I've been hit with spring fever! The daffodils bloomed and some are still coming out, so far no new frosts to kill stuff...I have not had to split firewood, and that is nice. I've had the windows open been having breakfast on the porch then going out to the "slab" with my dinner...(the slab is my new outdoor space on the cement slab where the old shed used to be)
Today I tried to detail it, sweep out the leaves piled up around the flower pots etc. with the leaf blower. I seem to have no control over those things! The leaves circle around and land behind me..
Last week when I went down to the "low country" to see the Long tailed Duck, I stopped at a couple other spots along the way back home...I figured I'd make a whole day of it...After the success of the duck I took off from the residential area where that duck was hanging out and made a bee line to Givhan's Ferry State Park. The Edisto River is the big draw there...it is the longest free flowing blackwater river in North America! I have always wanted to Kayak from Collerton State Park down to Givhan's ferry...it's a 23 mile paddle....I haven't even been able to buy a kayak yet...so damn! But it's not off my list, it's just You gotta have someone drop you off or have a car sitting at the end..WAWA... let me stop moaning.
Givhan's Ferry has a Florida feel with all the saw palmetto trees along the river's edge.
It was built by the CCC 988 acres of flood plain...there are some remarkable views but the trees make it hard to get a good vantage point...I love trees, I love views so I'm torn in both directions.
Riverfront Hall...
There's 25 campsites with hook ups, and tent sites, and cabin rentals too...there's 2 hiking trails...I did my walk along the river's edge.
Of course you can find birds everywhere you go...I ran into a lot of back-lit birds on this walk...this Carolina Wren came down to rattle at me...
And I spotted this eastern phoebe scanning the water for gnats and bugs...
I would really enjoy camping here once I get that kayak so I can enjoy some of those views...
Yellow Rump Warbler
My next stop was at Santee NWR. I hiked the Wright's Bluff Nature Trail...another place that really needs to work on access...the trail is so overgrown you can't even see the water...only one boardwalk brings you to the water and this one is overgrown with reeds...
I could hear tons of geese, ducks, and swans, but I could not see them...
I did see an Osprey hovering...
I picked out a Yellow Throated Warbler up in the canopy...
On the way out on the highway bridge I caught a glimpse of the waterfowl...
I'm thinking Tundra Swans about 30 of them...shovelers, wigeons, gadwalls and others that were just too far away, a nice boardwalk along this stretch of shoreline, just 100 ft would be awesome wouldn't have to cut any trees, it could be put right alongside the water's edge...because this is the most protected area,,,,a narrow leg out of the main body of water where the waterfowl concentrate. I should have put this in their comment box, but I feel it would be a waste of time...surely they know? Access is the biggest challenge to Eastern birding.
This is the current view of this section...the edge is muddy, and the view is obscured by tangles and scrub trees...I know it would be expensive but I'm sure volunteers would help build it. See the swans out there this would have been a much better vantage point to view the waterfowl. If people can't see anything they soon stop coming, then what???
I am not saying get a bull dozer in there I'm saying ecologically minded and sound access is important to protection of species and habitat. So on the way home I saw this really cool mural of Francis Marion, The Swamp Fox..It really shows all the awesomeness of the low country the Black Bear, the Red Fox, the humans on horseback the Cypress Trees and their knees... the Spanish Moss, the Great Egret.. and look really close on the right side just above center....
and then look carefully on that right side....
a Carolina Parakeet...extinct since 1918.
a Carolina Parakeet...extinct since 1918.
a crop of the image
The cutting of old growth forest is given as the most likely cause of the demise of this bird that used to live as far west as Colorado, as far north as Wisconsin...what a gorgeous bird it was...Our Ancestors....what were they thinking?? Maybe if they had known about this bird they would have thought twice about how it could have continued to live alongside them.
The cutting of old growth forest is given as the most likely cause of the demise of this bird that used to live as far west as Colorado, as far north as Wisconsin...what a gorgeous bird it was...Our Ancestors....what were they thinking?? Maybe if they had known about this bird they would have thought twice about how it could have continued to live alongside them.
I'm falling behind on posting so I will catch up this week..
PEACE
Every day is a new Adventure.
