bruce-sc-pix

Might be working now

2011-08-28T08:25:00.000-04:00

Okay, now I think I can insert a picture even though there are still no icons showing, there are in visible places that are clickable. So here's a black necked stilt at Bear Island digging for a special morsel it's discovered..

Extra Post

2011-08-27T21:23:00.004-04:00

I recently had a lot of trouble with my long neglected blog--some jerk posted a lot of awful posts about various nasty things. I was unable to get into my blog to fix it. Blogspot said I didn't have any blogs. With a lot of help from Kathy, owner of the good blogs: Katney's Kaboodle and 365 No Themes No Memes

So now I'm just putting in a recent picture to show that the blog is still alive.

Only I've forgotten how to put a picture in.............LOL........aha, now I remember, you click on the little picture icon to the left of Preview on this compose box. Guess what--there are no little icons up there! Back to square one......well, square two, since I did get in here at all.

Now I'm remembering some of the reasons I quit blogging--so frustrating!!!

Eagles!

2009-03-22T23:45:00.001-04:00

I had a wonderful afternoon at a nearby neighbor's house today!

Some recent skies for Friday Skywatch

2009-03-20T21:27:00.003-04:00

This is supposed to make up for my recent absence on the blog. Too much other stuff to do these days.

To see lots more skies, click HERE.

Spring is springing

2009-03-09T23:53:00.006-04:00

This is not at all the order in which these photos were uploaded, but I don't think it matters. Redbud, snow bells, and a violet.

The day in color

2009-03-08T22:48:00.011-04:00

The sky was soooooooo blue

The narcissis were so yellow

The camellias so fucsia

The daffodils so bright

The nandina so purple and pink.......

..........and green and red

My neighbors went out in their john boat

He tried to scare her on the curves

It was very pretty in the late afternoon sun

And lastly, the deer scat was so black! LOL

Friday Skywatch

2009-03-06T23:51:00.002-05:00

Sneaking it at the last minute. Blogspot was not opening for me for a while this evening.

I got a teleconverter for my camera, but it has to go back because it's not compatible after all. But I did get it to work for one picture.

Here is the sky with some tree branches in the center that are starting to bud for spring.

This is how I know they are starting to bud. Nice zoom, huh! But unfortunately it won't work, so I will just have to save my money and buy a big lens.

To see lots more Skywatch pictures, click HERE.

A mixed bag

2009-03-05T22:52:00.004-05:00

Like yesterday, here is a mixed group of pictures from a recent day.

I got a new lens that zooms from 28mm to 300mm. It's very compact and will be good for trips--very versatile.

Here's a wide angle view from the deck. You'll need to click it larger to tell anything.

New bird for the feeder area! Ruby-crowned kinlet. Isn't he adorable. That's a six inch board he's standing on, so you can see how teeny he is. That trash all over the deck is wind blown seed hulls.

I took a lot of pictues, but he moves so fast--and through the window at dusk, not many came out. I don't know what he was eating, but he was pecking away as fast as a sewing machine!

I meant for the next picture to come up first, but they appeared out of order. The osprey nest is on the way to Botany Bay and is right by the road. Hard to stop and get pictures because of traffic going to Edisto Beach. These are through the windshield.

I was taking pictures of this great egret on the creek when it flew, so I did a burst and got one shot of him not behind a tree.

A white-tailed deer ran by too.

Uh-oh--car went into the marsh on the way home from Botany Bay. There was someone there helping already.

There's the guy who went into the water to help and he was talking to the driver, but I couldn't see the driver, so maybe he was lying down on the seat. The tide was coming in, so they needed to get that car out quickly.

I didn't hang around, but didn't see anything in the paper, so just a routine car in the marsh--happens a lot around here.

Three pictures from this week

2009-03-03T22:53:00.002-05:00

A willow oak tree against the blue sky

Two white-tailed deer running across the front yard

A pine siskin and I check each other out.

Comet plus

2009-03-02T23:38:00.007-05:00

I thought you might like to meet our dog, Comet. He is a three year old Doberman Pinscher--the ninth one we've had. Our first was Max, a show dog. The last ones before Comet were Donner, Blitzen, Dasher, and Prancer, . You may sense a theme there. Donner came to us already grown and named, so we just continued. Comet is the best one since Max. Amazing since I found him on line.

He likes to sit this way on the top step of the deck surveying his kingdom

He's very well built and probably could have been a show dog, but I was finished with that game years ago.

Here he's doing his tough dog trot.

Another portrait in the sunset

Dobermans come in black and tan like Comet and also red and tan. The reds could easily be mistaken for deer when they run through the woods, so that reminds me to show you our resident deer again.

This little guy is somehow easy to tell from the rest. He says he's still the cutest one, just like he has been since he was very tiny.

Here's the whole gang. Click to make them big enough to see.

Watch where you step!

2009-02-28T21:25:00.005-05:00

(I recommend clicking all these photos larger to see the detail.)

Sharon and I went to Bear Island to photograph tundra swans yesterday--will show you some soon--and then decided to drive through Donnelly WMA on the way home. We usually stop here at the Savage Backwater and walk out on the dike to the little observation platform to see water birds.

Today we decided not to....

There were 12 of them! My friend who had been there earlier in the day said forty were counted around the whole pond.

This is the view from where we normally park. The big mama whose head faces left is over 10 feet long.

"I see you too!"

Blue birds!

2009-02-23T23:12:00.005-05:00

I had been doing some indoor photography just before supper and went down to the car to get something with my camera still hung around my neck. Good thing because I caught a glimpse of color out of the corner of my eye.

It was after six and there was no light so I put the ISO up to 1600 in order to see anything at all. Got a lot of graininess, but some nice behaviors. Here is Mr. having chased away a chickadee from the nesting box. Chickadees used it last year.

Checking out the insides

Back on top looking at Mr. chickadee.

You can just see Mrs. is inside the box

And there she is! But she sees me........

......and takes off.

They went up into the pecan tree this house is under and chattered away. I hope they win out over the chickadee, but even if they don't, there are other houses in the yard, just not as easy to observe as this one.

Next time I see them, I hope it's not at dusk.

Eagles in the skywatch

2009-02-19T23:33:00.005-05:00

What's that in the sky?

