DO-OVER

If you recall our kayak paddle on the nearby Goodale State Park lake a couple weeks back was interrupted with a deluge...so we had to get outta there fast or be swamped with water in our crafts...so we got an opportunity to go back last weekend. 

                                                                  calm waters no rain

Wouldn't you know it was the same time Hurricane Dorian was hitting the Bahamas and predicted to come to our area so the State Park officials decided to lower the levels of the park lakes including ours!  So on That Friday the lake level had already been lowered by 2 and 1/2 feet! See the water level mark here on these Cyprus trees

But notice all the white dots in the trees!! Great Egrets, immature Little Blues, Wood Stork,  all dotting the trees as the lake grew smaller.  

white ibis 

A drained pond leaves MUD and lots of it, so we dragged our kayaks in this manner to the pond...this is not us but some other strong women who would not take mud for an answer...

immature little blue heron 

great egrets and wood storks 

imm. little blue herons 

anhinga 

Other wildlife was puzzled and on the move as the water level continued to drop...this American Alligator was seeking deeper water...

great egret 

This combo includes 2 Great Egret, one Wood Stork, and the tiny guy just barely in the shot lower left of center, a Spotted Sandpiper!

....and this Least Sandpiper hangs with a flock of Killdeer..

killdeer 

We continued to see the lake bottom, and so we made the decision to get out of the lake before the shoreline receded more...

SO it was a challenge getting our boats of the water and back on the boat racks, this is as Sis noted a self service place! They unlock it for you and that's it, you have to get it off the rack, launch it, bring it in put it back on the rack and lock it up...We would love to go again, hopefully under ideal paddling conditions! 3rd times a charm right?

Our Summer birding season is officially over, now the hope is to catch some migrating birds....I'm up to a count of 119 In my radius as of Aug 31, and added one more since then... our September challenge is "how many shorebirds can you find in your radius."  This mud helped me with that 3 so far!  AND I moved this park to a tie for #1 hotspot in my county!  

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Day Tripper...

Mar. 10 Bear Island WMA-

I meant to do a post on my most recent finished projects on the House Make Over, but I never got around to taking the photos! My head is just not in it right now as it is SPRING! I mean it came so fast, it is now each day hitting the 80's for us. I've been so buzzed about Birds lately..I do take it "by spells" as my Grandmother used to say....meaning it is my focus for a while then it wanes, never fades tho.  Anywho Like I said ITS Spring...I'm on a bender of a sort....soon I'll be hoping for Warblers and other migrants to stop over!!

some of the shrubs in the yard

...decided to take my itchy foot down to the Low Country and to Bear Island WMA, to check out the ponds before the changing of the guards and the migration is in full swing.  This area is located near the Ashepoo River not too far away from Charleston...its about a 2 - 1/2 hr ride for me..put my coffee in the cup holder and off I went...Casey came along but he was happy to nap in the back we had the windows down and air felt NICE!

Ashepoo River 

along the same road is the Airy Hall Plantation...C-1701

this plantation once consisted of 16,000 acres and rice was the main crop

The Wildlife Management Area means they cater to hunters...which I hate but as a birder you will hear the argument about the duck stamp yada yada yada, anywho its a great place when its NOT hunting season..

ebird showed a recent Ruff sighting, I don't have a scope...must check ebay for a bargain on one..... if I saw it I didn't recognize it...Shorebirds are a great mystery to me...they all look alike in the winter/fall plumage, I am trying very hard to improve and that's partly why I made this day trip...  So here's some of what I did see; lots of Northern Shovelers,



and quite a large number of Green Winged Teals

And quite a lot of shorebirds were present! I am still trying to figure out exactly who I saw....of course as is usually the way they were on the Far Side, and with the sun behind them...so good photos didn't really happen. I squinted till I was nearly blind!  Helped a Turtle across the road..

An awesome sunny day was had by me and quite a few other birders who car pooled in.... am I a bigot if I say they all looked alike too? Individuality is dying....
These Spanish moss covered trees make a natural bridge over the roadway...very dramatic...

Down at the Hog Island pond spotted lots of American Avocet,  and one Forster's Tern

Here's an Avocet resting they were so busy catching small crustaceans swishing their heads back  forth...

....kinda made me dizzy just watching...

