Carolina Safari Jeep Tours

01/16/2023

winter wonderland

11/29/2020

Everyone stay safe

11/20/2019

Ahhhhh

An Osprey in a dive. Photo: Wilson Chen

09/12/2016

At Huntington Beach today---Phil Lanoue....beautiful spoonbills...

03/08/2016

An Egret welcoming spring

Check out this Snowy Egret strutting its stuff out at Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet this afternoon. Great shot Alyce Lanoue.

01/02/2016

Happy 2016 everyone.....and some advice for you.....BEST!

Science made simple.

07/31/2015

Inlet reflections......It's a great summer.

04/17/2015

What fun to check this out behind Drunken Jack's restaurant in Murrells Inlet....

Every fall, goats are taken to a farm for the cold winter months, and every spring they're brought back to Goat Island in Murrells Inlet. Follow us on Twitte...

03/23/2015

We have spotted for the last week or so (at Huntington Lagoon near Pawleys Island, SC) a most unusual wading bird: roseate spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) with its 'spoon-shaped' bill that is at the end. The bird is also known as "Banjo Bill" and "Pink Chicken"--

The bill is lined with sensitive nerve endings that help it forage for food as it probes the bottom of shallow wetlands and marshes and swings its bill back and forth in the water. When it detects prey (such as small fish, crustaceans and other invertebrates) it scoops up the food in its bill.
The body feathers of the mature roseate spoonbill are a coral pink color and its wings are marked with crimson. This vibrant coloration is the result of the bird's diet which includes crustaceans---guess you need to eat shrimp to be "in the pink" . Of the five other spoonbill species worldwide, only the roseate spoonbill is vibrantly colored, the other species being primarily white.

11/04/2014

When you visit Alice's grave, you may find some coins there...left by other visitors to her storied site...here is some background on coins left at graveyards--haunted or otherwise.

I didn't know this.. Did you? Have you ever been in a cemetery and saw coins laying on a tombstone? There is actually a reason behind it.


COINS LEFT ON TOMBSTONES

While visiting some cemeteries you may notice that headstones marking certain graves have coins on them, left by previous visitors to the grave.

These coins have distinct meanings when left on the headstones of those who gave their life while serving in America's military, and these meanings vary depending on the denomination of coin.

A coin left on a headstone or at the grave site is meant as a message to the deceased soldier's family that someone else has visited the grave to pay respect. Leaving a penny at the grave means simply that you visited.

A nickel indicates that you and the deceased trained at boot camp together, while a dime means you served with him in some capacity. By leaving a quarter at the grave, you are telling the family that you were with the solider when he was killed.

According to tradition, the money left at graves in national cemeteries and state veterans cemeteries is eventually collected, and the funds are put toward maintaining the cemetery or paying burial costs for indigent veterans.

In the US, this practice became common during the Vietnam war, due to the political divide in the country over the war; leaving a coin was seen as a more practical way to communicate that you had visited the grave than contacting the soldier's family, which could devolve into an uncomfortable argument over politics relating to the war.

Some Vietnam veterans would leave coins as a "down payment" to buy their fallen comrades a beer or play a hand of cards when they would finally be reunited.

The tradition of leaving coins on the headstones of military men and women can be traced to as far back as the Roman Empire.

08/26/2014

Beautiful story of a bald eagle....kudos to Boone Hall for staging the release!!
Such a magnificent creature.

MOUNT PLEASANT - Not every 9-year-old gets a chance to touch a bald eagle, much less a feisty one. Barnett Glisson didn't hesitate to stroke the tail feather. Then he watched rapt as the bird leapt free.