"Refuge"

Gulf Fritillary butterfly on Passion Vine flower

And I mean that in a literal sense: intermittent treks around the new neighborhood are crucial to maintaining sanity and a healthy perspective while on hiatus in the South. Most students seem to either get consumed by the workload or couldn't care less about exploring the environment of where they're at (unfortunately the same observation probably holds true throughout the rest of many people's lives). There are some truly amazing places down in this neck of the woods swamps and opportunity abounds for seeing a spectacular diversity of new species.

American Alligator

There is a profusion of National Wildlife Refuges and other parklands up and down the coastal areas of Georgia and other neighboring Dixie states. Three that are close by Savannah are the Harris Neck, Pinckney and the Savannah NWR (the last two actually are in South Carolina).

Tricolored Heron

After a few hours of crawling around the bogs, I managed to catch a few decent portraits of some particularly beautiful species. But even the ones who aren't particularly known for their photogenic properties were still a highlight of the excursions, especially as in the case of the of the endangered Wood Stork, as the huge, stately birds were gracefully soaring above us. I aim to catch a sunset sooner than later at one of these refuges, as one of the greatest experiences I ever had was witnessing evening flocks of thousands of birds gradually gather together in the nightly ritual of immense rookery coagulations. Which is not to say quiet and intimate encounters of a solo species aren't just as rewarding.

Green Heron

I'll be uploading more shots over the course of my tenure back in the South over in a new folio over on Picasa in a new "Dixie" album.The temperatures just dipped all the way down into the lower sixties here, which is causing no amount of distress to many a local who are having to bundle up, but makes for perfect weather to this Homesick Alaskan.

"Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out." - James Bryant Conant