Yay--it's a bald eagle (in an arty shot!)

This is better, now we can see it's a mature adult.

If you'd like to see more skies, click here where they are all listed.

Sorry I missed Wednesday and Thursday--and I was doing so well. But real live does occasionally interfere.

Pelicans

2009-02-17T22:37:00.006-05:00

Another one of those nights where I scream at the blog. I had many more pictures for this series, but they kept coming up in a different order than I loaded them and I finally gave up with these few. It's bad enough having to load from the end to the beginning, but when I load 5,4,3,2,1 and then get 2,4,5,1, 3, it's infuriating. End of vent.

So anyway the Pitt Street Causeway is a long pier now out into Charleston Harbor that used to be a trolley from Mt. Pleasant to Sullivan's Island. Now it's a great place for fishing and birding and watching brown pelicans at work. They fly all around looking down at the water to see if there's a fish for the taking.

Sometimes they skin across the surface. I don't know why they don't touch with their wings.

The most fun is when they spot a fish and put on the brakes.

Then they begin the dive and gradually fold their wingss to gain speed

Till finally they are shaped like a missile

And into the water they go--hopefully to come up with a fish.

2009-02-16T23:25:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures from the GBBC weekend.

There is a pileated woodpecker in there--can you see him?

I don't blame you--he kept inside the twigs mostly.

But once he looked right at me as if I were the paparazzi!

Look how much yellow the pine siskins are getting. I had more of them today too because it's cold tonight.

This red-bellied woodpecker can't get into the cage for the peanuts, but can stick its head through far enough to reach one.

I hadn't seen the hooded mergansers for over a week, so I was thrilled when three of them came up the creek at high tide.

Chipping sparrows were the only species I had good numbers of, but still only 63. Half of what I had last year.

And only one bluejay--he looked kind of sad.

Now it's off to put my GBBC report onto the site. I hope you all had great bird counts too. It's always fun! I added a couple of species to my February yard list too.

More from Savannah NWR

2009-02-15T23:02:00.004-05:00

Can anybody tell me what this flower is. It was on a thick shrub about four feet tall. 2 pix.

We were thrilled to see Mrs Great-horned owl on her nest again--she has not used it for a couple of years. It's in a limb crotch of a huge old live oak and not too far off the ground. They put an owl box up for her in the next tree, but she never used it.

You'll have to take my word that this is a blue-winged teal. There's a better view of him at the bottom--the pics came up in a different order than I put them.

The duck of the day was northen shoveler--they were everywhere.

Here's a better view of the male blue-winged teal, but his wife was a bit shy........LOL

A honking pair of Canada geese at twilight brought my GBBC count to 27 species. But the only one that had any decent numbers was chipping sparrows with just over 60. I think I had much bigger numbers last year with over 300 gold finches alone. Not the best weather for birds this time I guess. I was pleased that the hooded mergansers came by once more--I thought they had headed north already. My usual snowy egret didn't show, but the three brown pelicans did. All the rest were just the usual suspects of feeder birds.

How'd you do?

Wilson's snipe

2009-02-14T22:22:00.004-05:00

For the first time ever, a Wilson's snipe was slightly visible long enough to take a picture or two--well, actually about twenty, but here are the usable ones.

Here is the whole scene with it in the middle.
Zoomed in a little and you can actually see it. The tips of their mandibles are very sensitive and they can flex them some. They probe the bottom for goodies to eat.

Such pretty patterns and that bit of rust coloring on the tail is a good ID when they fly.

These were taken at the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge last week.

How are you coming with the bird count? It was drizzly here today so not so good for looking around the yard. I have 24 species now, but not big numbers on anything. It's supposed to rain again tomorrow too. Pooey.

Friday Skywatch

2009-02-13T18:11:00.005-05:00

We were at Paul and Dalton, a private plantation about 40 miles south of our house, for whom we are doing a bird survey--we are up to 128 species there now. They manage the former rice impoundments very well for water fowl. The duck numbers were unbelievable! These won't show small, so do click them larger to see the clouds of ducks.

These are pintails--we had never seen so many!

I think the next two are ruddy ducks or gadwall--another two species we had never seen so many of!
The different sky colors have to do with not only time of day that the various pictures were taken, but also which way I was facing in regards to the sun. The whole day was beautiful.

These next are ruddy ducks getting up too.

Turns out we weren't the only ones surveying waterfowl that day. This is a plane from the DNR. He may have been monitoring the two bald eagle nests on the property too.
To see lots more Friday Skywatch photos, click HERE or on the first sidebar picture of the white ibis flying.

How are you doing on your Great Backyard Bird Count? I have 19 species already, but not really big numbers yet.

just testing sizes

2009-02-12T15:39:00.002-05:00

A male boat-tailed grackle singing from atop a street light.

He looks a little bigger. I may have to save my pics bigger to start with--I've been making them small for emailing.

Becky at Woodynook showed me that I could make my pictures larger. I'm not sure it will be large enough to make any difference though. This may not have been a good one to test with.

Snowy egret

2009-02-11T22:27:00.003-05:00

A snowy egret was very cooperative the other day at Donnelly Wildlife Management Area. He's sitting on a trunk that controls the water into what used to be rice fields and are now water fowl havens. The trunk opens or closes to let water in or out with the tide and can be controlled by the managers to the optimum depth for the birds and the plants that they feed on at various seasons.

Don't forget the Great Backyard Bird Count this coming weekend!

Fungi

2009-02-10T23:03:00.004-05:00

It's always something with the blog. Today, there is no place to choose a font, so I have to use this Times New Roman--probably my least favorite font of all.

_____________________________
Not birds for a change, but these mushrooms were seen on a Christmas bird count.

This first one is called a stink horn and boy does it!! It smells like three day old road kill or your freezer when you come back from vacation and find that the power went off while you were away. It's really interesting otherwise. There is a dark mucus inside that attracts insects and that's how it spreads itself.

This is one of the shelf fungi

A flat one

This one is called turkey tail

This is old man's beard. It has another name that I can't remember.

These were all in the woods by our son's house and made our walk all the more interesting. We saw 42 species of birds which were reported to the Fracis Beidler Forest, an Audubon property, for their Christmas count

Today's birds

2009-02-09T16:35:00.005-05:00

The first is an immature male purple finch. You can tell he's not a female because he's beginning to get a little color--see the yellow under the tip of his wings.

