Sanderlings on Sands of Edisto Beach

It’s easy to take the common beach birds for granted. They are all gulls and kind of look the same, one may think.

But a closer look reveals a wide variety of species and some interesting distinctions. A few weeks ago here at Edisto Island Beach I photographed some Willets, another type of Sandpiper (collective name "fling").

Yesterday it was these Sanderlings (collectively called a "grain").  As big a birder that I think I am I needed help both weekends to correctly identify these shore (no longer bore) birds.

At Edisto Beach, there’s not as much going on as say Sullivan’s Island where I’ve always enjoyed watching the big cargo ship going in and out of Charleston’s harbor.

Like Sullivan’s and our other area beaches, Edisto has its squadrons of Brown Pelicans flying their sorties. But now I’ve become more curious about the smaller birds seen feeding and frolicking along the shoreline.

Sunset Photo in a Magazine!

 I was excited when yesterday’s Post and Courier was delivered to see that it included a new issue of My Charleston, a magazine the paper produces annually.

My photos have appeared in it in past years. These are pictures I submitted for the P&C’s weekly themed photography contests.

So I was thrilled to see that this year one of my photos was used.

I took this image (above) several months ago with my iPhone coming out of Gold’s Gym on Ashley Phosphate Road where I work out.

In My Charleston my shot appears with seven others in a two page “Sunsets” spread.

Here’s the cover of the magazine touted as “The Post and Courier’s Guide To Life In The Lowcountry.”

It is that and more, a fine publication that I am honored to be part of!

Edisto So Chill on a Hot Summer Sunday

This deep into summer the beach at Edisto Island was not as crowded as previous weekends. The rather remote locale has been a pleasant getaway during this unprecedented year of the pandemic.

It’s a bit of a drive from our Charleston-area home but worth it with the free, easy and close to the beach parking. And again on this day, the weather was perfect despite a forecast of possible rain in the area.

(left) Fishers (or anglers) in the foreground, a child walks in the middle of an ocean groin and check out the squadron of Brown Pelicans coming in swift and low in the background.

Beach scenes. The clouds were impressive on this day. These photos are slightly enhanced with high dynamic range (HDR) processing tools.

The Willet is a common sight on local beaches. It’s a pretty little shore bird with a striking black-tipped bill.

 Laughing Gulls are also beach regulars. They look for handouts for humans. During mating season the bill is red. A group of Laughing Gulls can be called a "gullery" or "screech."

Look closely at the photo below. There’s a smidge of red at the tip of the bill.  Bird source material says these may be non-breeding Laughing Gulls.

ACE Basin Birthday Treat!

On Tuesday, August 11 I headed down to the ACE Basin for a getaway on a special day for me, a certain landmark birthday.

A fine dinner that night with Alesia at Hall’s Chophouse and a surprise online get together with my kids and siblings would come later in the day. But by 10:30 a.m. or so I was at the Donnelley Wildlife Management Area located south of Charleston some 65 miles from my house in a place called Green Pond, S.C.

It was a very warm day but it felt good to be again roaming the vast and remote nature preserve once the domain of plantations (and slaves toiling in the rice fields).

To follow are my photographs from this summer outing.

First is featured some of the birds I captured in flight. Seeing a number of the distinctive Swallow-tailed Kites was a highlight. A veritable kettle of kits there was!  That is one of the collective names for Kites. "String" could be a good one too, right?


They and their close relative Mississippi Kite were spotted circling above a field near the lodge structure at Donnelley.

Botany Bay’s Boneyard Beach

Edisto Island Beach has been our sandy sun spot this summer but Saturday we returned to an old friend not far from Edisto. But before I take you there, I want to mention how on our way we stopped for lunch at a wonderful restaurant along the way. Roxbury Mercantile is on Highway 174 in the community of Meggett, S.C. I had a pork barbecue sandwich that was delicious. Do want to go there again! 

Botany Bay (official name: Botany Bay Plantation Heritage Preserve/Wildlife Management Area) has a unique look, nothing like the well manicured Edisto Beach community. Botany Bay is remote and rugged. It has what’s called a boneyard beach for the dozens of trees over the years that have fallen due to erosion, hurricanes and other storms. 

Edisto Cloud Show!

