Mysterious Waters

The “Upper Bridge” – that’s what they call this spot where I’m waiting for my friend, John. John, inventor and photographer extraordinaire, is bringing his specially-outfitted jonboat – think, “007" – tinkerings, extensions, and gizmos welded here or hidden there. The Wakulla River beckons to me with a boundless shimmery promise of adventure and mystery lurking in the lovely gardens in her currents flowing below me on this crisp March afternoon (click here).

Just three nights ago, I was at “the Lodge” for a meeting, and boated from the head spring... watched the last Hooded Mergansers on their journey north (click) and the shy Black-crowned Night Heron emerge from the reeds as evening approached (click) . Anhingas struck their famous spread-wing poses (click). Soon, puffs of clouds sailed across the darkening sky overhead (click). And later, flickering through a veil of cloudcover, the full moon filled me with awe (click). The Wakulla, meaning “Mysterious Waters”, heralds adventure.

One of John’s missions – or at least an excuse to be here – is to find a picturesque midstream cypress tree that can be lined up in a predetermined way with chosen stars of the winter night sky. He has long envisioned this photograph. We are scouting out possibilities.

Now afloat, we are assembling the johnnypod, a fifteen foot-high tripod on the bow of the boat. From atop this perch, the river takes on the bird’s eye perspective... that of a flying bird, as we cruise downstream. Approaching a fleet of kayaks, the paddlers gawk at our contraption. Never shy, John launches into conversation, quickly connecting dots and finding the mutual acquaintances with this group of Nature Conservancy employees. I snap away from my arial vantage point (click).

Turtles bask on fallen trees. Alligators are a signature sighting along the Wakulla. Sometimes they even share a log with the turtles (click). A wood duck passes cautiously (click). A cardinal alights on an overhanging branch (click). White ibis scare up from the reeds (click). An osprey calls out and lifts off from her nest (click). She circles and I follow her with my lens. Suddenly she drops and I lose her momentarily (damn!), missing her catch her dinner. Ah, there she is again, fish in tow, now headed downstream to a favorite dining perch (click). I “fly” over the river behind her.

Wait, it’s our dinnertime too. We stop (literally), locking the boat to the river bottom using long poles through sleeves welded to the boat. When making a photo using a long exposure, swinging around on an anchorline just won’t work. This jonboat becomes a grounded platform right on the river in such times of need. I might as well describe a few of her other unique features: she can house a roomy tent atop a large carpeted foredeck, even with the johnnypod set up overhead. She has spacious, dry, secure storage beneath the platform. There are other compartments carefully packed with tools, camping needs, foul weather gear, and emergency supplies. All this in a boat that is small and light enough to launch anywhere you can back the trailer to water’s edge. John breaks out a Jetboil stove, soup, cheese, crackers, and a bottle of wine. What lacks in garnish and cutlery is easily made up for in ambiance. We are serenaded by frogs, cicadas, and birds. The sunlight has dimmed to a golden glow (click).

Heading back upstream, from atop the johnnypod, I look back. John steers gracefully around the snags and curves with his outboard throttle extension pole. He looks very happy. Here he is (click) – my last image before climbing down to water level. As we race against light, I lie on the bow platform making photos of the river ahead (click). I experiment with long exposures and movement. Whoa! I like this one (click).

We are close enough to the ramp now to relax. The ancient midstream cypress has eluded us... no matter. We drop the “anchor poles” and watch the stars and bats appear. The bats are swooping all around us... no wonder, the mosquitos have risen from their secret dayrests as well. The temperature plummets as the darkness envelops us. We call it a day...a magical day on the Wakulla River.

Corkscrew Smorgasbord

A serious drought was causing Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Southwest Florida to dry up earlier and drier than usual. I was there at the end of March. The surface water was down to some shallow pools, several of which near the boardwalk. Having arrived at dawn, I headed straight for Lettuce Lakes. At the southernmost pond, I hit paydirt. It was within a day or two of drying up altogether and might as well have had a neon sign and arrow overhead to call in all diners. The small fish had been forced into such concentration that the pond was jammed with birds -- herons, egrets, ibis, storks -- all enjoying an eating spree. Three large alligators barely able to submerge and fit between birds had crashed the party as well. It was so entertaining that I had a tough time leaving, and stayed for several hours.

