BIRDS OF THE SOUTH

Since I will be moving to Virginia soon, I am taking special notice to the birds here in South Carolina. I won't be seeing them in the New River Valley area and each of them are unique and beautiful. The EGRETS are birds I see on a daily basis - there is always one or two along the edges of the many ponds in this Charleston suburb. They stretch their skinny necks and dip their heads into the water to catch a little snack or they just walk along looking very proper, minding their own business. Sometimes there might be an alligator sunning himself on the bank of the pond. The egrets just walk on by, no worry about being lunch to a hungry alligator. Sometimes they fly right over my house and I see a blur of white, knowing it is an egret. A few times a week I will see a Blue HERON near the pond. They are a large bird with greyish blue feathers and they walk with a deliberate step - one leg out and the next right in front of it, and so on. If you try to get close, they turn their neck and listen - soon they take flight much like a small plane - running and then suddenly in the air, wings spread, looking very regal as they take to the sky. Once in a while I get lucky and come across a bunch of IBIS. They are wonderful birds and such fun to watch. I have seen them twice in the past couple of months. As I was driving down a side road, about 12 of them suddenly started to cross the road in front of my car. They don't appear to harbor much fear. I stopped the car along the side of the road as I had never seen birds like this before. When they got to the opposite side, they began sticking their very long beaks into the grass with rapid jerking motions, lunching on grubs or some such thing. They walked back and forth and back and forth with no regard to the clicking of my camera. Soon, I had no choice but to leave - they were busy and happy eating their main meal for the day. The SEAGULLS I have seen at beaches in the past, but they are still fun to watch. I have come upon a strange large BROWN BIRD on two occasions. I have no clue what it is. It let me get very close to snap pictures and it moved very little, seemingly content to just be next to the water.

The pond that is next to the office where I work part-time is home to a male and female duck. We feed them and they come right up to us. They try to follow us back into the building, but that will never do. They are darling DUCKS and the male is very colorful. The PELICANS are grand - living by two rivers and the ocean allows me the opportunity to see them often. I am happy to have pictures of all of these birds and I will have memories of seeing them. When visiting the area in the future, I will look for them and remember when my home was in the same vicinity as theirs.