Estuaries
There are many estuaries in the state of Georgia, they are usually great habitats for wildlife because the conditions are very propitious for all kinds of species and the wilderness food chain is greater. In other words there are more opportunities for any kind of wildlife to find the nourishment necessary for survival and preserve their kind. Estuaries are of great importance for both wildlife and humans. Most great cities have been been developed near estuaries and have been utilized as inlets, outlets and still are being of great importance in our modern daily life. Of course they have also been neglected through the years and created significant ecological changes which have impacted with degrading the safety conditions of the environment in form of chemicals, pollution, sewers, industrial deluge and countless other pollutants. Fortunately there are many estuaries that are not in such conditions, those are the ones we should always protect for our sake and wildlife’s. We should always keep in mind that we are responsible for the condition of the legacy that we’ll hand over our future generations.
I find this estuaries rather beautiful too. Appealing to the eye or perhaps is just my clinical eye of an artist and photographer which is predominant. In any case, I bring you some shots to give you an idea of how my mind works…or doesn’t?
Click on images to see enlargements
Text and photographs © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101
H.J. Ruiz - Avian101 
This looks amazingly like the estuary not far from here!
Great! It’s good for wildlife! Thanks for the comment Julie! 🙂
Nice views.
Thank you Tom! 🙂
Did you come up & visit the Chesapeake Bay area, HJ?!! 🙂 LOL Seriously, your photos are so close to our area’s waters and marshy areas. Great shots!
No I didn’t Donna! My friend Julie from Australia made a similar comment! But don’t worry one of this days I’ll go and check the Chesapeake Bay area. Thank you! 🙂
Until about 20 years ago, California believed that estuaries were simply swamps that needed to be filled in and built on. Then the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake happened. The most significant damage and loss of life were the former estuaries in the San Francisco Bay area that had been filled in a built on. Now California is protecting its estuaries. There’s a reason why they exist, and it’s not to fill them in and build on them.
We have quite a few here in San Diego: Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, San Diego National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge, De Anza Cove, Torrey Preserve, San Dieguito Lagoon, San Elijo Lagoon, Batiquitos Lagoon, Agua Hedionda, Buena Vista Lagoon, and Loma Alta Marsh.
I haven’t been birding in all of them yet, but so far my favorite is the Tijuan River National Estuarine Research Reserve. What a name…………
Since the beginning of time, men has built their cities with access to large bodies of water for the obvious reasons, estuaries are the in and out for ships, etc. The world largest metropolitan cities were founded in estuaries, the only thing is that for many centuries they did not take account for natural changes or ecological impact of the modern era. Soon or later most of those cities will see the result of their miscalculations.