It has been ages since I published anything here--more than six months. And I've seen lots of birdies and taken some pretty good pictures.
So let's flashback to February when we went down to Hilton Head Island for a week. Of course we had to drive through the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge while we were down there. There were some pretty cool birds there.
Surprisingly, some of the best birds I saw were right from the balcony of my sister's condo in Port Royal Plantation.
Anyway, here's what we saw:
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| This little guy is my favorite, cuz he's so cute! Pied-Billed Grebe at Savannah NWR. |
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| From the balcony of the condo, a lifer, Yellow-Throated Warbler. Didn't even know what I had until I loaded the pics on my computer and enlarged it! |
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| Also from the balcony, a Yellow-Rumped Warbler. There were flocks of these in the trees and on the driveways of the condo area. I've only even seen one once before, also down in Hilton Head. I guess it's their wintering spot. |
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| From the balcony, down in the lagoon below, a Double-Crested Cormorant. Common here in NJ in the summertime. From a distance they look like not much, just dark. But if you can zoom in, they have the most beautiful blue eyes! |
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| At Savannah NWR, a Common Gallinule, aka moorhen. Again, not much from a distance, but zooming in shows the gorgeous orange and yellow beak. |
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| Another lifer at Savannah NWR, a Boat-Tailed Grackle. We have plenty of Common Grackles in our yard, but the Boat-Tailed hangs around the inland waterways. Beautiful iridescent feathers, which you can't see too well in my pic. |
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| Coopers Hawk on the tree right outside the condo. Another balcony pic. |
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| Another Coopers Hawk, this one along the swampy area in Mitchellville Beach State Park. It was just a few miles from the condo, and had a boardwalk through the swamp where there were lots of birds. |
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| At the NWR, American Coots! Again, boring from a distance, but from close up you can see that shiny patch of dark red on their forehead and the ring around their bill. My reading says they're not related to ducks at all, but to rails. New goal: see a rail! |
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| Common but always beautiful, a Snowy Egret in breeding plumage. |
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| Finally, in the lagoon outside the condo, this guy swam right across and climbed up on the bank just down from the condo. The day before, I had walked around the condo on the water side. My sister was shocked! I was lucky the gator wasn't sitting there waiting for me! He was only about 6' long, so I don't think he coulda got me, but I didn't go down there again! |
So that's the flashback for this week. Next time I'll show you the eagle pictures we took right here in West Deptford.