Every few minutes, one of the gators would pop up within inches of a wader causing a lot of fussing and shifting (click), but I never saw a bird look very scared. They were just annoyed. Though the gators looked like they could easily grab a bird, they seemed to be more content gulping down fish without all the feathers to deal with. An alligator would root around the pond floor, then stick his head into the air while opening and closing his toothy smiling mouth to help swallow his catch (click). The storks squabbled, sometimes clacking their bills and posturing for dominance (click). Herons of all kinds mingled - great blues, little blues, even a white morph, snowy and great egrets - amid the easy pickins (click).

There were many white ibis too. They seemed to be very efficient fishermen (click). A would-be thief thought so as well: Suddenly, a red-shouldered hawk swooped into the scene and landed in the mud where the water was already gone. She stood there and watched, standing high to keep her feathers clean, then flew low across the water. I noticed the waders duck and dodge but didn't think much more of it, and she was gone. But a minute later, she appeared again, this time not four feet from me on a branch (click). Ignoring me, she studied the scene with great intensity(click). Choosing her moment, she dived onto an ibis who had just caught a nice little bowfin catfish. The ibis dodged adroitly and the hawk was forced to land across the pond. Back and forth she went, divebombing every ibis who landed a fish. She'd land beside me every other attack. Finally, an ibis caught a fish that was going to take more maneuvering to swallow. The hawk saw the vulnerability, attacked relentlessly, birds squawking, the ibis dodging and clinging... finally fumbling the ball, er, fish into the air. Both players scrambled for the flying fish, then plunk, it was all over. The fish landed back in the pond, free for the moment. The hawk left, exhausted and disgusted. And the ibis went back to probing the shallows for another fish.

A relative peace descended again (click)... waders pacing and snatching, gators rising up to swallow, and the beautiful primordial swamp sanctuary (click) moving through its cycle .

A Visit to The Great Florida Birding Trail - South

The Great Florida Birding Trail (check out it's website) is an amazing compilation of birding sites in Florida. I had an opportunity to visit more than a dozen of the sites in the South Florida section during a trip down that way. I thought it would be worth sharing a thought and photo or two from each site I visited.

Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge was very cool. The staff and a lot of regular visitors are happy to share tips there. The highlights for me were Great Horned Owl fledglings (click), a baby limpkin (click) and her mother (click), and a mama gator covered with her babies, but there was much much more.

Green Cay Wetlands is not far away. It's a new water reclamation facility, beautifully done - a wading bird's heaven (click) - and popular people too. There were seas of flowers (click), ducklings (click), water fowl (click), and waders... well, this wader was flying (click).

Wakodahatchee Wetlands, also very nearby, is another reclamation facility. Loaded with birds and strolling visitors, I was able to view Great Blue Herons (click) and Anhingas (click) nesting from close range.

Grassy Waters Preserve in West Palm Beach is known for the its Snail Kites (click). Though I didn't capture any great images, it was wonderful to watch one hunting and catching apple snails.

Spanish River Park was undergoing restoration, but still cost $16 to get in! Nice beach and some serpentine gumbo limbo trees (click), but overall unimpressive. Nearby Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, on the other hand, was free and fascinating - helpful staff and cool educational trails (click) and displays .

Crossing the old Alligator Alley, now I-75, was disappointing. The Everglades Wildlife Management Area is virtually inaccessible (unless you bring your airboat). On the west side of the interstate, I first visited Rookery Bay Reserve. Looked like it would be great to explore by kayak (click). Also, a long boardwalk traversed several habitats (click). I found a large expanse of dried mud in which many birds had left tracks (click), so many that they crackled together into a geometric mosaic (click). One lone Reddish Egret fished beside a red mangrove (click).

Next stop was Eagle Lakes Park, a city park in Naples. Was I surprised! Behind the ballfields and playgrounds were huge wetlands ringed by paved trails, great for bicycling and bird watching. The birds must have thought it was great people watching too, for they were bountiful (click). Cormorants are usually solitary fishermen... not at Eagle Lakes (click).

Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park, a small barrier island park was more a beach place - for sunbathers and fishermen - than a birding place. However, there were some waders along the beach (click) and 3 pelicans waiting patiently near a fisherman (click).