White-throated sparrow--even though you can hardly see the white throat.

The other day when the bird bath was frozen till about mid morning, this little pine siskin wanted a drink.

So he worked his way down the hose which fills the tub that the dog drinks from

And tried two ways of getting a drink in the little space where the water wasn't frozen.

All the male cardinals are sporting brand new plumage for spring and they look really good!

There were eight in this bush at one point. You can see four here if you enlarge.

Suspicious

This week by the creek

2009-02-08T21:38:00.008-05:00

I caught this dove napping on a very cold morning.

He woke up and said, Oops, how embarrassing!

Meanwhile down on the creek a great blue struts his stuff.

A great egret flies in......

.......and settles in to absorb some sunshine.

The hooded mergansers are on the creek every morning, but will be moving north this week. The big duck migrations from here start on the first full moon in February, which is tomorrow. The hoodies are so skittish and so fast. I keep trying to get some decent shots of them, but none are very good. Here's the latest batch of three males, two mature and one immature that dropped by. So long till next year guys!

This shows how far away they really are. I need a bigger lens.

2009-02-05T23:44:00.003-05:00

Some one requested that I put my Skywatch picture bigger, so here it is. rather than just on the sidebar. Do you think it's the hand of God? Click on it to see it larger. And to see more Skywatch photos, click here.

February 2-5 catch-up

2009-02-05T17:24:00.005-05:00

Here are some pictures of the February birds on my list. The first two were actually taken in late January, but I've seen them in February too. The rest were all taken from either my computer chair or the deck just outside of this room yesterday.

Hooded merganser male

Great blue heron

Brown pelican zoomed in on

Brown pelican first glimpse so you can see where the creek is. This is at high tide.

Tufted Titmouse

The immature male Baltimore oriole close view

Same bird enjoying orange

Double crested cormorants--one diving

First view of the cormorants--I like the symmetry

Chipping sparrow

Carolina chickadee

Donnelly

2009-02-01T23:19:00.010-05:00

Once again I'm so frustrated by trying to load something on the blog. It won't let me go above the top picture to write and it's not gray like it used to be so my normal cream colored writing won't show up when I type.and the font won't change.

Anyway, Donnelly is a state DNR run WMA that is about a half hour from the house and my favorite place to go. A friend and I went for about two hours late in the afternoon. Here are a couple of things we saw. Above is a ring-billed duck. There were a lot of them but very far out in the marsh

Next is an immature wood stork with the late afternoon sun giving him a nice glow.

This female red-shouldered hawk was high in a tree and had just mated with the smaller male.

This is Spanish moss, not really a moss, but an epiphyte. The low sun back lighting it was nice.

There are always a lot of great egrets at Donnelly. This one is preening his early breeding plumes. His bill isn't really black, it's just in shadow.

January 2009

2009-01-25T23:06:00.012-05:00

I know I've been very remiss and have taken three months off, but I'm going to post a whole month's worth of pictures now. These were all taken around the house this month.

Friday Sky Watch

2008-10-31T16:43:00.005-04:00

We are recently back from a trip to Kansas City and Branson, MO. On the way between these two cities we saw clouds unlike any other we had seen before. Here are some shots of the clouds--in no particular order. All taken through the back seat side window at 70 mph.

If you'd like to see lots more pretty and interesting skies,

click HERE.

Friday Skywatch

2008-10-10T21:13:00.004-04:00

I forgot it was Friday! So two posts today. Maybe that will help with all the days I don't post at all.

These are taken from a famous birding spot in Mt. Pleasant, SC, call the Pitt Street Causeway. It's really good birding at low tide, but we were there at high tide. Still there were a lot of pelicans and seagulls to watch and enjoy.

The first picture is of the Ravenel Bridge--only a couple of years old and the longest bridge of this construction in the country. Lots of sky behind it to make it fit into the category.

To see nearly 400 other skywatch blog pages, click here.

Summer Tanager

2008-10-10T18:35:00.004-04:00

Aren't I cute!!

I'm an immature male summer tanager.

I stopped by the Krucke's feeders for a bit last week.

They didn't have any meal worms like my parents showed me last spring, but there were some tasty pecan bits.

Wonder if there's anything good down there?
Next spring I'll look like this!

Butterflies

2008-10-06T08:08:00.006-04:00

Butterflies migrate too. Here are some of the ones passing through our yard now.

Does anyone know which skipper this is? 2 pix of it.

My favorite butterfly--the zebra longwing

This clouded sulfur is reflecting the green from the surrounding leaves--she was really very bright yellow.

Gray hairstreak

Gulf fritillary

The blue/lavender flowers are all wild native ageratum and the yellow and red ones are lantana.

New yard bird!!

2008-09-30T22:07:00.003-04:00

I glanced at the feeders and saw this rump at the grape jelly dish late this afternoon. I knew it wasn't a bird I had seen before. So I grabbed the camera. Can you tell what it is from this view?

Even after getting these better views, I wasn't sure what it was because it's in a transitional plumage--end of the first year male.

He doesn't have the black cap and chestnut colored cheek, he will get later. So do you know now?

It's a Cape May Warbler!! The 171st species for our property!!

Can't resist showing something else we got a brief glimpse of on Saturday too. Sorry he wasn't more in the open.

It's been a good few days on the Toogoodoo!

Unusual painted bunting

2008-09-22T22:46:00.004-04:00

You've seen the painted buntings i show along the side bar and here is a normal adult male. My son took this shot at the feeder this summer. Note the bronzey green shoulders, middle back and part of the wings.

The male painted buntings migrate earlier than the females and young birds who are all green, so I was surprised to see a male at the feeder yesterday. Naturally I took pictures. Then I realized it was quite different, so I took some more.

He has no bronze on him at all. He's a shade of red where he should be bronze

And then when I downloaded the pictures, I saw that he was missing his left eye entirely too. You'll have to click it larger to see. Looks like he lost it in an accident, not a birth defect. He's done well to get to be an adult with such a handicap.
He reminds me of a pirate here--Avast, ye maties!
The painted bunting guy from the study that NC and SC are doing on the birds has been here to our house for banding painted buntings and I've sent him these pictures too. It will be interesting to see what they have to say.

