On the Move?

I guess you all noticed that I changed my publish days to Friday Night instead of Sunday Morning,,,,mainly because email subscribers don't get their email notice till Sunday night meaning they read on Monday morning, so I think Monday morning is not the right time for my blog...a blog about my simple uneventful life is not Monday morning material.  Busy people are up and about on Monday...my writing is more for slow down weekend reading.  So I will see how it goes as I work on the post a little each day.  

Saturday I jumped out of bed wide awake...made my coffee the dogs eventually came in for their breakfast, then I fired up my laptop and saw a rare bird alert...so I decided why not...I'm not even thinking I will actually see the bird but it's a beautiful day...so I packed up my cooler with lunch fixins' and down the dreaded I-95 I shot.  Felt so sorry for these folks heading North...this looks pretty serious it was an 8 mile backup.  

Amazing the campground at the Santee Coastal Reserve was FULL...it is a FCFS campground.  What happened to the no more than 3 in a group thing?  I would not want to be in a full campground right now.  There is a visitor's center in this shot somewhere...behind these moss covered live oaks...

Anyway I headed to the Big Well Trail where I was around no one! 

The water level was low I figured it would be the opposite with all the rain we had in Feb.  The lower levels was perfect for the waders..

Snowy Egret

Little Blue Heron 

White form Little Blue Heron 

Tricolored Heron

Just off the trail a Downy Woodpecker stops to look at me..

                Good example of a Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs

I found all sorts of critters I could  give my solo attention to...def more than 6 ft personal space given here.

                                                           Love the patterns on his body...

          SAW many gators of various sizes from babies to over 7 ft...

this one is about 2 ft in length

I ran into 3 people in total on the trails, and no one stopped, all said hello and kept walking as did I. 

After lunch I moved the van  to the Cape Trail parking area, and walked around the impounds I ended up hiking 5 miles in total, my feet were pretty tired...






Many Glossy Ibis stayed distant but I zoomed for this shot..their colors are so deep and rich.

Monday:
Today it rained but I decided to go out and get some supplies in a neighboring town that has only 2 cases of the CV-19 not the 54 my town now has...I used alcohol to clean my hands when I removed my gloves upon exiting the store.  Then I went to my favorite spot the Beaver Pond!

 

The pond is in good shape the water plants are vigorous and the birds were out.  The young Eagle looked pretty lonely as the parents have left him alone now.  He will hang around the nest as long as he needs to.  I felt really sorry for him so I name him Solo. Could be a her...have no way of telling.  

Here he is in his Aerie.  He has those big wings and when he feels like he just can't stand to be alone anymore he will soar away....I will miss him when he goes. When I come to the nest and he is not there I will feel that pain deep inside the one you feel when someone really special is not there. 

King Fishers were out in numbers on this rainy day...a dull sky didn't bring out those awesome blues of this bird...

And a combo of the Kingfisher and a Great Blue Heron. 

This Tufted Titmouse may be feeding young already, while the White Eyed Vireo just got back in town!

A little farther down the road is Ashwood Lake, recently refilled after the dam there broke free in 2015.  It's not officially open but I go and park roadside and see what birds are there...some Ring Neck Duck about 15 today, Pied Billed Grebe, and at least 3 American Coots, and some Canada Geese on the water, an Osprey overhead, and at least one Double Crested Cormorant diving below.  

Up in the tree by the lake a Savannah Sparrow my FOY. 

Had Tree Swallow, Northern Rough Winged Swallow, and Purple Martin flying over the lake catching bugs...lots of competition. I may go back there tomorrow I think I heard a LeConte's Sparrow! There is only one call that has that sound...If it's not raining.

Purple Martin

Tuesday: buckets of rain, thunder and the whole 9...
Wednesday: Went to a couple spots...saw this cool Osprey...

 

It's fun staying away from people...a good week. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

3rd day is a charm...

I know you're wondering what the heck Im talking about lol...so it was Friday morning I got up and that was the 3rd day of a rare bird being reported in the exact same spot...I had slept in and having coffee when I read it on the ebird rare sightings for SC.  Only 2hrs and 15 mins drive..hmmmm by the time I arrived it was 1 PM! BUT sunny breezy the prefect day to go on a Twitch.  

In the Eastern corner of Charleston County is where the Santee River empties into the Atlantic Ocean...there's several places here I've been hoping to go check out but just never have gotten around to doing so this summer was SO HOT.  As  you can see it is chock full of mature old growth trees, since it was once part of 2 plantations! Eldorado, and Ormond Hall.  The Nature Conservancy acquired the land in 1974, its 24,000 acres of Coastal plain, flood plain, and contains Carolina Bays, odd small depressions filled with water!

I arrived so late in the day I only explored one area and not very thoroughly either! There's a boardwalk I really wanted to explore, but I was dead tired when I finished walking around about 5 pm sat down to eat my sandwich and began my drive home...if the weather was not going to turn sour I would have stayed over they have a Fabulous campground FREE!

each site is huge and nestled under the moss covered live oaks! All primitive so you're on your own if you stay here..beware of generators in hot weather.  MY Interest was in the 3 large impounds East of the visitors center and museum.  

Right away there was heron to greet me Little, Tri Color,  and Great Blue...all busy hunting for a meal some having success.  










And there's reptiles...

check out those golden eyes...

The Golden Rod and other plants still in full bloom was a treat 

Monarch butterfly

Double Crested Coromorant

Pied Billed Grebe 

The Big Well Trail was where the rare bird had been showing up so I took the trail.  It circles around the 3 impoundments.  

Parking is close to the trail so I drove over and parked by the boat launch area..right away small birds were darting in and out of the sedge and rushes.

If you're familiar with the Sharp Tailed Sparrow "Nelson's" you will recognize this guy...he didn't come out fully in the open I got 3 shots and each one filled in a piece of the puzzle.  It's been so long since I am seeing sparrows that it's like starting over!  We also had the Swamp, and Field come out for photo opts.

One of my fellow birders felt this could be a clay colored sparrow but no black outlines of the check patch so I called it Field Sparrow but then ebird reviewer saw it and said it's an Immature White Crowned...a state bird for me so yeah! 

                                                                     Gr Yellow Legs

We had Gr and Lesser Yellow Legs, Dunlins, Stilt Sandpiper, Least and Western Sandpiper, Short Billed Dowitchers,

Maybe some long thrown in too...couldn't tell you the difference!

Egrets, Night Herons, Semi-P Plovers,

Black Bellied Plovers,

Had Prairie and Palm Warblers peeking in and out of the tall flora along the trail edges...

Prairie Warbler 

Palm Warbler 

Wilson's Snipe

Fly Over Wood Storks 

I hoped for a Sedge Wren...couldn't nail one down but found my favorite the Marsh Wren 

And although we found our target right away I saved it for last wish my photos could have been better but he stayed just out of good range,

Hudsonian Godwit!  
That link takes you to the range map so you can see how far out of his normal range he was!

I had the place to my self for a while but then these other nice people joined in the search, everyone went home happy! 

The 2 people with their back to us in this photo run an Adventure Guide Service.  They will soon be taking a group to Costa Rica.  That's Paul on the left and his lovely wife Amanda on the right.  We spent a couple hours birding together and what a pleasant meeting it was.  If you want to check them out look for them here..

Epic Nature Tours 

... these young people give me HOPE.


  

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.