborhood in North Charleston, S.C. We have lots of trees and several ponds so that's a plus, and it's generally pretty quite around here.

Just the other day, I first heard, then spotted, then went inside and grabbed my camera and monopod to try to photograph this bird, perching high atop a pine tree in a neighbor's backyard.

I figured it was a hawk, but have now learned, through a trusted social media site, that it is a juvenile Mississippi Kite.

Whatbird.com has a wonderful forum for bird identification.

The forum is free to join and use. You just have to sign up (username, password, etc.) and then you can post photos of birds you need help identifying, or help those in such need with your expertise.

This post today took much longer than normal for positive IDs to come in, but it was certainly worth the wait!

A few days after taking the above images, I had another opportunity to photograph a young Mississippi kite.

This one may be the same bird I photographed earlier. The location was different, but also a pine tree in my neighborhood.

I have no question as to this type of big bird.

This, of course, is the magnificent Great Blue Heron, which stood for a long time near the pond that is close to my backyard.

Great Blue was ready for a closeup.  This is a great bird to photograph because it will often be statue-still for great lengths of time.

I continue to see and hear Kites in my neighborhood, so will be alert to more photo ops with this magnificent creature!

Great Blue Heron

Last but not least in my run of herons on this blog comes the Great Blue Heron, certainly the biggest and best known of this extended coastal breed. Over the past few years I've photographed the abundant Great Blue in a number of different places.  But perhaps my best shots, or at least the most close up I've been to this great bird was last November on Hilton Head Island where we gathered with family for Thanksgiving. 

A canal ran between a section of condominiums where some of our family members stayed on Hilton Head. This Heron seemed to be somewhat used to all the people being around and let me get pretty close.

Whether standing on one leg or two, the Great Blue is close to five feet tall.

Its wingspan can reach six and a half feet.

The color palette is varied.  You've got rusty-gray (neck), red-brown (thighs), black (plumes running from just above the eye to the back of the head), gray (lower legs), yellowish (eyes and bill), and white (face).

The colors add up to one elegantly beautiful bird that is much beloved, the Great Blue's image used in many company logos and advertising here in coastal South Carolina.

The class of the classy Heron family?  A tough call but I'd have to say yes.

Majestic but not aloof, based on my observations, the Great Blue Heron can be seen mixing with other big birds such as this Anhinga...

...and these Double-crested Cormorants.

The Great Blue Heron will always stand out in a crowd for its sheer size--and beauty.