Snake!!!

2008-09-20T22:18:00.001-04:00

We went to Botany Bay yesterday. Cherrie and Sharon went earlier than I did because I was getting my hair cut. We didn't see a lot of birds, but lots of butterflies and dragonflies. I didn't take too many pictures and they were going on to Edisto Beach to look for seabirds, but I came on home--it was after five already. So these are my best pictures of the day--taken on the way out.

I saw this on the road from Botany to the highway. I would think such a distinct pattern would be easy to ID, but I don't see it in my limited book. I have decided it's a cottonmouth water moccasin because of it's fat middle. They are our most poisonous snake. My pals agree that's what it is. My book shows them as very dark, but this one is only between three and four feet long, so may be rather young and hasn't turned dark yet

I stopped perhaps 12-15 feet from it. When I got out of the car, it let me take several pictures without moving at all.

But when I came out from behind the car door and took a step closer, it turned around very fast and went back the way it had come with tongue wagging the whole way.

They can be very aggressive so I was stepping very gingerly and in turn-and-run mode. I'm glad it went away rather than toward me. It was so fat--maybe it had eaten recently so wasn't feeling mean.

Skywatch Friday

2008-09-19T07:58:00.004-04:00

Highs and Lows

Guys and Crows

I was out on the dock to see if I could see what a big gang of crows was mobbing. I think it was an owl, but never did see it. The crows all settled into the big pines across the creek.

Then a military helicopter came into sight

He was flying fairly low.

I could see the guys in it even.

The crows objected to being buzzed so closely I guess.

And they all got up. There were a lot more than I realized. Probably close to a hundred.
The milled around in the sky for awhile--very noisy!
They didn't go back to the tree, but eventually flew away.
And that's my sky for today. You can see the crows a little better when you click on them to show them larger.

And you can see bunches more skies by ciicking here or on the helicopter at the top right.

Tri-colored heron

2008-09-14T23:23:00.003-04:00

A tri-colored heron is a slim, very elegant bird about the size of a little blue, but with a longer neck and not as stocky a body.

We were sitting on the dock at low tide and this immature one came very close to us as it went along catching minnows. The rusty color on the neck and head will be more of a blue gray when it grows up.

These pictures are in no particular order and you will see a lot more detail if you click them larger.

New and old visitors

2008-09-13T22:59:00.003-04:00

I looked out the window this afternoon and saw something on the dock! Quick, binoculars and camera!

A green heron! First time I've seen one actually stop at our dock.

You'll have to click the pictures bigger to see him.

Zoomed in
He's looking down at the minnows in the creek
He stops for an itch. He stayed a while, but I didn't see him do any actual fishing. Still a fun sighting.

The previously molting cardinals are looking better!

Puffy clouds and Parulas

2008-09-12T22:03:00.007-04:00

I'll start with a Skywatch first and then go to birds. We saw these beautiful thunderheads, but nothing came of them. Fortunately our part of the state doesn't need any rain, but the inland parts of SC are still parched.

Click HERE to see lots more Skywatch pictures from other bloggers.

I'm ashamed to call myself a blogger since I seem to skip so many days so many times. Real life has interferred as usual. It took a lot of catching up when I got my computer up to speed again. Then my husband, as they used to say, 'took a spell' in church last Sunday and ended up in the hospital, but they couldn't find anything wrong and he is home and right back up to par. They did put him on a beta blocker. We should learn more next week.

Meanwhile back on the deck we had a migrant arrive for the winter.

A northern parula warbler.

Molting

2008-09-03T22:01:00.002-04:00

No, I haven't been on some wonderful vacation. I've been without internet access for two endless weeks. All is well now, with a new dish on the roof and a new modem--and it's much faster than before which may help with former blogging frustrations.

Anyway, now that I'm back I'll show you some of the pictures I took in the meantime.

Here are some birds losing their feathers in their pre-migration molt. Actually none of these will be migrating, but they still get a nice new set of feathers at the end of the summer. They don't look all that great in the process though.

More squirrel Olympics

2008-08-21T23:08:00.003-04:00

With the enthusiastic reception from the fans, our squirrel prepares for the next event.

He looks at the score board and realizes he has to buckle down.

He rolls up his sleeves in preparation

He takes his marks and zones out focusing and ready to go
The judge looks closely at his perfect form in the very difficult Railing Hang event finals.

I think he wins a gold medal, don't you!

Odds and ends from today

2008-08-20T23:37:00.003-04:00

I covered a lot of ground today.

Here's a Carolina garden spider, sometimes called a writing spider because of the zigzag patterns she weaves in her orb web to attract insects. We saw her at Botany Bay WMA.

We are seeing some effects from being on the far edges of tropical storm Fay. The waves at Edisto Beach are normally very easy. The camera doesn't show it very well, but these were very strong, probably ten feet high.

At the Grove Plantation, headquarters for the famous ACE Basin reserve, we were lucky enough to glimpse a wood nymph butterfly. He was well inside a small shrub and very hard to get a good shot at. They are not common and it was the first time I'd ever seen one.

We got a laugh out of this sign we saw. This small building had been little rural gas station with beer and goodness knows what else offered. It closed when the owner died and stood idle for months. This is what is going to open there now.

And today's squirrel Olympics features the Peanut Hang. This competitor will have several points deducted for letting his legs come apart and not keeping his toes pointed.

Silver Bluff Nature Reserve

2008-08-19T22:02:00.003-04:00

A week ago we went to the newly opened Audubon property near Aiken, SC, called Silver Bluff. You may remember that I was so excited about seeing the swallow-tailed kites later in the day that I didn't think there had been much of interest at Silver Bluff.

Now that I've looked at my photos, I find that there were some nice things after all. Here are a few.

This is a newly hatched grasshopper.

Trumpet vine

Passion flower or May pop

Here's what all those baby woodstorks we saw a few months ago do now that they are bigger. They hang around in shallow ponds.

A hackberry emperor butterfly

These butterflies landed all over us.