Greater  & Lesser Yellow Legs were plentiful...

and am going with Dunlin on these and the smaller one a Western Sandpiper 

Pretty sure those legs are dark....but to me this is a Reddish Egret. 

and a Bald Eagle soared over me a few times...

tho this is not a good clear shot Im thinking this is a Least Sandpiper 

and several Glossy Ibis were around...

saw 2 alligators, it was warm so most were in the water cooling off...

I almost stepped on a snake! I scared it so bad it nearly jumped 3 ft..

and the A. White Pelican flew over looking like a crop duster---- he was so big! I swear the wing spread seemed to be 8 ft across...

so it was a fun Day Trip and I hummed Day Tripper by the Beatles of course all the way home, "it took me so long to find out... but I found out....lala''

back home: The Eastern Bluebirds in my yard have already starting nesting, and soon our hummingbirds will arrive for the season...Looking forward to seeing those guys!! 

Can't believe how fast the winter went this year, now we have to turn the clock forward, I protest!! 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

Farther into the Everglades

I did stay back at Monument Lake Campground in the Big Cypress where I have been the past 2 nights, so after my visit to Shark Valley I decided to have an easy afternoon, so Casey and I went back and I wrote out some post cards I purchased at the Miccosukee Indian General Store the later we drove to the post office to mail them! Yes there is a post office in the Big Cypress Preserve.  

And it just happens to be the smallest US post Office in the nation!! Ochopee zip 34141. 

My post cards should have the famous Ochopee post mark!

On the way past Shark Valley to the rest of the Everglades via roads you must pass through 2 towns...Homestead and Florida City.  Many of the visitors wanted to do an airboat ride I'm not really into that kind of thing...there are numerous places to do the airboat rides along this road, Hwy 41 the Tamiami Trail , I like to just go at my own pace.  

And you have to stop at Robert is Here! Its a fun fruit and veggie market.  All kinds of seasonal foods, and some imported stuff too...

I got a very sweet mango, and Robert himself cut it up for me! I got a couple tomatoes too.  Its def a fun stop.  I was very tempted to get one of these coconut heads...

The coco frio is like a chilled drink, they bore a hole for you and you turn that baby up and enjoy a fresh chilled coconut milk!  So Shark Valley is really way over by the boundary of Big Cypress..I suggest you look at the Everglades Map, and you see how its laid out there are only a few roads...Then its a bit of a drive to get to the rest of the park.  I took hwy 9336 out of Homestead and the first thing in the park is the Ernest Coe visitors Center.  The Coe V.C. is nice and I got my passport stamped with the Centinnel stamp the NPS is 100 years old this year and the Everglades Stamp also.  They have a nice but small Gift shop My next stop was the Anhinga trail which is a short boardwalk.

 

The water was very clear and blue here..lots of lily pads with longggg stems you can see right down to the bottom where the stems are rooted.  

One great thing I saw on the anhinga trail was this purple gallinule he was walking around on these big pads on top of the water...

Only saw the one tho...and just off the boardwalk was yet another alligator! He was being bothered by  people wanting selfies with an alligator...I really did NOT like that.  If the gator should decide to strike out HE would pay the price for these stupid tourists.  Some got much closer than this fellow and some crouched down low in order to get the gator right behind them...I gave the crowd and the gator a wide berth..

Here is a zoom on this gator he was very alert...

On the Gumbo Limbo trail I found this really tall palm could be a royal palm so many kinds of Palm and I did not pay good attention to the names...

And here is a cool web in just the right light...

My next stop was at the Pa hay okee boardwalk...A beautiful overlook of the saw grass marsh.

I met these 3 Britts with some really awesome lenses, They had no tripods so holding them steady was a challenge...

we all had a good laugh about it, including them, they were breathless with the effort...a good AB workout Im sure!  And what were we all trying to photo--- This Great blue heron in the grass..now we see how the camo of his feathers work.  

Then  I stopped at the Dwarf Cypress forest...

4 ft above sea level...wow 

I really liked the huge leathery ferns..look how BIG!

Saw more gray Gnatcatcher

More scenes from the Dwarf Cypress  area

I finally made it down to the Flamingo Visitors Center and the campground where I would stay for 2 nights...

There is a marina and a beach but its a muddy kind of beach (found out the hard way) not the sandy kind you enjoy a walk on...and the Florida Bay. 

There was a huge flock of Black Skimmers here...

they would flush and then return over and over...can never get enough of these colorful birds!  

and lots of Laughing Gulls on the dock...by the marina

In the visitors center a board to write sightings..

Couple of things listed there I can def check on!! More in next post..

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.