 William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. -- Luke 12:24 Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them.  Tufted Titmouse bird, Baeolophus bicolor, chickadee family, backyard birding, Athens, Georgia Saturday - 7:50 AM Getting a chance to enjoy a sunrise with a cup of coffee on my back patio once again. 56 degrees, but the heater brings it up into the comfortable sixties. Two Eastern Bluebirds landed on the string lights over the turtle pond. Lidia said they were looking into the triple decorative birdhouses last week. Perhaps they will decide to nest in one this season. It may be a mess being right over the pond, but quite a thrill to have them just twenty feet from our patio chairs. 5:30 PM – I got to do my first backyard birding session with the Sigma 600mm. I sat quite a long time before any birds came. Other than a Robin and Ruby-crowned Kinglet, I shot the usual: Titmouse, Chickadee, Cardinal. 7:05 PM – On the back patio again. What a privilege: three occasions to relax in one day! It is strange to be so light so late in the day. A nice sunset glow illuminating the long grasses in the meadow behind the house. A Towhee sounds off regularly; most of the other birds have silenced already. Athens, Georgia Forecast: mostly cloudy, high near 75°. Chance of showers tonight; possible thunderstorm.  American Robin thrush songbird, Turdus migratorius , red breast, backyard birding, Athens, Georgia, USA  Carolina Chickadee song bird, Poecile carolinensis, backyard birding, Athens, Georgia, USA  Male Red Northern Cardinal bird, Cardinalis cardinalis, backyard birding, Athens, Georgia, USA  Tufted Titmouse bird, Baeolophus bicolor, chickadee family, backyard birding, Athens, Georgia  Male Red Northern Cardinal bird, Cardinalis cardinalis, backyard birding, Athens, 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. “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?" Job 12:7-9  Mourning Dove bird, Zenaida macroura, rain dove, turtle dove, Walton County, Monroe Georgia, United States of America Friday, 12:39 PM - Just as a brief break to keep the kettle from boiling over, I strolled out behind the shelter to the upper pond during lunch break. After last week’s hail and dip into frosty overnight temps, today is a beautiful, blue, sunny, 70 degree sky. A lone Mourning Dove sat peacefully perched on a budding Bradford Pear tree. Take a deep breath. It’s Friday!
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.  Job 38:22 Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble,against the day of battle and war? Tuesday, 7:06 PM - Hail! I have lived in Athens, Georgia for twenty-six years and don’t remember a hail storm like this! It came down in two rounds, each lasting at least five to ten minutes. The cracking was so hard upon the windows, I thought for sure the glass would break at any minute. Several large pieces bounced through the yard as the high winds pummeled the pieces into the ground. The poor landscaping really took a beating; one gutter came partially detatched; and the winds blew a two or three inch deep pile of “chopped ice” into the corner by the front porch. Athens, Georgia  Monday, March 20, 2017 - Today is the vernal equinox, or first day of spring. The sun crosses the celestial equator (north to south). Day and night length are nearly equal (hence, the Latin name 'equinox' meaning 'equal night'). The tilt of the earth's axis is perpendicular to the sun's rays. Forecast: sunny, high 72.  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the beauty, design and wonder of God’s creation. "Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them. Full of splendor and majesty is His work." Psalms 111:2  Dead White-tailed Deer road kill carcass of skeleton ribs, spine and bones picked bare by scavenger vultures and carrion crows. Walton County, Georgia. Friday, 5:22 PM - On Tuesday this week, on my ride home from work, I noticed a roadkill deer to my right as I drove out of Good Hope. It was surrounded and covered by a wake of Turkey Vultures. On Wednesday afternoon, several Black Vultures sat upon the carcass, sticking their heads between the bones. On Thursday, a couple of crows were present at the feast. Today, nothing but a perfect skeleton was left.
I was amazed to see how quickly and efficiently the carrion crows could clean a carcass. This may seem like a morbid, useless observation. But forensic scientists study vultures to help find and gain clues from bodies from crimes. Walton County, Georgia 
 Wednesday, March 8, 2017 - Took another day off work after coming home late from the Okefenokee. I spent a brief spell under the patio heater (57 degrees outside) before the unpacking, cleaning and storing of all our camping gear. It is a sunny sky after last night's rain. The knockout roses next to the patio are beginning to bloom!
