It seemed like things were pretty quiet around the lake this morning. We’re coming up on deep summer, the breeding season is winding down, and there’s plenty of food around. A good time to just sit back and relax a bit.

Humans, however, never seem to let up. I suppose if you mow hay on a hillside enough, a roll is bound to get away.

As I was working my way up the lake, I spotted a bird rather high up. From the size, I just assumed he was a Great Blue Heron, and tried to get a picture. A bird high up in the sky is a difficult photo target, because they’re small, and the bright sky can obscure any detail of the bird. Anyway, once I got a look at the picture, I wasn’t so sure about my identification.

A while later, as I was thinking I wasn’t going to see anything special today, I saw a large bird on the side of the lake, apparently well into brunch.

Ah, that’s what I saw up high, and yes, that was no Heron.

Yeah, a Bald Eagle, right here in Laurens County.

One of my familiars stops by the back yard (where the food is, of course):

The Ospreys were very active, cavorting in the air and working on their nest on top of the intake structure:

This is kind of interesting because it shows how their tip flight feathers splay and curve up to act as [what human aircraft designers call] winglets:

Of course, Osprey were using winglets long before humans produced the first inkling of aerodynamic lift.

Got a good look at this Heron from across a little inlet, who also got a good look at me, naturally:

A bit later, paddling out of the inlet, I reached for my camera to get a few more pictures of the Ospreys overhead, when I heard a floof floof floof right behind my starboard side. The heron passed within a paddle’s-length of me.

Ducks were hangin’ out:

and it was a good day for the Turtles to be out getting some sun:

Whenever I’ve become very familiar seeing something from one angle, like the spillway from the lake side:

I always find it interesting when I suddenly get a look at it from the other side. I was wandering around the Lake Rabon park below the dam when I suddenly realized “OH… This is where the spillway spills out!”:

It didn’t look like it had been used in a long time. If there were leaves on the trees, you could easily miss it entirely.

I know, where have I been? I’ve had a lot going on, a lot of which could be the subject of a Caregiving Thoughts post. But, finally, I have some creature material (as usual, click on a picture to get to a higher-resolution version).

The first creature featured is a Beaver, but unfortunately, I didn’t get the camera pointed before he splashed the water and disappeared.

The Osprey were much more visible at their nest on top of the water system’s intake structure. I’m guessing these two are the parents, and they seemed quite intent on what was in the nest.

A third Osprey was hanging out on the other end of the structure, keeping an eye on me. Perhaps he’s a family member helping out?

Now, ordinarily, I wouldn’t think much of encountering a spider web, but this one was on some old tree branches sticking out of the water a good 6 or 7 meters from the nearest shore. Can spiders swim? Or maybe she just ballooned out there and set up shop. Given the insects caught in the web, I’d say, so far, so good.


Of course, the obligatory Great Blue Heron picture. I got a lot of pixels on this one….

…just before he decided to take off and go to warp.

In another encounter, while out cycling, I crossed paths with a little Mockingbird, probably not much older than a fledgling. She was small and more stubby-looking than the normally slender adults, but the wing markings left no question that this was a Mockingbird.
In an encounter of a different kind, while we don’t think of clouds as creatures, the way the move, shift, grow, and change they can seem alive. Taken from high above Laurens County:

I like to be out early. Is this what you’d call the crack of dawn? The clouds were certainly broken, if not cracked. (For those just joining us, you can click on the picture below to get to a higher-res version you can zoom into.)

Up at the end of the lake, I found a Heron and an Egret hanging out, and they didn’t seem to mind my hanging out there too, as long as I kept my distance (or, really, their distance).

In fact, it surprised be a bit when the Egret decided to come over to my side of the lake. Maybe she didn’t get along with the Heron…


These fawns were hanging out on the shore.

While other Herons were conducting tree-top operations.

This Eastern Phoebe was working the trees along the shore.


Ooh, make that two Eastern Phoebes.

Moving to the other end of the lake, I floated into this little backwater lagoon and, odd, I don’t remember there being a rock there…

Or two rocks … and why did that small rock seem to be pushing around the big one?

Oh….

Not too bad a day for pictures. Of course, I came back from the lake with 261 images in the camera. Here’s the ones that are worth anything… (As usual, you can click on the picture to get to a higher-resolution version.)

The Saturday morning boat race had just gone by, and when the lake is still and just a little bit scummy, boats will leave a trail.

I got to the northeast end of the lake in time to find a Kingfisher…. well, this is where he was:

Oh, there she goes!

Over there in that tree…

With the other Kingfisher. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten two in one picture:

All this was being watched by an Osprey. Here’s a rare picture of a wild bird coming towards the camera.

Gotta include a Heron picture. This one was keeping an eye on me from across the lake.

…while I was taking pictures of the Killdeer. With the water down a fair bit, there’s more mud flats for them to pick around in.