Looking forward to the various reptiles that await in Arizona but disappointed this won’t be one of them.
Tag: Murrells Inlet
Thrashing Brown
Love the yellow eyes on the brown thrashers, taken in 2006 at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina.
The Young Stork
A juvenile wood stork hunts the edge of the freshwater lagoon at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. As it grows into adulthood it will lose the feathers on its neck and head.
(Almost) Still Waters
The sun had set and it was getting dark, so I started to put my camera away but paused when I noticed the waters of the freshwater lagoon weren’t as quiet as they first appeared. This environmental portrait of an alligator swimming with only its head above water is one of my favorites of these magnificent creatures.
A Choice of Waters
A great blue heron waits in a saltwater marsh at Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. It’s a wonderful park that not only has ocean access and some short hiking trails but also a causeway that runs between saltwater and freshwater lagoons. There are walking paths on each side of the road so as a photographer you can choose your type of water, as can the herons and egrets that hunt here. Although my biggest surprise seeing predators move between the marshes came one day as I was photographing alligators in the freshwater marsh when a large alligator came walking across the road from the saltwater side, the first time I learned they could spend a bit of time in the saltwater before returning to their freshwater home. After that I watched my back a bit more closely, although I never even remotely had any problems with the large reptiles.
Master of Disguise
Already masters of hiding in the swamp, this alligator went the extra mile by covering its head in plants. Either that or it’s the worst toupee I’ve ever seen.
Crab Breakfast
As the sun rose, I noticed a group of alligators in this marshy section of the freshwater lagoon at Huntington Beach State Park but didn’t realize why they were there. Then one suddenly lurched forward and scooped up a little crab from the mats of organic material (algae? bacteria?) floating in the water, and then another did it, and another. It was remarkable how quickly they would go from floating motionless to catching the crabs and back to floating motionless.
Hidden Treasure
The golden light of the rising sun begins filtering through the trees, illuminating a treasure hidden in the marsh.
Worlds Apart
Something would have to have gone terribly wrong here in Oregon for me to take a picture of the sun rising above the ocean, but I photographed this sunrise years ago in South Carolina.
Oregon Is Just About Perfect But I Wish We Had These
An American alligator relaxes near sunrise in a freshwater lagoon in Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina in 2005.
Boolie 