When the great blue heron took to the air Saturday afternoon at Ravenel Caw Caw Interpretive Center, its six-foot wingspan was enough to make two little girls hush.

We saw the great bird by the marsh during a hike on some elevated boardwalks and through some of the six miles of trails in the county park. We crept toward it and stopped about 25 yards away. Suddenly it sprang into flight and soared away. Both girls, one 6 and another coming up on 3, gasped a quiet, “Wow.” Perhaps it is appropriate that the place on the center’s map where we saw the bird is listed as “Brackish marsh.”

You can see marvels every day at the park, some 650 acres of former rice fields and habitat managed for water fowl, songbirds, otters, deer and more. On Saturday, we spotted an immature bald eagle, egrets, dragonflies with stunning blue wings, lizards, squirrels and what we thought was a tern.

We didn’t, to the slight despair of the girls, see an alligator. (But that was OK with their dad.)

It was all fascinating and relaxing – and in our community backyard for just $2. There’s a great interpretive center and helpful people on hand to answer questions. And an adjacent classroom offers a place for activities and educational programs for everyone from kindergartners to college students.

Bird-watching is extremely popular at the park with species that are spotted being listed on the Center’s Web site weekly. Bird walks are held 8:30 a.m. to noon every Wednesday and Saturday. They yield great results, as highlighted with what was seen September 5:

“53 species were seen and/or heard on a coolish, partly cloudy, breezy, turn muggy, hot day. The most interesting were 1 Black-crowned Night heron, 1 Osprey, 1 Solitary Sandpiper, 3 Yellow-billed Cuckoos, 100 Chimney Swifts, 25 White-eyed Vireos, 8 Red-eyed Vireos, 100 Barn Swallows,6 White-breasted Nuthatches, 10 Northern Parula Warblers, 2 Yellow Warblers, 5 Pine Warblers, 6 Black-and-white Warblers, 3 American Redstarts, 1 Prothonotary Warbler, 15 Northern Waterthrushes, 1 Summer Tanager, 4 Indigo Buntings, 20 Painted Buntings, and 200 Bobolinks.”

Boy, how great it would be to see the colorful tanagers and buntings. We’ll be back to enjoy the park’s relaxing beauty – and in different seasons to experience how it changes throughout the year.

Andy Brack, publisher of CharlestonCurrents.com, can be reached at: publisher@charlestoncurrents.com.