Edisto Island has become our go-to beach this summer. The drive is longer than Sullivan’s and Folly but we know we can bring our chairs. Sullivan’s Island still asks visitors to keep moving. We’ve heard if you bring a towel you can stay for a while. We need our beach chairs.

Edisto on Sunday was very nice. The sun was shining, it wasn’t too hot, the water was comfortable and the waves were active for some body surfing. But the clouds, to me, were the highlight. They were poppin’ in all directions. With the Snapseed application on my iPad, I need some processing to make the clouds pop even more.

I also shared these on the Facebook site South Carolina Rambles and have received many likes and favorable comments.

Boeing, Boeing, Gone...Almost

Last Saturday when driving near the big Boeing 787 Dreamliner plant (campus if you prefer) I spotted this Vietnam Airlines passenger plane in front of the huge paint building. Looks like it was just painted and is a step closer to being delivered.

The plane looks spiffy until I noticed the yellow star surrounded by red on the tail fin. That’s the flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam is still Communist and I can’t help but think of the long, bloody, and divisive Vietnam War I grew up with in the 1960s and ‘70s. My U.S. Army officer father went to Vietnam during the war and fortunately came home safely to us. 

Yesterday a different Dreamliner was outside the Boeing paint building. This one is going to Singapore Airlines. A local newspaper article said how due to the coronavirus pandemic Boeing has not been able to deliver completed 787s as quickly as in the past. The article said how the plant is having to find new places to store the big jets. Maybe that’s why I’ve been seeing some at this location in recent weeks. I’ll post more pictures of different airlines if I continue seeing them here. 

Last week I spotted the paint building open, one of the big bay doors anyway. I have always been curious about what it looks like inside the huge structure. This view didn’t reveal too much. 

This is a Dutch KLM 787 Boeing Dreamliner. 

Mail Male Bluebird

Our recently repaired, repainted and renumbered mailbox looked even better yesterday when this beautiful Eastern Bluebird perched on it for a few minutes.

I wasn’t sure the male on the mailbox would still be there as I quickly went inside my house to grab my camera.

Fortunately, he was still there and I was able to snap a few pictures.

The white spot (it’s something I’d rather not see) on my box is evidence that birds, maybe this one, has hung out here before.

The beauty of these birds far outweighs a little mess here and there. To me anyway.

Male and female Bluebirds and other types are all welcome on my mailbox. Just don’t poop on the door opener please! 

Heavenly Hilton Head

It was a great getaway for several days this month to head down the coast to Hilton Head Island. It was our 35th wedding anniversary so pandemic or not we planned a special trip. A Caribbean island would have been nice but with so many travel concerns, Hilton Head made sense being in state and not too far away plus it is a world-class resort with beautiful beaches and excellent restaurants.

Monday, July 13- the dawn of a new day. Special one for us as it was our 35th wedding anniversary. The next ones I took Tuesday morning.

Down They Go...

We live in tumultuous times- possibly up there among the most difficult periods this nation has ever faced. Since early 2020 the coronavirus pandemic has killed hundreds of thousands of people around the world, inlcuding more than 132,000 in the U.S.  No end is in sight to this death toll.

Then on May 25 in Minneapolis George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, is killed on the street by a police officer who relentlessly kneeled on his neck for eight minutes, despite Floyd repeatedly saying he could not breathe. Floyd died at the scene.

The resulting protests and riots, many violent with bloodshed, fires and looting, have rocked and disrupted America. Statues of historic Americans linked with slavery and racism (accurately or not in some cases) have been vandalized, toppled, burned and destroyed.

In Charleston the tall statue in Marion Square of John C. Calhoun was recently removed by order of the mayor and City Council.

He may have been South Carolina’s most prominent political figure ever as a 19th century U.S. senator and Vice President. But his pro-slavery stance and the policies he championed to uphold and try to expand slavery have long been controversial and upsetting to Blacks.

I took this photo with my iPhone in January 2018 while sitting in the Starbucks at the Francis Marion Hotel. What I liked about it was how it is “so Charleston” with its images reflecting religion (the “Holy City” with so many church steeples), the city’s rich history represented by the Calhoun monument, and a palmetto tree, which is a state symbol and on the South Carolina flag.