Diario de williamwisephoto

John 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: …I go to prepare a place for you.
Sitting in my backyard birding sanctuary on a...

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 38215789 - Eastern Bluebird; Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. April 2, 2017. ©williamwisephoto.com

Sitting in my backyard birding sanctuary on a Saturday morning and noting the different species coming to the freshly filled feeders, my eyes were drawn to a pair of Eastern Bluebirds. The male and female repeatedly crisscrossed the yard, alighting here and there upon the nest boxes, seeming to spend a moment in contemplation, and then moving to the next. It was quite obvious that they were choosing a place to nest.

When my wife and I moved back to Georgia in 2009, after we had prepared our home for us and our children, it was time to also prepare a backyard bird sanctuary and garden. In addition to the small pond, feeders, fruiting shrubs and honeysuckle vines, I wanted to prepare a home for the Bluebirds and built several nest boxes throughout the yard. To my surprise, the very first season, the bluebirds began preparing a home for their young and had two clutches per season every year!

But my joy is not only in preparing a home for the bluebirds, and in watching them prepare a nest for their young, but also in knowing a glorious home is currently being prepared for us! And the home He is preparing is no quickly built bluebird nest box! Our Savior has been preparing for 2,000 years now… what a glorious home it will be!

And since He so graciously has been preparing a home, we should be preparing our hearts! Luke 12:43-47 “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing...”

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 38215789 - Eastern Bluebird; Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. April 2, 2017. ©williamwisephoto.com

During our 2019, paddling trip through the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, we came across a unique...

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 21703998 - American Alligator; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. March 15, 2019. ©williamwisephoto.com

During our 2019, paddling trip through the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, we came across a unique alligator. It was on a cypress log just north of Billy's Lake. This big gator was missing the end of its upper snout. I suppose it could have been born with a deformity, but more likely it was injured in a fight with another gator. Its nostrils were missing and a good bit of scar tissue was built up along the edge. Several of the bottom teeth were missing as well. As it was sunning on a log, we pushed our canoe up for some closer photos. But as we crossed its comfort zone, it retreated into the water. We saw it again later in the day as we were paddling back to our camp at the Stephen C Foster State Park campground.

American Alligator, Alligator mississippiensis
Friday, March 15, 2019 at 12:56 PM EST
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, red trail East Fork Suwannee River
Coordinates: 30.83796, -082.34352

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 21703998 - American Alligator; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. March 15, 2019. ©williamwisephoto.com

At first, I thought this sciurid was coughing his insults towards us, but soon realized its attention was fixed elsewhere...

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 25278067 - Eastern/Gray Ratsnake; Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. April 6, 2013. ©williamwisephoto.com

When my daughter was younger and her interest in the natural world was growing, I’d try to take her hiking every weekend. Even on days packed with the other duties in life, we’d take a 20 minute path through the small greenspace of our neighborhood.

One Saturday afternoon as she and I were exploring the green space, an annoyingly persistent Eastern Gray Squirrel was constantly barking out an alarm call. At first, I thought this sciurid was coughing his insults towards us, but soon realized its attention was fixed elsewhere. Not too far from the base of the barking squirrel’s tree was a long, dark snake. This Eastern Gray Squirrel was fixated on an Eastern/Gray Ratsnake!

After getting a few photographs, I wanted my daughter to see the great climbing ability of Ratsnakes so I placed it on the side of a Sweetgum. Up, up, up it went without any problems at all! The alarmed squirrel soon took off, perhaps feeling it lost its previous advantage of possessing the high ground.

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 25278365 - Eastern Gray Squirrel; Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. April 6, 2013. ©williamwisephoto.com

Sure enough, the playback worked! He popped up for a few seconds ...

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 204281145 - Black-and-white Warbler; Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. March 23, 2024. ©williamwisephoto.com

Enjoying an afternoon of backyard birding, I could hear a Black-and-White Warbler singing in the tangle of vines and downed wood. I brought out my small portable speaker to see if I could get it to make an appearance. Sure enough, the playback worked! He popped up for a few seconds to explore the little speaker, even fluffing up his feathers in agitation at the supposed intruder. I got my photos and then let it be. (Frequent use playback is not recommended, particularly in breeding season.) A very striking bird in the muted earth tones of my small patch of woods. ​
Athens-Clarke County, Georgia USA

• Clouds and wind, 71°F, low 43°F.
• Sunrise 7:32 am; Sunset 7:47 pm
• Daylight Hours: 12 hours, 16 minutes (+2m 7s)
• Moon: 98.0% Waxing Gibbous

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 38374732 - Eastern Phoebe; Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. April 9, 2017.

Although it is the Barn Swallows that are busy about the posts on my neighbors’ front porches, it is an Eastern Phoebe that has once again attempted a nest on our front patio. Two years ago, the nest was destroyed before completion. Last year, the attempt appeared to be successful but was blown down by strong winds several weeks later, leaving unhatched eggs to perish under the overturned nest on the ground. This year’s nest seems of fine construction, neatly padded with fresh green moss, and has so far withstood one very windy day.

