 William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the wonders of God’s creation. Song of Solomon 6:10 “Who is this, arising like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as an army with billowing banners?”  Prairie Warbler Monday, 8:04 AM – trying to catch a relaxing Labor Day morning before heading off to help at church. With the warblers arriving near my office in Walton County, I’m hoping to catch some new yard birds here at home. Not too much into my cup of coffee, a bright yellow flash streaks across my backyard and lands in the wilting Persimmon Tree. This brilliant bird is light up even more brilliantly in the rising sun. And yes, it is another Life Bird! Prairie Warbler. Clarke County, Georgia  
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 William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the wonders of God’s creation. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.Matthew 6:33  Mourning Dove Saturday – Putting my own weekend time off aside, I went on a long drive in the church van from Georgia to Kentucky to help an old friend outreach for his church. We stopped in Lexington overnight Friday and I did some birding in the hotel parking lot before the others were ready to hit the road. That afternoon while outreaching door-to-door in a Louisville, my attention was also avian inhabitants! Between that and a couple of raptors seen along I-75, I picked up 21 species for Kentucky! I put the Kingdom of God first and all these species were added unto me! 1 Canada Goose  Northern Mockingbird  Mallard ducks  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, AUGUST 23, 2018Walton County, Georgia. Friday, August 24 The ruby-throated hummingbird Archilochus colubris spends the winter in Central America, Mexico, and Florida, and migrates to Eastern North America for the summer to breed. Most common hummingbird seen east of the Mississippi River in North America. Perched on Pokeweed, a plant native to North America, South America and East Asia. Some members of the genus are known as pokeweeds or similar names such as pokebush, pokeberry, pokeroot or poke sallet.Photographed in Walton County, Monroe, Georgia, USA. Walton County, Georgia. August 24, 2018 Monday, August 27Walton County, Georgia. August 27, 2018. Tuesday, August 28The sun has not yet crested the trees at 7:30 AM. With the sun coming up later each morning my morning bird walks are getting shorter in order to start working at 8 AM. But still a good bit of warbler activity down by the duckweed bog. Walton County, Georgia. August 28, 2018. Wednesday, August 29Walton County, Georgia. August 29, 2018. Thursday, August 30Walton 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  Georgia whitetailed deer young doe. The white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to the United States. Commonly hunted. Athens, Clarke County, Georgia USA  American Beaver photographed in Walton County, Georgia earlier in the morning. 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 Some backyard birding in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia in August, 2018. 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 Great Egret Ardea alba heron wading bird on swamp pond in Georgia, southest United States. Large white heron with a large yellow bill and black legs and feet. Walton County, Georgia Back again on August 23...  Great Egret Ardea alba in swamp wetland habitat with reflection in water. The great egret, also known as the common egret, large egret or great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret in the United States. Photographed in Walton County, Monroe, Georgia, USA
 Great Egret Ardea alba in swamp wetland habitat with reflection in water. The great egret, also known as the common egret, large egret or great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret in the United States. Photographed in Walton County, Monroe, Georgia, USA  Great Egret Ardea alba in swamp wetland habitat with reflection in water. The great egret, also known as the common egret, large egret or great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret in the United States. Photographed in Walton County, Monroe, Georgia, USA And again on August 29...  Large white Great Egret Ardea alba preening on a log in a swamp wetland ecosystem. They hunt in marshes, swamps, streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, impoundments, lagoons, tidal flats, canals, ditches, fish-rearing ponds, flooded farm fields, and sometimes upland habitats. Walton County, Monroe, GA, USA.  Large white Great Egret Ardea alba preening on a log in a swamp wetland ecosystem. They hunt in marshes, swamps, streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, impoundments, lagoons, tidal flats, canals, ditches, fish-rearing ponds, flooded farm fields, and sometimes upland habitats. Walton County, Monroe, GA, USA.  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the wonders of God’s creation. "The list isn’t important, but the birds themselves are important. Every bird you see. So the list is just a frivolous incentive for birding, but the birding itself is worthwhile.”  Scruffy molting juvenile Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) perched on a fence post in Monroe, Walton County, GA. August 20, 2018 Photographing wildlife has been a favorite pastime since the ‘90s. But with an upgrade to a smartphone and discovering the eBird app early this year, bird listing has now become an all-consuming hobby. Keeping track of species totals by county and state fell right in stride with my obsessive-compulsive personality! The birding lists entered into eBird also contribute to science and conservation efforts. Bird species abundance and distribution can be charted through millions of lists submitted by eBirders. There is no denying the powerful contribution made by bird listing. But there is something more, I find, with photography and it keeps my camera in hand. The listing is fun, but can lose a bit of the personal connection with an individual bird. A tallied total of my “yard list” is great, but I also love getting to know the individual birds of my backyard. A photograph records and preserves an individual bird in the way a list cannot. But both are fun, and I continue to list and to photograph. My own personal challenge of late has been to submit a daily eBird list which includes at least one photograph. It has turned a hobby into somewhat of a sport! Walton County, Georgia USA  Great Egret individual I've gotten to know as it visits the pond behind my office each day this summer.  Green Heron; one of the more secretive individuals visiting the pond behind my office this summer.  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 Walton County, Georgia birding photography.  Juvenile Northern Mockingbird with feathers fluffed up. The northern mockingbird Mimus polyglottos is the only mockingbird commonly found in North America. Photographed in summer in Georgia, USA. August 17, 2018. 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 wading bird perched on swamp willows over Georgia pond. The green heron Butorides virescens is a small heron of North and Central America. Encountered a reclusive Green Heron on my birding walk today in Walton County, Georgia.  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, landscape, birding and nature photography blog documenting the wonders of God’s creation."Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Revelation 4:11  Great Blue Heron (Arda heordius) hiding in grasses of a Georgia pond in the summer. The great blue heron is a large wading bird in the heron family, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North America and Central America. "Part of the attraction was the way listing totally contradicted the general public image of birdwatching as a passive pastime. Keeping a list was a way of keeping score. The list could turn birdwatching into birding, an active game, even a competitive sport." --Kingbird Highway by Ken Kaufman Walton County, Georgia  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the wonders of God’s creation. "You must not eat anything that lives in the sea or in a river and does not have fins and scales. Just the thought of eating such a creature should make you sick. This will never change. So don’t ever eat meat from anything like that." Leviticus 11:10-11 ERV  Hooked giant Common Snapping Turtle destined for "mull soup". Notice the bright orange fishing line from the corner of his mouth. Photographed 8/13/18 in Walton County, GA. There are some traditions and recipes limited to small geographic regions of the world. One that is still available here in the southeastern United States is mull. Mull is “basically a soupy stew with fine bits of slow-simmered chicken in a rich broth thickened with crushed saltine crackers.”
