An excerpt from my March 11, 2015 Okefenokee nature journal:
Wednesday, 9:20 AM – At the onset of the pontoon boat tour, our guide had asked us if there was anything in particular we wished to see. Of course, one lady ejected, “A BIG GATOR!” I more quietly let it be known that we wanted a preview of where we’d be paddling the next day. And that I also wanted to see birds. So far we had only seen very few. I had envisioned hundreds of birds; large rookeries of wading birds, huge rafts of ducks; but none of what I had envisioned had appeared yet. Ranger Jeremy said there are plenty of birds, especially in the evenings. When I asked about ducks, he replied, “The occasional Wood Duck pair, but not too much else this time of year.”
It wasn’t until near the end of the boat tour that we finally began to spot birds. As I focused on a trio of Cormorants on a limb, a large flock of Ibises flew over. A bit further on, an oddly colored brown and white Ibis puzzled me. “A juvenile”, Jeremy in response to my perplexed look. Overhead stood a stately Anhinga with his spear-like bill pointed proudly up toward the sky. And just before the turn back to the boat dock, a gorgeous Great Egret stood poised in a picture perfect pose, almost as if staged by our guide in attempt to satisfy his birdwatching customer.
iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/30037970
Okefenokee Photography Project by William Wise 