Action!

This post contains a few short videos, hope you will enjoy them, and Im trying to keep the post length short I may add a mid-week post with other news of my week.

ON Sunday last we were finally able to line everything up just right to rent a kayak and paddle around at my hotspot on Goodale Lake, or better known as Adams Mill Pond.  We rented...the price is right! $7 for half a day basically you rent at 11 am and come back when you want because the office is only open from 11-12 noon.  When you come in you lock up your boat and leave your paddles and vest by the door. 

We've been talking about doing this all summer! My son did Nanny sitting duties so we (my sis and I) could both take off.  

We pushed off and headed for the paddling trail.  It's been several years since either of us paddled, but it's kind of like riding a bike?

sis leads the way...

We had planned to paddle the canoe trail, which is the lake channel...it is marked & located to the rear of the lake...  

this ARROW on the tree marks the entrance, the trail is one mile in length and it's a one way trail...so total of 2 miles. 

        the trail is lovely and quiet except for some distant thunder :(

So we did not paddle far and decided it's better to be close to the kayak landing area jic and that ended up being the best idea...we paddled around a couple turns in the channel and turned around...and back towards the lily pad area where we had seen Killdeer and the Little Blue Heron had flushed


...we found 2 (# 115 in my 5 mile radius) Least Sandpipers...the calls in the background of the video are the killdeer while the Least are not bothered by our presence...

The Anhinga dries... up in the flat top Cyprus that is a favorite spot of many of the birds...



 I got a new camera!!  I'm glad I decided to take the old one on this paddle, in case it got wet this is how the old camera can continue to earn it's place in my life...it can do the dirty work..lol so that's why this shot is blurred, is what I'm leading up to...the bird below makes #116 in my 5 mile radius...the White Ibis




             thanks sis for spotting this one...



Then we had to paddle to shore in double time cause the bottom fell out!!

We def got wet running for shelter! But what a fun time we had in spite of the weather and we are already planning another paddle...I do think I would enjoy having my own kayak...there's lots of places to paddle at the parks we have visited, and at the Sandhills NW Refuge.  

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

AUGUST--> then fall

I am trying to bid on a couple cameras on ebay, I got outbid right away so we'll see.  Tonight I was in a last minute literally bidding war.  It was seriously tense..I lost! I'm actually bidding on the exact camera I have!  I love this camera, hate that I damaged it, but each ding, drop, and bang was earned enjoying my life and living it with zest!  Still it takes good photos, but it does not want to focus on digital zoom. So birds are hard to capture if they are far away. 

I wanted to catch the tail end of the cool weather spell we were having so up at 6 am last Sunday... I was off to the hotspot and had some of the expected birds up and about...like this Anhinga already drying his feathers from his morning swim.

There was a lifting fog still clinging to the lake 

This immature Chipping Sparrow along with his brother was on the ground exploring this big new world.

This Great Blue Heron flushed up to the top of this flat topped Cyprus...

While the wily Red Shouldered Hawk lay in wait...hopefully not for the young birds I see frolicking all around. 

The good news for this day was a (#114) White Breasted Nuthatch I spotted harassing some red bellied woodpecker by accident...so another addition for the 5 mile radius.  This is my only July addition.  Got this one really awful for the record shot...then he zoomed off to deeper cover when the red bellied mama got after him. 

You can just barely tell what it is. At first I thought I caught his backside but nope its his face, beak turned to the left.  I'm busy turning those grey bars to green in my hotspot ebird bar graph.  I changed July to green, and now onto August.  Today is the 209th day of this yr.  Even if not one bird is around there is always something lovely to see.  

 

On Wednesday we took our picnic to Poinsett State Park, named for the Statesman Joel Roberts Poinsett who is buried a few miles away.  I got a stamp for my book and we enjoyed some exploring, it was hot so we didn't wander too far from the car's AC.

And as is the case in most of our parks, the Civilian Conservation Corp was working here in 1934-1942.  

