Yellow Crowned Heron
Wading birds are generally sleek birds with long beaks which they use to hunt in shallow waters.
The Yellow Crowned Heron is one of the most beautiful of all the Heron. I saw two Yellow Crowned Heron along the shore but they did not want their picture taken. Every time I got close to them they took off further down the beach. I had to keep following them to get a couple pictures.
Brown Pelican
I have seen a good many Pelicans hanging around and in flight. The most I have spotted flying in formation today was 27 but they were just too far away to get a good picture.
Baby Anhinga just about ready to leave their nest
I watched for about 30 minutes several of the mother Anhinga fishing and then landing near their young to feed them. They could hop around from limb to limb but just not able to fly yet. These couple of pictures of the Anhinga in the trees was over 200 feet away.
The Anhinga have webbed feet because they dive into the water and swim to catch fish. Before they can fly again they have to let their wings dry. That is why you will often see them with their wings spread. I posted a few pictures last year on the Anhinga, click to see my post from last year, Hilton head Large Birds
Baby Anhinga
Egret
This is an older Egret that was walking along the shoreline hunting for food. Once she saw me she got scared and flew off.
Egret
This Egret was catching minnows and eating them as fast as she could catch them!
Baby Egret in tree
I had to hike thru the woods hoping to get a couple of pictures of the baby Egrets but the trees were just to thick so I decide to shoot a couple of pictures thru the trees. If you look closely a these two pictures you will see baby Egret.
Baby Egret in trees
Great Blue Heron
This Great Blue Heron was hanging around a bridge where several children were fishing. When they caught a fish they would toss it to her. Someone along the way it looks like she has gotten hurt.
Great Blue Heron
This is the same heron in the first picture above, she heard my camera noise and looked over at me.
Michael's Woodcrafts 
What beautiful and interesting birds! Great post and photos, Michael. Blessings, Natalie 🙂
thank you Natalie!
just beautiful array of birds! great shots of them!
Wonderful photos, Michael, with such detail! What a marvelous place to get photos of these big shore birds. I miss the brown pelicans since we moved inland. Just love that photo, especially! Thank you for posting while away. Safe travels!
thank you so much Elizabeth! I like the pelicans too, they are all fun to watch!
Looks like you hit the jackpot! I really like the Yellow-Crowned Heron.
~Lindy
yes I did, thank you Lindy!
Hi Michael, what an amazing collection of birds.
Hi Cheri! thank you, they are all beautiful 🙂
Fabulous shots Michael! I sometimes see white egrets here, but right next to a road where I can’t stop to take photos!
Hi Cathy, thank you so much. I like seeing he egrets, they seem to appear almost anywhere even hundreds of miles from the ocean.
Beautiful captures, Michael. I’m always surprised at how graceful those big wading birds can be.
thank you Robin! I love taking pictures of these birds! 🙂
What beautiful birds! Since we moved to South Carolina we so enjoy the wild life here and now I can name the birds we actually see in the marsh. Thanks. Great post!
thank you, where are you located in South Carolina?
Beautiful photos Michael. I’ve never heard of the yellow crowned heron. It’s easy to see why it’s your favorite. The pelican reminds me of living in Florida.
I love all the heron but the pelican is pretty cool too! 🙂
We often have pelicans out back but ours are white and black and we have parrots but none of those big birds. Wonderful!
I had to google the white and black pelicans, never seen one of those before, pretty bird! I would love to see your parrots!!
These are great photos Michael! What lens are you using? I got a picture of an Egret this weekend but they were very skiddish and flew off quickly whereas the Blue Heron seemed to pose for us!
thank you Bernice, for these I used a 200 MM lens. I agree with you, the Egrets are more skiddish than the Heron. If the Heron know you have fish they will get within 20 feet of you 🙂
That is a good tip – I never have fish, ha ha ha. We thought the Egrets were white Herons. They are great shots – nice and close! 🙂