Myrtle Beach Trip: DAY 3

Rick and I started Day 3 with another walk on the beach. That morning we discovered something new, Loggerhead Turtle Nesting Sites!

Because the beach at Briarcliff Acres is private access and it has so few people on it, 2 Loggerhead Turtles: endangered status, have decided to make the dunes there their nesting site! A Loggerhead has to be 30 years old before it can reproduce! The nests are roped off and protected by the North Myrtle Sea Turtle Patrol

SO MANY TINY CRABS!!! These guys are EVERYWHERE at low tide

 After our beach walk, we headed straight to Huntington Beach State Park again! We were not dissapointed.

Great Egret

This gorgeous Green Heron landed on the edge of the boardwalk and then pointedly ignored me while I got up close and took his picture.

The Green Heron is on a strut supporting the boardwalk while I crouched down and took this picture through the side, he was so close I had to back off my zoom to fit his whole beak in the frame!

Carolina Chickadee

A red wing blackbird takes an enthusiastic bath

Ground Dove - rare in SC

 At first we thought it was just a morning dove because of the spotting on the wings, but then noticed the orange beak and the head looked wrong, so I snapped a few pictures and the ranger informed us we'd found a ground dove.

Mourning Dove

Painted Bunting

Great Egret - he posted up at the end of the board walk

Anhinga (f) These fishing birds, also known as the "snake bird" because of the way they swim with just their head and neck above water, don't have oil glands the way most water birds do. So instead they have to sit on the shore with their wings spread to dry out. They're also hams for a camera!

Rick rolls down his sleeves in preparation for the onslaught of mosquitos that came every time we got out of the sea breeze.

A bright spider with a HUGE bug!

Common Moorhen

Common Moorhen - he makes chicken-like sounds and has HUGE FEET!

I was snapping pictures of the moorhen when a man and his 5 or 6 year son (the little boy was on a bike) met us on the bike trail looking for alligators. Rick walked back to show them where we'd spotted an alligator resting in the shade earlier, the alligator was still there so they took a couple pictures then started walking back.
I turned to go meet them, looking up in the tree branches for more birds (a chickadee was calling nearby) when Rick yelled at me "ERIN GET BACK!!" and there was a loud rustling noise in the bushes on the edge of the trail.
I didn't know what I was leaping away from for several seconds, I was staring at Rick who had jumped backwards the other way.

Between us, just on the edge of the trail, the 6-7 foot Alligator Rick had almost stepped on sat watching us. Rick had startled him when he yelled and the alligator shooting back into the cover of the bushes had been the rustling I heard. Nobody, including the alligator, moved for several more seconds, except the little boy, who tried to scoot closer to get a better look, and his dad who was NOT having it.

American Alligator

Alligators don't chew, so almost never take 'prey' they can't swallow whole, they also almost NEVER hunt on land, they like to just lie around and let fish swim within reach, so attacks on people, especially on the shore, are VERY rare. But at the same time, it's a huge, toothy reptile with the crushing power to shatter any bone it chooses, so we didn't want to do anything it might perceive as aggressive.

I very slowly scooted around the far edge of the path, (after checking for any more alligators!) my movement didn't seem to be provoking the alligator, so I took a moment to snap his picture before rejoining Rick and our new companions in a hushed retreat back down the path.

We'd only gone a few feet, but the Alligator apparently felt comfortable enough to complete his interrupted crossing to the marsh on the other side of the path.

When he came all the way out, snout to tail reached almost the entire way across the 8 foot bike path!

Semipalmated Sandpipers

Snowy Egret

brightly colored spider!

White Ibis

A tri-colored Heron

Wood Storks, despite being almost 4 feet tall, roost in trees! They look so funny up there!

Wood stork foraging in the mud

After another amazing afternoon at Huntington, Rick and I went back to Papa's to make him hamburgers for supper! He really enjoyed the Telsrow beef we brought down to him. He bragged about it to all his friends and even called his brother to tell him how good it was.