2008-08-18T21:59:00.006-04:00

We spent six days in mid/late July with e-friends in southeastern Montana. We were very lucky with wildlife, seeing mule and white-tailed deer, pronghorn antelope, and elk on their ranch. But we also saw some other exciting wildlife during a drive over the amazingly scenic Beartooth Mountain Pass. We spend five hours going 63 miles--there was that much to see.

Here is a brownish black bear that was most cooperative. What fun to see him amongst the beautiful wildflowers too.

This little cutie is a golden mantled ground squirrel. I wouldn't mind so much if they were the ones raiding my bird feeders all the time.

This more robust guy is a yellow-bellied marmot. He was a life mammal for me--very exciting.

The beautiful scenic shots don't seem suited to the blog format somehow.

Golden orb weaver

2008-08-16T18:38:00.004-04:00

You'll have to click all these pictures larger to see what's going on. A beautiful golden orb weaver spider has built a huge web very near the main door to our house. You really can't go in the normal way, but have to go around her.

The interesting thing is that she has spun a lovely perfect orb as they usually do. But then she has put about a foot deep very messy web on either side of her orb, as if to protect the orb itself.

She's really a lovely spider, if spiders are your thing. They are better than roaches, right! The hapless little guy at the top is one of the several husbands that have been hanging around. I wonder if he knows he'll be eaten as soon as he has done his duty?

These were all taken a few days ago. She is much larger and thicker in the body now--full of baby spiders, I suppose. From toe to toe, she measures about four inches. I'll keep you posted on what happens.

Swallow-tailed kites for Friday Skywatch

2008-08-15T08:27:00.006-04:00

My whole post is a Skywatch today. Click on the swallow-tailed hawk at the right to see other Friday Skywatch pictures.

Last Tuesday we went to a newly opened Audubon property called Silver Bluff. It's near Aiken, SC, where our middle son lives. He met us there and we had a nice hike. Not a lot to take pictures of but the day wasn't over. On the way home we went to some fields near Allendale, SC, where someone had reported seeing a lot of swallow-tailed kites. There is concern about their declining numbers.

Here are some of the waaaay too many pictures I took in a light rain. The kites swoop around very fast, not flapping their wings very much, catching insects with their feet and putting them into their beaks while flying. They literally eat on the fly. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but they are a little larger than a red-tailed hawk, but more streamlined.

This shows the kite from the top--not a view one often sees. It just happened to bank sharply as it swooped by.

This shows their striking color better than the shots against the gray sky.

Here you can see it putting an insect into it's beak. Dragonflies and June bugs are among their favorites. Click this larger to see better detail of this neat trick.

Deer disappear--not really

2008-08-11T18:14:00.003-04:00

Most of my pictures of the deer are taken from the front deck. They are about sixty yards away. Here's a typical view of mama and the babies grazing in the tall grasses and wildflowers of a wild patch we only mow once a year in the middle of the yard.

These are from a month ago and they are much bigger, but still fully spotted. I haven't seen them in August yet. Maybe they are in a safe spot for the opening of deer season next week and only coming out at night.

They saw me up on the deck and took off across the yard. Love that flag!

They ran to a dark shady spot even farther away and then just stopped and looked back at me.

I was able to zoom in and see them well after lightening the shot some. I think they thought I couldn't see them there in the dark.

Deer appear

2008-08-10T08:36:00.003-04:00

The first day my new camera came in the mail, I put in the card and went running outside to try it without reading the manual or anything. I was snapping away at butterflies and flowers with a long lens on. I came around a bush and there was a deer silhouetted in the opening to another part of the yard. I stopped dead with the camera up to my eye and quickly took some pictures. She didn't move away as I expected, but just stood there stamping her feet at me. I didn't dare move, but did back off on the zoom some to try and get her less silhouetted.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this little guy on the left! No wonder she didn't run and kept stamping at me. I still had the camera up at my eye thinking that surely they would run if I moved my arms. Again, I unzoomed some more to try and get better light.

And lo and behold--there's another fawn to her right! What a thrill--even at that distance! This was the first time I'd see her with the babies. Too bad the light was so difficult and I had a 15 minute old camera that I knew nothing about. You'll have to click this bigger to see the fawns.

The fawns were so cute! We stood there looking at each other for several minutes. Then suddenly, she snorted and all three ran back into the open place behind them and into the woods beyond. I had to lighten all the pictures to see any detail, but it was t thrill anyway even to see them with just one eye through the lens.

They are so cute!

These were taken in June, so they are getting bigger now, but we still see them and they still have spots. Stay tuned.

Dear deer

2008-08-09T20:51:00.003-04:00

We have a nice deer family in our yard. They are hidden most of the time, but come out to graze and nibble fairly often, usually in the early morning.

These were taken a couple of months ago when the family was just beginning. I think you can see here that this is definitely a nursing mother, but she had not brought her fawns out yet. We'll see them here later.

Here's mama eating highbush blueberries that we planted for the birds

And here she stops browsing to tend to an itch.

It kept bothering her--I liked this tricky pose.

Watch this space for the babies soon.

2008-08-08T10:53:00.003-04:00

I did my first attempt at Friday Skywatch today and did it all wrong. I put the picture on the side bar so it can't be enlarged and then I accidentally put me on the Skywatch list twice and don't see any way to remove the second one. Hopefully someone in management will take care of the for me.

Meanwhile then, here is a Montana sky taken last week in the Beartooth Mountains. We might have actually been in Wyoming at this point--the pass goes through both places.

To see the other Friday Skywatch pictures, click here.

Botany Bay

2008-08-07T12:43:00.002-04:00

We were fortunate enough to get a pre-visit to the new Botany Bay WMA before it opened. What a wonderful facility! It's 25 minutes from our house.

Here are just a couple of images from that day. I'll probably show more later.

A bee on agapanthus

Buckeye butterfly on seaside daisy There were lots of different habitats. Can you see all the bright red coral bean blooming in the undergrowth?

We walked about a half mile through marsh and original maritme forest to get to the front beach.
There were all sorts of wonderful shells to see. This is a jelly fish lying on oyster shells. Shell gathering on the beach by the public only in the first month open has become a problem. The people are disturbing nesting plovers and sea turtles. I'm going to a meeting this afternoon about how to control shell taking.

