![]() 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 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
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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 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. 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
![]() 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 Friday, 3:37 PM – at nearly the exact same time, and sitting precisely on the same log, my cooperative Great Egret was spear fishing and preening once again. I was able to get even closer today. According to an article entitled Researcher lives his life with egrets, Friends University professor Michael Pearce stated the birds tend to be predictable in their daily patterns. “Once they establish a routine it’s pretty much like a milk run, the same place day after day.” Pearce could predict, almost to the exact branch, where a bird would be perched in a tree on the far side of the river. Just like humans, if the fishing is good, the egrets will keep coming back. According to Cornell, the Great Egret eats mainly small fish but also eats amphibians, reptiles, birds, small mammals and invertebrates such as crayfish, dragonflies and damselflies, whirligig beetles, giant water bugs, and grasshoppers. It hunts in belly-deep or shallower water in marine, brackish, and freshwater wetlands, alone or in groups. It wades as it searches for prey, or simply stands still to wait for prey to approach.
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 Thursday, 8:48 AM – all of the dogs in the shelter now have glamour shots posted. I have to get up from my desk and take a short walk. Sitting at the computer staring at a screen cramps my back and makes my head hurt. I take a short walk to the ponds behind the shelter. Although it is overcast and only in the 80’s, I quickly start sweating from the high humidity. A few hummingbirds were busy near the duckweed bog drinking nectar from small, bell-shaped, orange flowers growing out of the wet ground. According to allaboutbirds.org, the wonderful website from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “Ruby-throated Hummingbirds prefer to feed on red or orange flowers. Like many birds, hummingbirds have good color vision and can see into the ultraviolet spectrum, which humans can’t see.” 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 Thursday, 3:16 PM – on the upper pond, I spy a Great Egret fishing and preening from a small branch just above the green pond waters swollen from all the rains. I quickly take a knee before he sees me. Before even approaching the pond, I had all ready. My camera settings adjusted appropriately for the lens and overcast skies; my monopod already adjusted to a kneeling position. I could begin firing immediately. Several shots, then move closer… and closer… and closer. Quite the cooperative Egret! I sat for nearly 20 minutes and took 345 shots. That will take a while to cull and edit! Walton County, Georgia
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