Conservancy Nature Center in downtown Naples is a jewel. An oasis for wildlife in the urban jungle, I saw various warblers (click) and other critters on the trails (click), and nesting Yellow-crowned Night Herons and a Bald eagle from the boat ride (that is included in the $9 admission). There were also some good educational exhibits of animals in rehabilitation, like this loggerhead sea turtle (click).

Moving north to Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve, I was impressed by the extensive boardwalks, excellent staff, and plenty of wildlife. (click)

But the next day, I visited Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, one of the birding trails Gateway sites, and was really blown away. The boardwalks take you through various habitats, mostly cypress forest. It was quite dry at the time, so the water was concentrated in a few shallow pools where the wading birds (click) and alligators (click) were feasting on bowfin catfish in a mad feeding frenzy. (click). It was hard to leave these pools for all the action and antics. Near the visitor's center, I saw my first Painted Buntings (click).

On my way back to Tallahassee, I stopped at Celery Fields, a flood mitigation area loaded with birds - Roseate Spoonbills in full mating plumage to mating Black-necked Stilts (click). The whistling ducks were gone, but it was still a great stop. I saw a Great Blue with a big mouthful (click), and both Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs showing off their namesakes (click).

This was my second trip focused on the Great Florida Birding Trail. There are hundreds of sites scattered throughout the state... I look forward to the next chance I get to explore another part of the trail.

Hoot

Sea Pines Forest Preserve was listed as a South Carolina Important Birding Site at the local Audubon website. I looked it up before visiting there last week. Upon entering the preserve, I was impressed by finding 4 or 5 active Yellow-crowned Night Heron(click here) nests immediately upon entering the trail. They were very close and the herons seemed accustomed to people passing by. I got some great images of one of the YCNHs performing his mating dance. (click). (click for another). Further along the trail and boardwalks, I came upon a field of poppies (click) and some ponds with picnic shelters and such. But the wild parts called to me. I saw snakes, turtles, and many birds, including my first Orchard Oriole (click).

The real treat came at the end of my walk, when I heard a fluttering sound nearby. It took some searching, but I finally found the source: a fledgling cardinal that had accidentally landed in a small wetland pond. She was near the edge, but had sunk to her shoulders, her feet caught in submerged roots (click). She was flapping her wings helplessly on the water's surface. I grimaced at the span of deep mud, water, and poison ivy between me and her, but knew I was already committed to the rescue. When I got her untangled, I examined her to be sure she wasn't injured. At that point, she began crying out in distress. Almost immediately, a huge Barred Owl swooped in, nearly snatching her from my hands. The raptor had second thoughts at the last moment, but landed low in a tree just a few feet away. Wow! ...and darn!... naturally, I had left my camera on the ground near the trail, some 20 feet away.

By now, both cardinal parents had arrived and joined in the fussing. I decided to carry my hostage back with me to protect her and to see if the owl would stay put. Sure enough, I had plenty of time with the squawking youngster to get to my camera, put her under cover of poison ivy, and make a few shots of the owl (click) before it flew off in digust.

After hearing the story of the owl and cardinal, my 3 young cousins were itching to spend the afternoon exploring the Preserve again. Jack, the middle boy at 10 years old,proved to be the "eagle eye" of our group, spotting most of the birds we saw. As I was retelling the story onsite, Jack said, "there's the owl!" It was hard to see through the leaves so we shifted down the trail a little and were even more surprised to see not only the barred owl, but also his/her mate on a nearby branch - TWO owls! They were further away, but we had a great binocular-view of these two beauties. The cardinals were long gone, and peace had settled over the Forest Preserve. I mimicked the owl's call for the boys, "Who cooks for youuuu", and to our delight, we heard 'the real thing' from a distant 3rd owl.

It was a great day of adventure in the Preserve. Big alligators, lots of turtles, many wading birds, including 7 different herons/egrets. Thomas spotted the single Black-crowned Night Heron we saw. Charlie-the-snake-spotter found two banded water snakes for us. There were fields of wildflowers, lakes, swamps with winding boardwalks, many Yellow-crowns nesting along the lakes, and the great Barred 'hooty' owls of the Forest.