Rackety coon chiles

2008-08-05T21:17:00.003-04:00

As we drove home from birding Friday, we saw something cross the road ahead. It was a mother raccoon and three babies! Mama told them to quick run up a tree while she ran away, which they did. I was driving so was on the wrong side of the car and all my pictures are taken through the dirty windshield. I couldn't even see them, so just pointed at the tree and clicked away, but you can get the idea anyway. Cute things!

We also saw on the way to Bear Island a turkey creche--there must have been 20 poults in the flock crossing the road. None of us even had our cameras out of their bags. There's a lesson there probably.

In and out of the water

2008-08-03T23:24:00.003-04:00

Leopard frogs and fiddler crabs can be in or out of the water.

Look how well the leopard frog's cryptic coloring camouflages him.

In the light he shines almost bronze.

Fiddler crabs are so busy all the time! Note that some of them are left handed too. We have them all over our creek when the tide is out. I'd hate to have to build my house again every day.

2008-08-02T22:32:00.005-04:00

Black necked stilts are such funny birds! And very noisy too. These were seen yesterday at Bear Island Wildlife Management Area, about a half hour from us. It's part of the ACE Basin, the largest reserve on the east coast.

Yay, the comments are working again!

Datura

2008-08-01T22:45:00.003-04:00

The datura bud is more interesting to me than the blossom.

I'm going to see how I do with comments again, but I can't seem to activate them again. Any hints would be appreciated.

Z is for Zebra--of course!!

2008-07-10T15:37:00.006-04:00

Here we are at the end of the alphabet!

I'm sure you knew I'd use zebras.

These were all taken in either Botswana or Namibia.

Now we're going on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I will not blog again till the end of July, at which time I plan to just show a picture or two and open comments back up again. I did miss the feed back, but there was no way I could keep up.

In the meantime please send any questions or comments to:

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks.

Y is for Yellow

2008-07-09T22:43:00.011-04:00

Who would ever think there were so many very bright yellow things in nature!!

Here are a few.

Probably the favorite of everyone--sunflower
Lotus blossom--this picture has won prizes in two contests and was published in the Jan/Feb 2008 South Carolina Wildlife Magazine

Prothonotary warbler announcing his territory at Beidler Forest

The center of a day lily

A sulphur butterfly on lantana

Seaweed on a North Topsail Island, NC, beach
The guts of a daisy

Yellow-throated warbler

Bumble bee on a ditch daisy

A yellow day lily

Two giraffes in a brilliant sunset in Botswana

Three ditch daisies

A pair of American goldfinches on a niger feeder

Bignonia blossom

Golden orb weaver

Only one more letter to go in the alphabet. I bet you can guess what the theme will be!

Please send any questions or comments to:

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks.

X is for eXotic

2008-07-08T21:42:00.009-04:00

These eXotic animals aren't really all that unusual, they are just not ones we see every day. The photos were all taken in Botswana on our 11th trip to southern Africa in 2006. You can see lots more by taking virtual safaris with my journals which can be found on my website: http://www.toogoodoostudios.com

Lilac-breasted roller

Maribou storks

Jackass penguin (in South Afica)

African elephant baby and very protective mother

Lioness (this photo won a prize)
African fish eagle--the only true relative of our bald eagle.

Southern giraffe

Yellow-billed stork.

Spotten hyena
Palms in the sunset

Chacma baboon taking the air

Chacma baboon acting as a sentinal

Angry bull elephant mock charging

Vervet monkey baby

Woodland kingfisher Only two more letters to go and I can go back to a normal blog and reopen comments.

For now, please email any comments or questions to:

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks.

W is for Woodstorks

2008-07-07T22:38:00.005-04:00

Sorry to have been gone so long. I needed a break from blogging and then we went on vacation. I hope to finish the alphabet before we go off again at the end of this week.

There is a small reserve about ten minutes from the house called Dungannon. Just in the last couple of years woodstorks have begun a nesting there. Although the reserve is close, it's a 2 and a half mile hike in to see the actual roolery area--there were more than 60 nests. But it's well work the walk. We went in earlier and saw all the nest building and courtship going on. Then we went back six weeks later and saw--and heard!!!--hundreds of chicks of all ages. It was wonderful.

Here are some pictures in no particular order of the woodstorks.

V is for Videos

2008-06-07T22:15:00.004-04:00

V is also for I'm Very sorry to have been missing for a week. I've been Very sad because of the untimely death of my best art friend and gallery partner for 14 years. She had been Very ill for a long time and I know it's best, but it's still Very hard.

So here is the post which I had planned for the day she died.

This is our Doberman Comet announcing to all the world that he is here and nobody better come in the yard without his permission. Be sure to turn up the sound for this one!

This is a male painted bunting enjoying his afternoon ablutions.

And this is a male ruby-throated hummingbird doing his best to attract a passing lady--all he needs is a raincoat!

I had a half dozen more videos planned, but I don't have the patience to load them. All that waiting and they are still so small you can hardly see them. Emailing them is better--let me know if you 'd like to see them that way. They are all reduced for sending.

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks!

U is for the Unusual

2008-05-29T21:35:00.010-04:00

These are not necessarily so very unusual, but for me to capture either the beauty or the moment was unusual. They are all things seen around here and I feel very priviledged to have been able to record them all.

Zebra long-wing butterfly--rarely seen here. What a beauty.

Passion flower or may pop as some call it. Not many things in nature are more beautiful

What a marvelous design the magnolia grandiflora has for distributing its seeds! Hang them by a thread to attract birds!

Not very attractive at all, but so interesting. Bot fly larvae emerging from little tumors on a squirrel. The squirrel was fine and grew new fur on this area in a couple of weeks.

Not many swamps are as pretty as a cypress one.

Now on to a little bit of nature porn.

Two anoles mating.

A six inch long lubber grasshopper ovipositing--laying eggs in a hole she made in the ground.

Robber flies mating--sort of long distance.

Roseate skimmer dragonfly--what a color! But this was late in the season and just look at those ragged wings.

A newly emerged cicada drying its wings. After a couple of hours, it was all brown and ready to go.

This gorgeous cougar is one of the animals that lives in the original animal section of Charlestowne Landing--a living museum of how life was in the 1600s in this area.

Dragonflies are viscious! Here's one devouring a moth.

