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. 

ACE Basin- No Bears but Many Birds and Gators at Bear Island

 

It was good to get out of the house Sunday and make the lengthy drive south to the ACE Basin. The vast protected preserve is worth the drive time because it’s always a great commune with nature. And it’s so quiet out there except for the calls of birds and the grunts of alligators. And we did see lots of both. 

To follow are my photographs that show some of what can be seen at the precious preserve called the Bear Island Wildlife Management Area.

This long road dissects the 12,000-acre undeveloped property. It extends from the entrance straight to the outer limits of Bear Island. 

ACE Basin Excursion- “At Least (Bittern) A Lifer” Bird For Me

What better way to celebrate the end of another school year- and what a strange one it has been thanks to the coronavirus pandemic- then to head south to one of my favorite Lowcountry nature preserves.

It’s a long drive (59.5 miles from my house to this entrance sign, taking about one hour 10 minutes) to the Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, but well worth it to experience a vast protected preserve interesting in its layout and teeming with wildlife, especially alligators (avoid these) and multitudes of bird species.

The trip was a pleasant one as I drove with my window and sunroof wide open on a very mild mid-May day.

The time flew by as I listened to a favorite podcast (“Civil War Talk Radio”) that I hadn’t heard in a few months since school was closed as COVID-19 began to hit and shut down America.

It was only 60 degrees when I arrived at 9:30 a.m. at Bear Island (official location is TiTi Road, Green Pond, S.C.).