Photo:Engage

“ Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph. ”  - Matt Hardy     You probably know that President Theodore Roosevelt directed the creation of our amazing National Parks, but did you know he also founded the National Wildlife Refuge System in 1903? On March 14 of that year, he established Pelican Island NWR along Florida's Atlantic Ocean coast.      Since then,  more than 560 wildlife refuges are in place across this country, and they're all managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  Each NWR unit can be a wildlife refuge, a conservation area, a marine national monument, or a waterfowl production area. The different units help with conserving native species that depend on that land or water to thrive by using scientific management  methods. And I think they're another of our many national treasures.     As I wrote in my post on Ap...

  “ You just have to live and life will give you pictures. ”  - Henri Cartier-Bresson      From native American fishing grounds to colonial homestead to plantation worked by slaves to hunting retreat to wildlife refuge, Pinckney Island in lowcountry South Carolina has witnessed much in its recorded history. I shared some details in my post from January 14, 2023...      I’ve referred in my recent birding posts to the beauty of Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. In this one, I thought I’d show you a view of the refuge itself. As you walk north along the main trail, off to your left past the marsh you will see Mackay Creek, a lovely blue sliver of water that also separates the South Carolina mainland from the island of Hilton Head. The creek is named for Alexander Mackay, the first European to call Pinckney Island his home. The island was later sold to the famed Pinckney family, one of whom was a signer of the Constitution. After the Civil War...