 William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Great Egret, Ardea alba, long legged wading bird. Walton County, Georgia, USA. Thursday, 4:03 PM - The dragonflies are quite numerous on the ponds behind the animal shelter. There is a constant flurry of activity amongst the aquatic vegetation. I spotted one such beautiful creature attached to a blade of tall grass. A closer look revealed this dragon was actively devouring another dragonfly! I identified this Common Green Darner by the distinct “eye-spot” in the middle of his forehead; much like a mesmerizing female cyclops seductress. Okay, so that is perhaps a dramatic description. Others describe this telltale feature as a bulls eye. The male features blue along the sides of the abdomen while the female features a greenish-gray.  Common Green Darner Dragonfly damselfly, Anax junius. Walton County, Georgia, USA. Insect cannibal. The Common Green Darner is one of the largest dragonflies. It is found in many parts of North America. These darners are active and voracious predators that will eat anything they can grab. They devour other aquatic insects ,including dragonfly naiads, wasps, butterflies and mosquitoes. But their diet doesn’t stay within the confines of the insect order. They reportedly also snatch up tadpoles, larval salamanders, and fish. Adults catch insects in the air and may eat them in mid-flight or on a perch. They also target prey from leaf surfaces or from off the ground. They are very aggressive hunters, constantly on the prowl. However, because of their aggressiveness, this predator can often turn prey. They are exposed and fall prey to predatory fish which break the water’s surface to grab them from the air. And on this particular photo-outing, they were falling prey to a much larger forager: a Great Egret. Once again, the cooperative Egret that frequents our pond allowed me within 25 feet! I walked with it along the ponds edge as it fed. Catching fish? No, not a single one while I observed. But in the 15 to 20 minutes I trailed this wonderful wader, it snapped up a dozen or more dragonflies. Swiftly picking them off blades of vegetation or directly out of the air. Walton County, Georgia  Great Egret, Ardea alba, long legged wading bird. Walton County, Georgia, USA.
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 William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Creepy fat spider, Argiope aurantia, yellow garden spider, black and yellow garden spider, golden garden spider, writing spider, corn spider, McKinley spider, St. Andrew`s cross spider. stabilimentum. Walton County, Georgia, USA. Wednesday, 9:21 AM - Houston Texas is underwater from Hurricane Harvey and creating a true disaster for the people that reside there. But oh how have the days turned beautiful for us here out of Harvey’s way. Lower temperatures. Lower humidity. Every day since Saturday has been much more pleasant. The Yellow Garden Spiders are still quite abundant. My daughter has been "fascinated" by a couple that have built webs in the juniper bushes out front our church. There are still several constructing their zigzag nets each night just over the water of the duckweed bog by the animal shelter. This morning, one particularly bloated gal caught my attention and begged for a photograph. Walton County, Georgia  Yellow Garden Spider zig-zag web; Walton County, Georgia.  Yellow Garden Spider zig-zag web; Walton County, Georgia.  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Green Heron camouflaged in pond vegetation; Walton County, Georgia. Wednesday, 9:28 AM - Heading back to my office after a short walk behind the animal shelter, a Green Heron coursed over the pond and landed on the bank not too far from where I stood. He must not have seen me, or would have chosen a different landing pad. I took a knee, but he quickly spotted me. He cautiously sauntered behind some tall grasses and kept and ever-diligent eye on my movements. I have spotted them quite regularly on the more secluded ponds far behind the shelter, but this is the first on main, more open pond. Perhaps this one is a juvenile born here and is more accustomed to our presence that his more wary parents. Later in the afternoon as I took in some fresh air, I could hear his guttural croaks coming from the aquatic vegetation on the far side of the pond. Having encountered them so many times this summer, I have learned their voices. Cornell describes their voice in this way: Green Herons give a harsh, explosive skeow call that, once learned, is a distinctive sound of wetlands. They give it while perched, when flying, or when disturbed by an approaching predator. When disturbed at the nest they use a series of raspy clucks, kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk. They also give grating screams. Walton County, Georgia  Green Heron camouflaged in pond vegetation; Walton County, Georgia.  Green Heron camouflaged in pond vegetation; Walton County, Georgia. 