So are fiddler crabs. This was a fight started by a young male with a dominant one--the youngster didn't stand a chance. I hope you've found these somewhat unusual moments of South Carolina lowcountry nature. Let me know!

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks.

T is for T-birds

2008-05-28T22:43:00.006-04:00

No, not the cars................I wish!! But just some birds that begin with T.

Turkey vulture

Turkeys. I think that ,although these were in the wild, that they are mixed and are partly domestic turkey because of the white on them.

Tom shows off!

Royal tern

Blue-winged teal

Tufted titmouse

Brown thrasher

Hermit thrush
I thought surely I had photos of towhees and ruddy turnstones, but I couldn't find them. I need to organize my pictures better somehow than I have them now.

bwkrucke@gmail.com

for comments

Sssss is for Ssssnakesssss!

2008-05-27T20:22:00.007-04:00

A rainbow snake--quite rare and unusual to see. All of these will show much more detail in the larger versions. Please click to see them larger.

I bet you predicted I'd do snakes! Here in coastal South Carolina our climate is semi-tropical and our habitats are snake city! I'm showing you ones I've come across here, but I've also seen three kinds of rattlesnakes--just don't have any pictures to show you.

This is red-bellied water snake.

Then a yellow rat snake.

This cute three year old cotton-mouth water moccasin....

.....will grow up to be this! Our most common and most dangerous venomous snake.

This is a scarlet snake--it gave us a fright because it is nearly the same as a coral snake, which is very dangerous.
Black racers can climb trees easily.
This is an eastern ribbon snake--very pretty.
This is a young banded water snake.

A corn snake--often mistaken for a copperhead. I don't have a copperhead photo either, but we definitely have them. A previous Dobe of ours was bitten by one in the night and when I took him to the emergency vet, there were seven dogs there with copperhead bites. Our dog died a few months later from a stroke caused by a blot clot left from the snake bite.

A big garter snake. I also don't have a photo of a green garden snake although one dropped out of a tree onto my shoulder once!
A king snake--quite handsome. Photo by our son, Kurt.

A rat snake that has recently shed it's skin. Our son, Carl, took this picture.

I hope no one is upset by snakes. If I have any of them misnamed, please let me know.

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks.

R is for Recent Red Radiance

2008-05-26T23:06:00.006-04:00

I was sitting at the computer when something caught my eye in the live oak trees beyond the feeders.

Oh, it's a ruby-throated hummingbird sitting still for once! I've been trying to get a shot of him with his ruby throat showing. Looks nice.

Then a female hummingbird flew by and zowie! He flashed her!! He flared that throat right out and caught the sun with it. Very effective. She flew right on by though. I was impressed even if she wasn't. I'd never noticed that they could push those red feathers out into an Elizabethan collar!

Later I glanced out again when I thought it was unusual for a cardinal to be at the meal worm feeder. Zowie again! That's no cardinal--that's a summer tanager!! At the feeder!! A first for sure--usually they are only heard or maybe glimpsed deep in the trees. What a treat--I hope he becomes a regular visitor.

Hope you enjoyed seeing red as much as I did!

bwkrucke@gmail.com

We interrupt this alphabet for an award!

2008-05-25T18:51:00.005-04:00

I am showing the award on the right side bar so it will be permanent! How nice of Sandpiper to include me in her choices. Many thanks, Lin! Now, these are the rules:

1. To acknowledge from whom you received it .
2. To pass this award on by linking 5 blogs that make your day.

This was so difficult, because the truth is that I like every single one that I look at! I am very pleased, happy, and honored to have received this award and pass it on to these photo-bloggers:

http://faithfabricandphotos.blogspot.com/

http://saphotographs.blogspot.com/

http://mybirdtales.blogspot.com/

http://oncarolinawings.blogspot.com/

http://journeythroughgrace.blogspot.com/

Choosing only five was very hard to do!

To show my award to you on your blog, just copy and paste the picture of it to your desktop and then browse for it when you want to post it. Let me know if you have any trouble.

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Q is for Quality and as it turns out Quantity too!

2008-05-23T21:54:00.011-04:00

I got a good suggestion from Birdgirl to use Quality for my alphabet Q. So I chose some of my favorite recent photographs. Then I remembered all my African photographs that were my favorites too. So here are way too many from Africa followed by some from here and there too. They will all have to be clicked larger to see probably.

What do you see here?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Local swamp

Reflections in the Canadian Rockies

Casting for shrimp

Lake Moraine in the Canadian Rockies

Lantana blossom forming

Prize winning louts photo printed in SC Wildlife Magazine

Prothonotary warbler photo used on SC Audubon website

As I look at these I think of many more that I like too. So many photos, so little time! Email me if you want to know about any of these.

bwkrucke@gmail.com

thanks

P is for a Pair of Painted Buntings and one Pretty Pincher

2008-05-21T10:46:00.009-04:00

Okay, I know I've gone overboard, but I just couldn't choose. Each pic has a different expression or a different story to tell. Painted buntings really are non-pareil. This is one species where there really is a big difference between the males and the females. The young males look just like the females their first year too.

All the ones you see bands on are ones that returned from last year!

Just checking

Hope that wasn't too many for you and that you clicked them big for detail

Just two pics of our wonderful Comet. He will be three in July.

Comments and questions always welcome to:

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks

O stands for old country buildings

2008-05-19T21:26:00.006-04:00

An old mill for cotton or lumber

Our son Carl and I had to drive to Columbia, inland a couple of hours from the coast where we live, twice this spring. Once to deliver photos for the SC Wildlife Magazine contest and then again to pick them up, but without any ribbons this year. Carl hates Interstates, so we went all on country back roads, some not even paved. He knows them all from the motorcycle days of his youth. It didn't take us much longer and was soooooo much nicer to do and see. We left the rice growing plantations and went through the sand hills and the piedmont regions where tobacco and cotton were king. The heyday of this area is definitely over. We loved seeing the old farm buildings and imagining how it might have been in the middle of the 20th century when these farms were still very active.

Tobacco drying barn

Share cropper's house

Tobacco barn again
Gas station and general store

Teeny gas station at the crossroads
It was a misty morning one of the days and this wonderful house looked so sad.