Fisheating Creek Revisited

Winding, sometimes obscurely, through the cypress swamps and vast floodplains northwest of Lake Okeechobee, Fisheating Creek is still considered a wild waterway. My friend, Sue, and I spent several days in December exploring all parts of the creek we could access. This was particularly challenging because the water level was VERY low (as evidenced here by the water line on the trees - click here). This meant we had to walk most of one 7 mile stretch, pulling our kayaks in shallows and over sand and roots (click).

On this section between Burnt Bridge and Palmdale, we came to deep pools from time to time, where all the alligators (usually strung out in the meandering swamp) were forced to congregate. It was a bit unnerving to come around a bend in ankle deep water to find 15 or more gators staring at you from the banks and the pool ahead. (Click here, and here). By 'deep', I mean maybe a foot or two... just deep enough for the gators to disappear into the tea-colored waters (which they all did within moments of seeing us). So crossing these pools in our boats felt like crossing a field of landmines - you never knew when a spooked gator might erupt as we crossed over him. We came across one nest of youngsters being babysat by a teenager. A few of the babies were fearless, even curious and swam over to my boat to investigate. (Here they are: click, click, click.)

Birds were abundant, too... like the black vultures... waiting for the carcus of a wayward paddler? (click). And the flycatchers resting on the cypress knees between forays over the water (click). And the black-crowned night heron eyeing me with one of his striking red eyes (click).

When we launched on the last section of the creek, from Hwy 78 to Lake Okeechobee (where the creek finally ends in the 'Big Water'), the sky was heavy with rainclouds. This section has been canalized, so it looked boringly straight and disturbed, but the lure of actually paddling into Florida's big lake was irresistable. I was pleased to see many wading birds, including the limpkin (now rare up in my Tallahassee neck of the woods). Even better, the limpkin didn't pay me much attention as s/he foraged along a beach. We took a small natural-looking side channel as we arrived at the lake, but soon ran out of water. No problem. We walked across the flats toward a small bay where numerous ducks dabbled. Suddenly a small flock of American White Pelicans flushed up from behind some grasses right in front of us. I had my camera ready and was pleased to get a good shot of them despite the low light with a handheld telephoto lens, and the suddenness of the moment (click here.) Where we were on the lake, there were numerous islands and peninsulae, so it wasn't like looking out at an ocean from a beach, but rather a beautiful scene of bay, cove, and strand... a waiting adventure for another visit.

In the end, there should be a sunset. In our case, there was rain... but here's the sunset from the beginning of our adventure, the upper Creek near the Hwy 731 bridge. (click) We arrived after a long drive just before sundown... it turned out to be our only sunny day.

Rainy Days in Cumberland

Cumberland Island, Georgia's southernmost barrier island, can be a photographer's dreamland: rich in wildlife, long stretches of beachs and dunes, a picturesque salt marsh, interesting ruins of an old estate, and a variety of habitats along the 50 miles of hiking trails.

A big place... so to cover much territory, you need to backpack, camping along the way, or else have a bicycle (with a basket for camera gear)... but no bicycles allowed on the ferry. (Why not?!) We knew the concessionaire rented bicycles at the dock so I brought my own bike basket for the weekend adventure. We planned to camp at Seacamp, the only campground, which is not far from where the ferry drops people off. The first glitch in our plan: no bicycles, except one junker whose chain fell off every 50 yards. The few almost-OK bikes (only kind they rented) were all rented out. Bummer!

A front was predicted to be moving through later so we got camp set up under magnificent wind-sculpted oaks (click) and went for a hike to the ruins of Dungeness. I have a few images from last year - so you can see the mansion on a sunny day (click). This day was gloomy with the imminent storm, so the appropriate image is of the "the imprisoned palm", a view from the mansion through an old iron fence (click).

I've included Cumberland Island horses from a year ago as well (click here), but this trip, my favorite horse image was of a pair out on the salt marsh with a passing sailboat in the passage beyond (click). The horses were brought here in the 1800s, but are now wild and have free roam of the entire island. They are neither friendly nor skittish, and number over 100, so seeing one here or there is likely.

There's one especially stunning oak near the boardwalk to the beach that I tried to photograph on a sunny day last January. The shadows made my images too busy to appreciate the massive sprawling tree. Well, this trip, the front moved in...bringing rain, cold, and wind... and it never let up all weekend. The "silver lining" was that this wet old oak tree glistened, and the gray sky cast no rays through the canopy, so I got a pretty good shot during a break in the rain (click).