The Phoebe sits on her nest quite a bit. Perhaps the eggs are already there. She cocks her head as I come out the front door, and usually takes flight quite quickly. Last Saturday, while doing yardwork, I set up my ladder next to the juniper tree to get a higher angle photo into her nest. Each time I climbed the ladder, she would fly off, and all I got was a poor shot with flash. Today I used a longer lens to stay out of her flight zone. I managed a little more naturally lighted photo.

April 9, 2017; Athens-Clarke County, Georgia

“Sophie” is the resident alligator of Stephen C Foster State Park. She has been out there patrolling the waters on every one of our Okefenokee visits, and populates the boat launch with baby gators. My nature journal from March 10, 2015 describes our first meeting with Sophie:

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 29933513 - Sophie, the resident American Alligator of the Stephen C Foster State Park; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. March 10, 2015. ©williamwisephoto.com

Tuesday, 6:29 PM – We failed to see any gators out on the swamp boardwalk, so before heading back to camp we decided to check the boat dock and canoe launch up the canal. Amanda called out, “GATOR!” as a ripple splashed in the middle of the boat bay. “It went under right there.” We watched and waited for a minute. When it resurfaced, our gator turned out to be a rather large soft-shelled turtle.

A little bit further on, the water stirred and swelled just beyond the “Danger, Alligators Present” sign. Again we waited. After a minute we spotted a foot-long scaled creature just below the surface. But it wasn’t an alligator. We had been tricked again, this time by a Gar.

Twice tricked, but not giving up while there was still some light, we decided to walk further down the canal. Out towards the swamp we spotted a dark object in the lane between the lily pads. By the v-shaped ripples breaking in front, we could see it was travelling rather quickly in our direction. Finally, a gator, and heading our way! I began snapping photos even though it was low light. It swam all the way in and circled the boat bay; quite comfortable in close association with the visitor’s office. As the sky darkened, I tried some low-light manual camera settings. Using the flash brought out some beautiful red-eyed gator shots that turned out to be my favorite photos from the entire week.

We later learned from the park staff that this was Sophie, the “resident gator.” She frequented the boat bay and had babies along the bank opposite the rental canoes. Each morning and evening for the rest of our trip we stopped to say hello to Sophie. She calmly patrolled the boat bay in the evenings and occupied a small opening or harbor in the lily pads during the day. Just behind her daytime resting spot was a ramp of loose dirt up the bank; no doubt a convenient ascent to her nesting site. Our final morning of the trip, we were finally able to catch a glimpse of one of Sophie’s babies crawling out of the duck weed.

Prior to being set aside as a National Wildlife Refuge, White-tailed Deer were commonly hunted on the open prairies of the Okefenokee Swamp...

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 49829159 - White-tailed Deer hiding on Billy's Island; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. March 11, 2020. ©williamwisephoto.com

Prior to being set aside as a National Wildlife Refuge, White-tailed Deer were commonly hunted on the open prairies of the Okefenokee Swamp. In an excerpt from the 1926 book History of the Okefenokee Swamp, A. S. McQueen and Hamp Mizell describe why "Chase Prairie" received its name:

"Chase Prairie derives its name from the fact that it was a favorite place to chase down deer that would come out on the space to feed upon the grass and water plants. A number of hunters would gather with dogs around this large Prairie and some would chase the deer from the islands into the Prairie, while others would have boats convenient, and they were so expert with the little narrow boats used in the Swamp that they could propel these boats so swiftly over the water-covered Prairie that a deer would be overtaken before he could cross it."

Photographer: William Wise | An Okefenokee Swamp Prairie; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. October 24, 2020. ©williamwisephoto.com

The story of the Okefenokee's "Fetterbush"...

Photographer: William Wise | iNat Observation: 45350400 - Fetterbush Lyonia (Lyonia lucida; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. March 11, 2020. ©williamwisephoto.com

In the spring, the Okefenokee Swamp shrubbery is decorated with delicate rows of tiny, pinkish-white bells. These small flowers are of the Lyonia lucida bush. Although they look and smell like a sweet Valentine’s Day treat, they haven’t always been thought of so fondly, as revealed by a few of their common names: fetterbush, staggerbush and hurrah bush.

Fetterbush grows thickly and is often entangled with other shrubs and vines, such as the well-armed greenbrier. Being so thick, it fetters the legs of anyone attempting cross the swamp on foot. Fetters were prisoners’ iron shackles in a less politically correct age. In fact, when his weakness was exploited, the Biblical strongman Samson was “bound in fetters of brass to grind in the prison house.” Lyonia’s other common name, Hurrah bush, comes from the exclamatory shout for joy made by the swamp adventurer that finally makes it through the thickets and staggers into a clearing.

Sources:
-https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/lyonia-lucida/
-Schoettle, Taylor. A Naturalist’s Guide to the Okefenokee Swamp. Darien, Sea to Sea Printing and Publishing, 2019.