A storage shed

This was a long dairy barn. We did still see some active dairy farms.

Hope you enjoyed this little look into the past of rural South Carolina. Let me know!

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks.

N is for Night Heron

2008-05-18T21:38:00.003-04:00

We watched this immature black-crowned night heron standing on the back of a boat at the Edisto Marina for quite some time. He was very cooperative showing us various poses.

Perfect profile

Serious fisherman

Silly goose

And perhaps just a bit rude!

I love your emails!

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks!

M is for Millipede and Misty Marsh

2008-05-16T20:50:00.005-04:00

Although they are supposed to be all over the southeast, this was the first millipede I remember seeing here. It was in the Francis Beidler Forest, an Audubon Reserve near here. Millipedes don't really have a thousand legs, but usually 50 pairs at the max. And unlike centipedes that can sting with their front two legs, millipedes are harmless. This one is called the banded millipede. In South Africa they are called Shongololo--I like the sound of it.

I never get tired of looking at our marsh. This is the view from my computer--zoomed in a little. On cool mornings when the tide is high enough, beautiful mists rise off the water as the sun comes up on the far side of the salt marsh. Because of the tide, there is virtually no water twice a day and also all the grasses you see are covered with water twice a day. The tide changes nearly an hour a day, so it's always different when I look out. Lots of wading birds, ducks in the winter, cormorants, and even an otter come by. We are so lucky to have it!

Please send questions and comments to me at:

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks.

L is for Lifting

2008-05-15T21:36:00.006-04:00

I know I said no more big posts, but today was a big day! And it's not nature related either. We are building a new church building and today they brought in a big crane and lifted the octagonal dome-like roof into place over the chancel or alter area.

Before shot. The building will be hardy-plank over this plywood when finished. The framework is all steel--the building will last forever!

The cables are all fastened to the special rods in the roof to hold them and the lift begins.

More than halfway up. It weighs over 3 tons.

Peeking over the top

It swings in the breeze as they try to center it over the tower.

Helpers go up in smaller cranes on either side of the tower.

Herculean effort to get it into the right position.

Very brave to reach under there to take out the guide ropes!

Especially knowing that it was held up by these two skinny straps!

Okay, let 'er down easy--looks just right now.

Done!! Everyone is very happy, especially the boss, there on the left.

Comments and questions to:

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks.

K is for Killdeer

2008-05-14T22:11:00.002-04:00

I bet you all knew I would choose killdeer. I also like kinglet and kingfisher, but my pictures of them are pretty weak.

Killdeer are the most widespread and well known of the American plovers. They are found in fields and parking lots, as well as wetlands. Although many species of birds pretend to have a broken wing to lure predators from their nest, Killdeer are the most commonly seen doing this distraction display.

Comments please to:

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks.

J is for Jay and Jessamyn

2008-05-13T23:22:00.003-04:00

I had already planned on the Carolina Jessamyn, our state flower for J, but then this big beautiful Bluejay came to the new feeder for the first time yesterday, so I just had to include him too.

Jessamyn is a rampant vine that covers the trees here and there and is the first flower to bloom in the spring, bringing a ray of sunshine to the end of winter.

bwkrucke@gmail.com

I is for Ibis and what I've decided to do

2008-05-12T22:09:00.005-04:00

Here are an immature and an adult white ibis. In breeding season the adult's bill and legs would be redder. These were taking at Bear Island WMA in the ACE Basin, about half an hour from our house.

I've decided to go back to what my blog started out to be six months ago--a picture a day. For now I will finish the alphabet too, and then I'll try to have a photo that I think is pretty good--sometimes that's hard to find! I'll probably reopen comments too.

This way I won't have the frustrations of uploading to the blog. I have a satellite connection and the uploading is not nearly as good as the downloading.

Also I will be able to continue the practice I had before ,of sending Nature Letters in a chronological order. I was getting all mixed up with what went on the blog and what went in the letters--and what I had shown to whom.

I have a list of people who like to get the letters and if you'd like to be on that list, just let me know by email please. The letters average between 600 and 900 kb each--some days there will be several and some days none. The pictures will be imbedded into the text and already the right size for veiwing. I can give a lot more information because I can do it in the right order, as opposed to on the blog.

I hope no one is disappointed, but one has to do what is best for oneself. It's no fun if it becomes a chore, too time consuming and frustrating. Life is too short for that!

Let me know what you think and if you'd like to be on the Nature Letters List. There's no deadline--jump in any time.

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks.

H is for helium

2008-05-11T22:35:00.006-04:00

After several hours and a six mile walk at Grove Plantation, we sat down at a picnic table for a snack before heading home. We heard a loud hum and couldn't imagine what it was disturbing the peace and quiet of this lovely rural setting.

We looked towards the sound and were very surprised to see a blimp coming!!

It was brand new and so white. It was being delivered--it's first flight we found out later.

I passed right over head, not real high, so it was quite thrilling to see--it looked very big. Note the flag flying of the back.

And then it was gone and the only sounds were the birds again.

bwkrucke@gmail.com

G is for Grosbeak and Gorgeous Groupies

2008-05-10T21:38:00.009-04:00

I was going to start G is for Grove Plantation today, but another G got in the way. Look at this magnificent Blue Grosbeak that is visiting the feeder! Please click to enlarge.

From the front one sees only tiny hints of his pretty chestnut colored wings.

There, now those lovely wings show. Sorry about the chain.
I never realized how white the lower mandible is! Or that they had a barred area underneath.

LOL--the sun caught the lower mandible just right as I took this shot. He's eating a millet seed--you can see it to the right and the discarded husk to the left.

From the sublime to the ridiculous--a Cowbird! But I'll have to admit that he doesn't look half bad here.

Our state bird, the Carolina Wren, stopped by too. She has three young fledglings following her around today.

Mrs. Painted Bunting waiting her turn at the millet. She was banded last summer by the painted bunting study guy from the PBOT of the DNR.

And of course, the piece de resistance, Mr. Painted Bunting. You can see why his old name was Non Pareil--no equal.

It was a good day at the new feeder!

Comments and suggestions most welcome.

bwkrucke@gmail.com

Thanks

This post is my contribution to I and the Bird # 75 hosted by Gallicissa