Meri Martin Photography

This beautiful Grackle is one of the most invasive species in the United States. They are brilliant! They know to drop stones into water to raise the water levels, to reach things floating and previously unreachable. The learn and recognize individual people and they can mimic human sounds well.

A juvenile White Ibis watches the stick gathering of Snowy Egrets

Hope yall aren't sick of bird pics.....Great Egret and her little Great Egrets

These feedings look borderline violent! It's survival of the fittest on full display. Great Egrets

Roseate Spoonbills remind me of Oods. Where are my Whovians? They prefer a tropical climate, but occasionally we even get some in central NC!

Wood Storks! This pair was very lovey dovey. Guessing there were no eggs just yet. They were busy building up their nest. Most storks built at the tops of the trees, but this pair chose a lower location. Very kind of them.

Snowy Egret shows off his mating dance. The little tyrants have the funniest calls in the area. You find yourself mimicking them becasue its so much fun. They're fiesty little things

Roseate Spoonbill FINALLY takes off. My arms y'all! My arms were fried! Yes, I could have used a tripod. Should have used a tripod. Had one with me. In the car. Still, this was so much fun to capture.
The change over at the nest was in progress and they were just waiting for the cue to drop in with food. This was the drop.

These Wood Storks got into a tug of war over the branch. It belongs tot he one of the right. She spent a lot of time perfecting her precarious nest. This tug of war went on for quite a while before she finally secured the branch away from her neighbor.

Cattle Egret checking out another bird's sticks. Some birds find their own sticks, others wait and take sticks from unsuspecting birds. It's comical, unless you're the other bird

A Great Egret preening. Such a graceful bird