I have been to numerous wildlife refuges in the southeastern United States and I considered Sanibel Island and Merritt Island in Florida to be the best locations to photograph birds. But based in my experience last week, this one is the best due to the ease of accessibility to the marsh areas and the tameness of the bird life.
This park is located near Murrells Inlet in South Carolina and the first time I went there was in 1973. I visited this park various times throughout the years but the last time I was there was 2o years ago. At that time there was just an access gate (no entry fee!!!) and a narrow causeway that crossed the marsh to access the beach. The area was very rustic and the wildlife not as abundant and tolerating of people as they are presently. Now the park is more regulated with a campground, a store and a exhibition building as well as walkways over the marsh areas to observe the wildlife.
I was surprised as to the photographic opportunities here. The birds are easily approached or rather they approach you. So a 70-200 mm lens is more than adequate for most photographs. There were great congregations of great egrets, snowy egrets, wood storks, little blue herons and also got to photograph an anhinga and a roseate spoonbill; the later not commonly seen here. There were also ospreys and rails were heard but never seen.
The snowy egrets above are really jewels to watch and photograph. They would just fly in just next to me and start fishing like I was not there. The first one above caught what looks like a small crab that is about to be swallowed. These birds have problem swallowing shrimps and worked them by throwing them in the air to align the bodies along the length of the bill to swallow. While in this process another egret may try to snatch it away.
The great egrets were more agile at swallowing the shrimps. It is amazing that these birds could swallow a mature blue crab; one can see the bulk going down the throat. The great egrets will also spear fish but I did not see the snowy egrets doing it and limited themselves to minnow size fish.
The wood storks feed in family groups but when it came to sharing, that was not in their behavior and in the case above, it flew away with a blue crab. These birds just walk around with the bills in the water moving the head side to side.
As they wade they open a wing and form like an umbrella; I assume that they do this to scare the prey with the shadow or perhaps to create a shade to eliminate the glare from the water surface so that they can see better.
There is a lot of interaction among the wood storks. It appears that the two in the backgrounds were having an affair and when the one to the right approached closer, it was promptly chased away. Later on, one of the pair in the background picked a twig floating in the water and passed it to the other which in turn flew away; maybe they were making a nest. Part II will follow soon.
I used to visit Chincoteague in the early 1970’s when I started photographing birds but it has changed somehow for the worst and slightly for the better. In the old days one was not limited inside the park to specific roads as today but the roads were not all asphalted and one was not allowed to get off the vehicles. The town outside the park was just limited to the area around the bridge leading to the mainland and consisted of two main streets and one place to stay. Today all roads are asphalted with multitude of hotels and businesses catering to the tourists.
In the summer the beach is crowded with bathers but at this time of the year, the beaches are only visited by the migrating shore birds and a few fishermen. I noticed that the wildlife is easier to approach as they seem habituated to the presence of humans without been shot at. So despite the economic development, I would say that the wildlife has not been adversely affected yet.
I was rewarded during this visit with two new species of mammals that I have never seen before; the river otter above and the grey squirrel below. There were a couple of otters and these worked the shores of the ditches on both sides of the road leading to Maddox Boulevard. One of the otters captured an eel and ate it in plain view.
I ran into a gray fox squirrel while walking in the Woodland Trail, I was surprised as to their larger size and grey color. I saw wooden boxes in the trees along the trail and though that they were there for wood ducks nests, later on I found out they were for the squirrels. I also learned that they are about 300 squirrels in the island and it is a threatened species better known as the DELMARVA fox squirrels.
Lots of migrant snow geese and other species spend the winter here; in the day I was there I saw an estimated 1200 geese in the ponds. What is unreal is that could approach these birds within 30 feet even though they are hunted as soon as they leave the boundaries of the park; is like if they know the difference between a shotgun and my telephoto lens. It is magnificent to listen to their calls while landing.
I ended the day with a White-tailed deer running across the Snow Goose Pool and started my 3 hours drive home.
