Hey guys! These are some from my vacation to Kiawah Island, South Carolina last summer. While on a morning trip to a narrow channel between two shores I saw something I had never seen or heard of before. Small pods of dolphins were splashing up on the shore. I took a closer look and snapped off a few frames and discovered what these clever guys were up to! It seemed like they had found out how to have fun while getting food by splashing fish up on the shore and snatching them up as the fish flopped down. After doing a little research it turns out that South Carolina and someplace in South America are the only known places dolphins do this. Enjoy the photos. All are with a Canon 20D and Sigma 100-300. Here's where they were taken: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=kiawah+island&ie=UTF8&ll=32.575541,-80.146401&spn=0.007142,0.014334&t=h&z=17&iwloc=addr

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2 - Note the pink belly - apparently they get sexually excited while doing this.

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5 - After they were done feeding I followed a couple as they swam further into the inlet and they seemed to notice me too, because before I knew it one popped up not 4 feet from where I was walking and just kind of sat and looked at me. I pulled up the cam and snapped this. I know it doesn't give a really good idea of how close he was but it was taken at 100mm and this isn't cropped at all. It was a nice little encounter.


Hope you enjoyed, C and C is always welcome!
Matt
www.mattwierphotography.com

Nice behavior shots. Very interesting.
Jon

Cool stuff, I echo Jfarmer.

Tim

Thanks guys