One of the most abundant birds in South Carolina’s freshwater habitats over the winter months are the American Coots. These birds are common in many places across the country and because they can be relatively tame, people view them almost as chickens that live in the water. If you’ve guessed that I still find them interesting, you’re right on target. One of the mysteries I’ve been trying to figure out is what makes them aggressive. Obviously, they are especially aggressive over abundant food, but there are a lot of oddities in their aggressive behaviors. Sometimes they will form great big flocks, sometimes only a few relatively solitary individuals. Sometimes a single individual will chase several other coots away, but tolerate others inches away. These interactions don’t seem to be the result of family or mate bonds. Just one of the myriad of mysteries of the natural world that more time observing can solve (or reading as I’m sure coot behavior is fairly well studied). Anyway, this coot was feeding along another bird. I love when I can find them out of water, as their crazy feet match their personality perfectly.
American Coot
They may be just black and have no color, but crows are fascinating animals. We have two species that you can find here in the South Carolina Lowcountry and both species come to the beach. It can be quite difficult to tell apart the Fish Crows from the more cosmopolitan American Crows, but the most sure way is by voice. This individual was letting me know that he and his cohort were all American Crows. The crows are always a bit cautious, especially when they are in a small group out on the saltmarsh. They never seem to do much here, but just come here to hang out. I wonder what they like about it so much?
American Crow
Today I had the chance to go to a new location, Bear Island Wildlife Management Area. A new place is always exciting – even if there are no bears here. I wonder where the name came from. Perhaps there were bears at one point. Anyway, to make the experience better I was going along with a group of photographers from the Carolina Nature Photographers Association. A great group of people who are really excited about wildlife photography (and other sorts of nature photography). If you’re in the Carolinas, you should look into joining the region closest to you. I started the morning with a few photos of the Tundra Swans before they took off at dawn and then switched to a group of Bonaparte’s Gulls that were feeding nearby.
Bonaparte's Gull
It was a really dark and dreary day. But I love these kind of days – they make it easy to bring out the detail in your subjects and the colors are very richly saturated. There was also a cooperative Lesser Yellowlegs near the shoreline. Lately I am starting to develop a preference for images with the animal relatively small in the frame. It’s a bit harder to balance the background and composition in the frame, but when done right the results are very rewarding. They don’t look that great on the web, but when viewed in large prints or on a large monitor, these images really take on a new life. Here I liked the way the reflection of the shoreline cut through the scene.
Lesser Yellowlegs
The diversity at Bear Island WMA was fantastic. It’s towards the end of the winter now, but not only are all the common birds in the area here, but many other rarer species that you have a tough time finding in South Carolina. The Tundra Swans were a great example of the rarer species. This Tricolored Heron is one of the common species.
Tricolored Heron
American Avocets are a specialty of Bear Island. There are a few places in the state where you can find avocets in the winter, but Bear Island is the closest to a sure thing. There were a lot of avocets here too. At least 30, perhaps more. There were some great colors in the water with the pine forest across the pond and some dead grass in the near waters.
American Avocet
American Avocets are up there as one of the most elegant birds out there with their sublime curves. Even when they don’t have that orange-rust color of the breeding plumage, they are still striking birds. Bear Island is a good place to see a variety of their behaviors with large numbers of the birds and relatively open areas. It’s also a great place to capture some flight shots – definitely a reason to make it back out here on a day with more light. Bear Island was definitely a fun trip and hopefully the rest of the CNPA group got some great photos.
American Avocet
Today was another slow day in pursuit of ducks. The ducks are nearly all in the peak of their breeding plumage, but there weren’t many around where I checked today. This female Northern Shoveler was one of the few that I did see. The ducks were mostly flying from one marshy area to another – the eagles had them up and flying around quite a bit.
Northern Shoveler