Trying to keep my gear dry (along with myself) and lugging it on long bikeless hikes around the south end of the island in the rain felt miserable at times, but Cumberland is beautiful, rain or shine, and bad weather really cannot tarnish it's luster or allure. We'll be back.

St. Vincent and the Wolves

(click on 'click here' to see photos; then click your Back button to return to the blog.)
There are wolves on St. Vincent Island. We'd heard that. Even thought we'd seen their footprints on past visits. A friend spent 6 months on the island doing a research project and never saw a wolf, but the story is that there's a breeding program in which red wolves were introduced on the island and are thriving along with (also introduced) Sambur Deer and a host of other native fauna. While staying with Jeff and Sue at Indian Pass for a few days last month, we took a day to visit the wilder eastern end of the island.

Having had some bad boating experiences down there before (one day I'll write about them), we took every precaution with the boat. Picked our way carefully through the numerous oyster beds that seem to protect Tahiti Beach (click here) - that's the name of the beach at the east end - from much traffic. Only oystermen visit this treacherous part of Apalachicola Bay with regularity. They were a colorful crowd on this lovely calm low tide as we passed (click here). Jeff dropped us near the beach, then took the boat into deeper water for safer anchorage and paddled a small kayak to shore.

After dragging the kayak up to the edge of the woods, we ventured off on a small trail along a beautiful creek. Bluebirds and Pine Warblers flitted around us. (click here) Various hawks glided overhead. We passed an old boat house on the creek (click here) before coming to a ranger outpost (a nice cabin where our researcher friend had stayed). Soon after that we were deep in the forest heading for the lakes we'd seen on the map. We came upon 9 large alligators lolling in a pristine, picturesque cove (click here). It was early afternoon and time to turn back... but instead a new plan was hatched. Sue had always wanted to hike the length of the island (close to 10 miles including a few zigzags). We didn't have on hiking shoes, but somehow decided to push on. Jeff sacrificed and returned to the boat, planning to drop a couple kayaks at the west end for us to use to cross Indian Pass to the mainland. We planned to make it by sunset (3 1/2 hours and about 8 miles to go).

Almost immediately we got distracted off the trail by the lovely ponds, birds, and woods... and surprises. We lost an hour without even noticing. The surprises came as we returned to the trail - two wolves, a mama and 'teen' pup were coming up the trail toward us. Despite the fact that I was carrying 30 pounds of camera gear including a solid tripod, I was unprepared and kind of shocked by the encounter. (How many times do I have to learn this lesson?) We sat down and watched. They stopped and watched as well. A moment later a big black pig crossed the trail just behind the wolves. It was incredible. I made a few images - all disappointing (no, I won't show them here). After a few minutes of trying to figure us out, the wolves wandered into the forest and palmettos, and were gone.

We hiked on, ready for anything. After another mile, we realized we'd never make it by sundown, had no light, and there'd be no moon. The walk became a march, a real cardiovascular workout. Our joints and feet suffered, but we reached familiar territory at the western end with a few minutes of light to spare... in fact, we ran into Crystal (my wife) on the trail looking for us. As I reached the beach at the western tip, a huge flock of pelicans was gradually breaking up to fly off to their roost. The big sun dipped into the Gulf behind them (click here).

Epilogue: Jeff didn't make it back to the boat without mishap. He was stopped by rangers who said the area was closed due to controlled burning. When he explained that we'd just come from there, they gave him a ride back to Tahiti Beach through the burn zone. They were all aghast to find the kayak and paddle had been badly burned in the blaze and were unusable (click here). Jeff had to swim to the boat. Strike Three of boat mishaps in West Pass! (West Pass, 'west' of Little St. George Island is the break between the two barrier islands, Little St. George and St. Vincent.) The draw of the wolf sightings was so great that the four of us returned the next day to the same spot. We waited quietly for several hours without luck... well, except that the kayak and boat were fine when we got back to Tahiti Beach. There are wolves on St. Vincent. They are shy but they are there.
For more about St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge, visit the 'Supporters' website at http://supportersofstvincent.com/

