FIELD JOURNAL
The Anhinga We Had Been Waiting For
Congaree Heritage Preserve Wetland, South Carolina — July 11, 2026
We were out early, around 9 a.m., already sunny, hot, and humid. We’d come back to the wetlands hoping to find another great blue heron.
We found him — and spent the next hour trying to get close enough for the shot. He’d let us approach, then move. We’d close the distance again, and he’d move again. An hour in, we gave up and started heading out.
That’s when we saw the anhinga — a bird with no oil gland to waterproof its feathers, per its Wikipedia entry — drying its wings on a branch near the water. Unlike the heron, this one held still. We had the time to actually work the shot — Avery photographing, me on video — without the bird bolting on us.
It was a species that had frustrated us before. We’d either missed it entirely or lost the moment before the cameras were ready. This time it stayed long enough for both of us to properly document it. No other birds that day — just the heron that got away, and the anhinga that didn’t.
BEHIND THE PHOTOGRAPH
A First for Avery’s Growing Wildlife Portfolio
The encounter gave Avery the opportunity to add a species to her growing body of wildlife photography that had previously remained just beyond our reach.
This edit reflects an earlier stage in Avery’s process, favoring a darker, more stylized treatment. Her work has since moved toward natural light and realistic color, letting the bird, the wetland, and the available light carry the image rather than a heavy edit.
The encounter happened at Congaree Creek Heritage Preserve, a 1,286-acre SCDNR property that borders the Congaree River in Cayce, South Carolina.
FIELD FILM
Watch the Encounter Unfold
The accompanying field film documents the outing that began with a search for another great blue heron and became our first successful opportunity to both photograph and film an anhinga.
Field video filmed and edited by Heath for Apex Exposure Media.
FIELD NOTES
The Encounter We Did Not Plan
We spent an hour on the heron and never got the shot. It was only on the way out — tired, giving up — that the anhinga gave us what the heron wouldn’t.
That’s often how these outings go. You chase one thing for an hour and get nothing. Then something you weren’t even looking for holds still just long enough.