A “mull” is not only soup, but the name for a southern communal gathering, as in “Chicken mull this Saturday at Faith Baptist Church”. Mull is cooked by the gallons and sold typically to raise money for a new church fellowship hall or for a local fire department. Most mulls are served with chicken. But there are still those that put hooks out in our southern ponds and fishing holes in order to catch our huge Common Snapping Turtles (Chelydra serpentina) into their stew. Adherents say it tastes great; and it may. But when it comes to eating turtles, I say, “What the heck for?” Now, my southern turtle-mull-lovin’ friends will probably chide me as some sort of animal rights activist. But I just don’t see the point in killing a cool turtle when store-bought chicken is so readily available. And if they were to hear my protests to save these big, ugly, brown, violently aggressive snappers, they would probably say the same: “What the heck for?”  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the wonders 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  Double-Crested Cormorant in flight; Walton County, GA. Friday, 8:32 AM – You never know what you’ll see. After literally hundreds of morning walks up to the pond, this morning there was something I had never seen before. At first I thought the splash in the brown murky water was one of the beavers ending a night of tree-felling and heading back to his home. But when the creature surfaced, it had a much longer neck than a Beaver! A Double-crested Cormorant popped up out of the water with a fish in his hooked bill. Since it didn’t immediately notice my presence, I was able to watch it fish for several minutes. Once his senses picked me up, he took to the air, circled the pond twice (giving me some great photo-ops!) and moved on. Although not a rarity for Walton County, that is the first cormorant I’ve seen on this pond, and not sure when I’ll see one again. Walton County, Georgia, USA  Double-Crested Cormorant 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 great egret heron bird flying over tree tops as sunrise. Monroe, Walton County, GA. The great egret Ardea alba, also known as the common egret, large egret or great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret.  White great egret heron bird. Monroe, Walton County, GA. The great egret Ardea alba, also known as the common egret, large egret or great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. 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  Large white Great Egret perched on a barbed wire fence of a jail in Walton County, Georgia, USA. The Great Egret, Ardea alba, is a large heron. Walton County, Georgia  Baby slider turtle swimming in pond; Monroe, Walton County, GA. The slider turtle Trachemys scripta is one of the most common species of turtle in the Southeast. It occurs in every type of wetland and is frequently observed basking.  Blue Dasher Dragonfly on green grass with dark blue pond in background. Monroe, Walton County, GA. The blue dasher Pachydiplax longipennis is a dragonfly of the skimmer family. It is very common and widely distributed through North America and into the Bahamas.  Tufted Titmouse  William Wise Photo Nature Notes is a wildlife, birding and nature photography blog documenting the wonders of God’s creation. -- Genesis 1:20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.”  Yellow Billed Cuckoo bird, Walton County, Georgia USA The yellow-billed cuckoos (Coccyzus americanus) are slender, long-tailed birds that manage to stay well hidden in deciduous woodlands. Photographed in Monroe, GA. For the last two weeks, since the Northern Mockingbirds have fledged, it seems that is all I see on my morning walks. Five Mockingbirds have continuously hung out near the berm of the firing range. It was no different this morning and I nearly walked by with indifference. However, I’m not sure what it was, but something caused me to look twice. Perhaps it was the way this bird just sat silently staring at me. Perhaps it was a tail that was a tad too long for a Mockingbird. Or perhaps it was the yellow bill. Whatever it was, when I stopped to take a second look, a new Life Bird was added to my list: a Yellow-billed Cuckoo! Cornell’s website says, “Yellow-billed Cuckoos are slender, long-tailed birds that manage to stay well hidden in deciduous woodlands. They usually sit stock still, even hunching their shoulders to conceal their crisp white underparts, as they hunt for large caterpillars. Bold white spots on the tail’s underside are often the most visible feature on a shaded perch.” An apt description of what I saw this morning. Walton County, Georgia, USA  Yellow-billed Cuckoo  A Ruby-throated Hummingbird was drinking Trumpet Creeper nectar not far from my life bird.  A Downy Woodpecker forages atop a Bradford Pear tree. |
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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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