We chose to sit in the shade and keep Mom on the cement covered areas...and that worked out great for us.  We were able to admire the beautiful work of the CCC. 

the Sluice of an old Grist Mill 

I was a bit remiss on getting photos of our day! We didn't see many birds around only a few..we had a list of about 12 including this Eastern Wood Peewee who I wanted to be something more but with long wings Im sticking on Peewee There has to be an easier way to distinguish these empids..this one never made a sound otherwise it would be an easy call...

there was some young with her/him.  

We checked out the campground, no one there only a host!  And the 4 rental cabins, looked nice and rustic, and there is a lot of hiking trails for later on when summer is over.  It is not very friendly to handicapped people...as we had to wrestle mom's chair over rough paths and roots, the restrooms had no handicapped stalls so that makes life a challenge.  We really love taking Mom along on our outings, and although she does enjoy it, it's also sometimes hard for her to enjoy it when access is so hard.  

We stopped at Gen Thomas Sumter's memorial park, he is buried there along with his wife, and son and other family members...

 

On the way home we stopped at Boykin Mill Pond and saw hundreds of Egrets! The entire far bank was lined with them in the trees.  We also saw lots of Little Blue Herons, Double Crested Cormorants, Anhinga, some unknown ducks and lots of White Ibis, and I saw at least one really dark Ibis, possibly an immature or even a Glossy, but flying overhead into a dull sky impossible to tell... this is possibly a rookery?  It is a privately owned pond, and there is a tiny town called Boykin built along it's bank but everything was locked up tight..

We had a busy week and it was a great one too...hope your's was the same. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

Coast II

Black Skimmers in with the terns...

This is where I left off with my last post on a day trip to the coast...this shallow pool up by the shore bird breeding area.  

Once I got down to the lower part beyond that grass was a small group of Willets, with Short Billed Dowitcher and one Greater Yellow Legs.  Two of these willets had one leg! They were hopping around

Up on the sign this willet seems to have a healed broken leg...

 the Western Sandpiper I saw was rare, but honestly it just has not been reported...like Jen pointed out no green bars in the bar graph basically for the last 2 weeks of June and the first 2 weeks of July, but I think that is only because its hot and no one has turned in a checklist so anyway here it is! 

 the Western Sandpiper..

I didn't see anybody list the American Oystercatcher so I guess I got lucky and saw these two..

I hoped to see the Whimbrel, but it was no where in sight...some areas were closed.  I had been up there 3 hrs and 45 minutes and I took one break but it was getting hot now and I was tired and ready to get back to the parking lot where I had my lunch waiting so I headed back...toward the jetty.  

I passed by the sand spit area now under water as the tide is coming in and earlier I had seen one female Black Scoter and now there was more...

The black male and females...there was about 19 all total most were on the beach...

And this ONE Surf Scoter was with them...

I had seen both on the Oregon coast but not these good looks from the high cliffs so this was good to see!  Also rare birds! My list ended up with 3 rare birds!   So  I head for the jetty and there's some Snowy Egret hunting along the rocks...

Some toes missing there...

The Great Blue Heron in the marsh grass blends in so well...

Brown Pelican 

The walk back along the dunes has signs like this one and is roped off to protect shore bird and loggerhead turtle nesting areas...

Dogs are not allowed in this area...the high tide was occurring on my walk back so I made a brisk walk and was pretty done when I finally arrived...I had my lunch under one of the picnic shelters...

there's a crab hiding in there...here is one just peeping out of his hole..

This bush is decorated by seashells!  The tide is doing the decorating...

It was so neat!!  

Lunch!

Then I went to the boardwalk, but with the high tide in, I saw more waders but I had hoped for rails and  sandpipers and other shore birds...I did see many Great Egrets, Double Crested Cormorants, and Anhinga's

One Tri-colored Heron, 

On the way off the boardwalk spotted some Wood Stork in the trees...

then it was time to head back home...the weather was quite different when I left at 5 pm, and much hotter inland...

On the way home I saw a cloud with a silver lining!!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.