 William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  Total solar eclipse of the sun photo passing under cloud taken at 2:26 PM EST from Monroe, Georgia, USA Monday, 2:26 PM - Today is the day. The climax of much media buildup. The Great American Total Eclipse will be visible here in Monroe, Georgia beginning at 1:07 PM, peaking at 2:38 PM, and ending at 4:02 PM.
My first look through the viewing glasses was at 1:18 PM. Wow! You can actually see it. A small dark, rounded edge of the moon was passing over the upper right edge of the sun. I went in and out of my office repeatedly over the next several hours making sketches of the eclipse progress. At approximately 2 PM, I could notice it getting a bit dimmer outside. By 2:20 it was noticeably dim, like wearing light sunglasses. And at the maximum, it was clearly much dimmer than normal. It was like late evening, but quite different. The long-shadows and ‘golden hour’ glow of evening were missing though it wasn’t as bright as midday. I wasn’t planning any photographs because I had read a special solar filter was needed. But when a coworker took a somewhat successful shot with his iphone, and didn’t burn up its sensor, I decided to try. I set my camera on a tripod and put a polarizer on my 300mm lens. Using live-view, I centered the sun in the frame and focused to infinity. With ISO set to 100, I choose a ridiculously fast shutter speed of 1/2000 seconds, and a tiny aperture of f/36. It worked. I was able to document the eclipse well enough and not burn up the sensor on my camera! Several shots looked like a detail-less banana on a black background. The most interesting shots were when the sun passed under the edge of a cloud. Walton County, Georgia, USA  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message  White long-legged wading bird Great Egret spear fishing on blue pond lake water. Long beak bill. Monroe, Walton County, Georgia, USA. Friday, 9:16 AM - Hot, hot, hot and humid. Each day has been a replay of the last: highs around 90°, humidity through the roof. This has been a pretty stressful week with some employee squabbles, a high maintenance “service dog” situation, and a neighborhood in an uproar over a pitbull attacking another dog. Thank God it is Friday, and that it is starting out quieter than the rest of the week. I grabbed my wildlife lens and took a quick walk up to the shelter pond in the rising sun to boost my vitamin D and get off my butt. A Great Egret was fishing on the main pond. Perhaps this is the same bird I shot back on August 10 and 11 on the upper pond? It is not at all skittish and I walked the perimeter of the pond with him. Even approaching within 40 feet, he still kept to his business of spearing small fish and snapping up dragon flies.  White long-legged wading bird Great Egret spear fishing on blue pond lake water. Long beak bill. Monroe, Walton County, Georgia, USA. It was fun to watch as some small prey would catch his eye. He would stiffen up, but shuffle his neck back and forth in a serpent-like fashion. If the critter was in range, he’d strike. We walked the entire back side of the pond together. As he turned the corner at the far end, the sun was no longer hitting him from the right direction so I went back to my office to get to work. Great Egret, Ardea alba  White long-legged wading bird Great Egret spear fishing on blue pond lake water. Long beak bill. Monroe, Walton County, Georgia, USA.  White long-legged wading bird Great Egret spear fishing on blue pond lake water. Long beak bill. Monroe, Walton County, Georgia, USA.  White long-legged wading bird Great Egret spear fishing on blue pond lake water. Long beak bill. Monroe, Walton County, Georgia, USA.  White long-legged wading bird Great Egret spear fishing on blue pond lake water. Long beak bill. Monroe, Walton County, Georgia, USA.  White long-legged wading bird Great Egret spear fishing on blue pond lake water. Long beak bill. Monroe, Walton County, Georgia, USA. 
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In December 1993 I came to know the Designer and Creator of this wonderful planet and its creatures: Jesus Christ.
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