Great Blue Heron Reflections and a Turtle Lunch

Several weeks ago, I photographed a Great Blue Heron in the pool beside the bridge on the north side of the Centennial Lake in Maryland.

The bird was very still at first but then started moving around the edge of the pool - reflected in the water. After plunging into the water, the wings were arched to fling water off the feathers.

And then I noticed that the bird had caught something. It wasn’t until I got home and looked at the pictures that I realized it was a turtle!

Around our (Maryland) Yard in June 2013

The irises have bloomed profusely and the chives have gone to seed by early in June. The pyranantha has tiny green berries that will be brilliant orange by fall.

The dahlias and lilies are very green; at least the lilies have a few buds that the deer have missed. Hopefully there is enough other greenery now for the lily buds to go unnoticed and July will be a riot of color in the front flower beds - yellow and orange and red.

There are tiny bits of color in the sea of green - a wild strawberry and overly sweet smelling flowers on one of our bushes. The bees were finding the white flowers very attractive!

The big surprise of the walk around the yard this month was the turtle shell with a big hole that was in the backyard. There were bones rattling around on the inside but the soft parts were long gone. There was a turtle that put in an appearance in our back garden several times a season for at least the past 10 years or so; the empty shell probably means that the turtle continuity for our garden has ended.

South Carolina Aquarium

The South Carolina Aquarium is located at the edge of the historic district of Charleston and right on the harbor - with a great view of the Ravenel Bridge. My favorites of the many pictures I took are in the slide show below. The maps behind water (1) and on the floor (10) provided orientation to the area. Alligators (4) and pelicans (5) were both animals we saw elsewhere during our vacation. I had never seen the underside of rays (6) like I did at this aquarium and it was all because there is a ‘feed the rays’ exhibit and they rays are very good at positioning themselves along the glass of the tank to get the food! Have you ever watched a tank of jelly fish (8)? I found it intriguing and soothing in equal measure; they seem so graceful and relaxed.

Audubon Swamp Garden

The Audubon Swamp Garden is part of Magnolia Plantation and Gardens near Charleston, South Caroline. In late April, the egrets were nesting. The alligators and turtles were trying to warm up on a cool cloudy day. The boardwalk had quite a few photographers - some with fancy tripods and big lenses that were capturing the many birds and reptiles of the swamp.

The high point was an anhinga with hungry chicks.

This was my second trip to this location. Back in 2008, we were a few weeks earlier and the egrets were still doing mating displays rather than sitting on their nests with eggs or hatched chicks. It was a warmer day as well. Every platform held either an alligator or turtle. One held both - and the big excitement of the day for us was when the alligator ate one of the turtles!

A new electronic gate had been added to the garden….and the metal sculpture was new. I particularly liked the fiddling frog surrounded by spring green leaves.