Athens, Georgia  Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "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  A view of Minnies Lake in the Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. March 7, 2017. Excerpt from the 1926 History of the Okefenokee Swamp by AS McQueen and Hamp Mizell:
Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "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  Minnies Lake in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. Cypress Trees, Spanish Moss, Spatterdock Lily Pads, canoe kayak trails. In 1875, The Atlanta Constitution funded and documented an exploration of the Okefenokee Swamp. Over the next months, newspapers across the nation released many exciting stories from the Okefenokee Swamp, like the following…
Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "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; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. March 7, 2017. Excerpt from the 1926 Okefenokee Swamp journal of Hamp Mizell:
Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "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  Juvenile American Alligator basking, Spatterdock lily pad, duckweed, Okefenokee NWR, Stephen C. Foster State Park, Georgia, USA. As if signaling our departure from the swamp, a group of Ibises flew overhead, heading off into the distance. After returning to Stephen C Foster, loading the canoe and breaking camp, we went for one last walk. There was more activity on the boardwalk this time: a hammering Pileated Woodpecker, a flock of ground foraging Ibises, and a solitary white Great Egret. Several of Sophie’s babies basked in the canal; so small, so cute. Amanda wanted to grab one, but being illegal, had to settle for purchasing a resin cast of a baby gator in the park’s gift shop.
I’m so thankful that Amanda is still interested by these outings. I know I would not still be returning to the Okefenokee twenty years after my first visit if she had no interest. It is always a rewarding refresher to get away from civilization’s fast pace. But it is even more rewarding to spend the time with my daughter. These are experiences we will never forget. Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "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  Minnies Lake, Cypress Trees, Spanish Moss, Spatterdock Lily Pads, Okefenokee canoe kayak trail, Okefenokee NWR, Stephen C. Foster State Park, Georgia. March 2017. Photo #201703186_DT89456680 © William Wise - Dreamstime.com “This magnificent Swamp, one of the very largest, if not the largest, in the entire United States, is truly a nature lovers paradise. The scenic beauty and grandeur, with its changing vistas of island, dense bays overgrown with moss covered trees, open prairies covered with lily pads of incomparable beauty, lakes – from the miniature pools to the great ponds – infested with alligators, reptiles and fish, giant trees reaching far into the skies, and over all the flitting to and fro of the hundreds of water birds of every species, delights and thrills the heart of anyone who has a spark of the artistic in his nature.” Excerpt from the 1926 book History of the Okefenokee Swamp, by A.S. McQueen & Hamp Mizell  Big gator basking in sun on Cypress stump, Maidencane Swamp Grass, Okefenokee canoe kayak trail, Okefenokee NWR, Stephen C. Foster State Park, Georgia  Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Stephen C Foster State Park, Georgia  Basking River Slider Turtles on log, Billys Lake on Suwanee River, Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Stephen C Foster State Park, Georgia Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "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 Water Lily flower, Okefenokee NWR, Stephen C. Foster State Park, Georgia, USA. Photo #201703219_DT89464564 © William Wise - Dreamstime.com When one says, “swamp”, one of the first images related to the flora and vegetation of the habitat is, of course, the towering Cypress trees and flowing curtains of Spanish Moss. On my forth trip to the majestic Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, I spent some time to learn the other floral inhabitants of this beautiful ecosystem.
Second to the Cypress trees, the next most common image of swamp vegetation is that of the “lily pad”. Like shiny green dinner plates floating upon black water, the white Fragrant Water Lily, Nymphaea odorata abounds in the Okefenokee. These verdant saucers are garnished with large, white, sweet-scented flowers. Not only is the White Water Lily a picturesque part of the swamp, but it is an important part of the ecosystem. Wildlife such as Deer, beaver, and muskrat will eat the leaves and rhizomes; while the seeds are consumed by various waterfowl. The underwater parts of the plant also provide food and habitat for invertebrates, which are also sustenance for reptiles, amphibians and avian life. iNaturalist Observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35934505 Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "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  Baby American Alligator sleeping in the sun; Okefenokee Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. Paddling up the red trail just before 9:30 AM, we came to a pod of juvenile gators. What a serene scene. Many lay sleeping in sun, content with life and protected from their mother nearby. But not far above them, in winged an unobserved danger. A Red-shouldered Hawk silently perched above the baby reptiles’ refuge and cocked an eye to look down upon the spatterdock where the gators relaxed. Had this hawk become accustomed to picking off baby gators and was coming back for more? Life can be tough for young alligators. Hawks, large wading birds, mammals and even other alligators will dine upon baby gators. If they make it past this vulnerable state, wild alligators can reportedly live around fifty years. But a very low percentage of hatchlings make it to adulthood.  Red-shouldered Hawk in a nest. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the tip of its tail feathers poking over the edge of the nest on the right, and its head, eye and beak just above the nest on the left, right next to the limb. Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia. While we waited to see if the hawk would dive for a baby gator, a second Red-shouldered Hawk flew in. Diverting its gaze from the baby alligators, the second hawk was quickly chased away with piercing screams from the first. My daughter then spotted a nest high up in a Cypress where the hawk returned. I do not know the meaning of the interaction between the two hawks, but I do know the baby alligators were, for the moment, spared from becoming lunch.
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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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