What's That Shadow?

  • 3 Raccoons Raccooning in Water

    3 Raccoons Raccooning in Water

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    There were 4 raccoon kits born in summer 2024. Not sure if one of these is the mama, but 3 of 5 raccoons are still around. I like to thing that two moved on to new homes of their own in the neighborhood. The waterbowl always brings them around. This is a big wide bird…

  • White Ibis Eating Bugs

    White Ibis Eating Bugs

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    Adult white Ibis flock with a couple immature Ibis feeding on bugs / insects in front yard in Charleston SC in Dec 2024. Ibis usually hang out together in flocks or colonies but can also be seen alone or just a couple at time. They love the front yard because it’s loaded with bugs. We…

  • Bluebird and Brown Thrasher at The Waterbowl

    Bluebird and Brown Thrasher at The Waterbowl

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    This young bluebirds chilling at the waterbowl in Charleston SC when a brown thrasher lands and starts running and hopping around looking for beetles and bugs. We have cardboard mulch down in some of these areas making the brown thrasher have to work a little more to get through it and under the pine straw…

  • Turkey Vulture Sunning Horaltic Pose

    Turkey Vulture Sunning Horaltic Pose

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    This turkey vulture is sunning with the sun on his back on our dock in Charleston SC in Dec 2024. Adult turkey vultures wingspan is about 6 feet. This position is referred to as the horaltic position. Outstretched feathers can be for thermoregulating (warming up or cooling down), drying feathers or for killing bacteria or…

  • Marsh Raccoon w/ Pluff Mud Feet Scurries Through Fog

    Marsh Raccoon w/ Pluff Mud Feet Scurries Through Fog

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    This is one of five raccoons (1 mama, 4 young ones) that visit our marsh back yard in Charleston SC. The wide angle shows fog not snow, but the closer camera is so close that the fog is not seen. Raccoons love to hunt and fish at low tide. It’s easier for them to see…

  • Possum Drinking From Waterbowl

    Possum Drinking From Waterbowl

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    Opossum (aka Possum) is the only North American Marsupial. Marsupials are mammals with pouches. Possums give birth to live young but then the itty bitty babies climb to their mamas pouch by their abdomen and latch onto a nipple where it hangs out for a couple months. I do not know if this possum is…

  • Spotted Sandpiper Courtship mating ritual?

    Spotted Sandpiper Courtship mating ritual?

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    These two spotted sandpipers are on our dock in Charleston SC oct 30 2024. They are either two nonbreeding adults (hence – no spots) or two juveniles. It’s hard to tell because of the back light. The wings up and open and tail feathers outstretched makes me think they are flirting and not having a…

  • Female Osprey Eating, Pooping, Feaking

    Female Osprey Eating, Pooping, Feaking

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    This is a female osprey eating in an oak tree next to a Charleston SC marsh. The osprey brings in a half eaten fish, eats it for around 8 minutes and finishes with the fish tail. She poop shoots, cleans and hones her beak (called feaking), and takes off. We know this is a female…

  • Female Banded Kingfisher Chilling On A Pole

    Female Banded Kingfisher Chilling On A Pole

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    Female banded kingfisher on a pole in the marsh in Charleston SC. Female kingfishers have a rusty band on their neck and sides. Kingfishers have black beady eyes and legs and a white dog right next to their eyeballs that make their eyes look white, but that’s just an illusion.