a Bonanza Weekend at St. Marks

Weekend before last turned out to be a great time to visit the Wildlife Refuge. At dawn on Veteran’s Day, I was at Picnic Pond with my friend, Ross. A bow-shaped cloud stretched across the eastern sky bathed in orange by the not-yet-risen sun (click here). Within a few minutes, we had the golden light streaming across the pond and marsh. There is a bent oak tree at water’s edge there that I have long admired and often photographed. I couldn’t resist another frame of that lovely sentinal (click here). We found a trio of backlit roseate spoonbills preening not far away. Typically, they can be skittish, but we had good cover and made some nice photos while peeping through small breaks in the waterside shrubs. It felt a bit voyeuristic (click here). At the lighthouse pond, black skimmers were practicing their aerobatics (click here) and skimming for small fish (click here) over the glassy water. Along the shore, monarch butterflies flitted around goldenrod and other wildflowers, preparing for their long journey across the Gulf... not as many as last trip, but I lucked into one that had been tagged by researchers (click here). There was a Christmas Berry in full splendor (click here), and a Reddish Egret doing it’s ‘fishing dance’ in the shallow water. They literally prance while waving their wings to scare up small fish (click here). I considered this a prize sighting since I have so rarely seen these birds at St. Marks. And to top it off, this egret later flew to the remains of an old pier where s/he posed, showing off it’s ruffly mane, in the early morning light (click here).
The next evening, Crystal and I returned to St. Marks to check out the newish Cedar Point Trail. Some college kids built it about a year ago. What we found was a beautiful trail winding among cedars, sabal palms, and large clumps of prickly pear cactus in full fruit. From time to time there were breaks along the shore from which we could overlook the salt marsh. In the last hour of daylight, we were headed back when a big splash caught my eye (click here, notice the splash). After several more, we realized we were watching dolphins fishing in the shallow pools and coves of the marsh. Three of them moved towards us... actually right up to the shore where we stood. They herded the fish into ‘blind alleys’ and up against the shore, and then thrashed their tails (or whole bodies) throwing up a wall of water and sometimes fish with it. Hairpin turns, flying tails, geysers of spray, leaping fish... a genuine feeding frenzy. The ruckus went on for 20 minutes. In the heat of it, a great blue heron and kingfisher moved in close to try to pick off a stray flying fish. Finally satiated, the three dolphins headed back out to deeper Gulf waters. My images hardly do justice to the spectacle, but this series of three images best represent the scene. (Click here and then on 'next' twice.)

Memorial Park

I hadn't been to the sights of Washington, D.C. since I was a kid. Last weekend, we took our daughter to look at colleges. One dawn, Marley and I walked to the Memorial Parks. While Marley sat sketching beside Abe Lincoln in his grand memorial, I wandered out to the reflecting pond where I found a crowd of Canadians -- well, Canada Geese -- enjoying breakfast on the lawn. Afterward, they went for a swim, but not before posing for me. (Click here.)
Later that day, we found ourselves, footsore and weary, back in the same marble portico with Abe. As the sun and temperature dropped, suddenly Washington's monolith lit up in a rosy glow. I jumped up and snapped this image (click here). A few moments later, the magic light was gone and twilight was upon us.

Downstream with Manatees

A paddle on the Wakulla River is a great thing to do with a visitor from Wyoming. The sun came out as we meandered downstream to the sounds of purple gallinules and the sightings of gators and river birds. It was late in the season, but we were hoping to show Hendrik a manatee which we often see here in the summer (Oct. 28). About halfway down, in the distance, we saw the telltale puff of mist and a boil on the surface. We had to contain our excitement so we could approach quietly and calmly. There were 5 manatees feeding in the shallow clear water. Soon three of them broke away and headed slowly downstream. One jumbo, one large, and one small... presumably a family. We floated alongside for over an hour, all the way to our take out point. Each of them had scars on their backs from previous encounters with boat propellers, but they had no fear of us. The Papa travelled with Hendrik, often right under his 10 foot kayak, outsizing the boat. Once he even came up just beside Hendrik, blew his misty breath up at him and then nearly capsized the boat as his huge fan-tail lifted the stern. We said goodbye, thanked them for sharing their day with us, and blessed them on their journey out to the Gulf and beyond. (click here to see.)