Wacissa River 3-09

Back paddling after a long break. It has been along time since I have been out paddling. My shoulder is finally feeling better and I have taken up running. I have even started training for some triathlons this summer. I had a free weekend and decided to go paddle the Wacissa River. This is one of my favorite place to paddle. There is usually a ton of wildlife on the river. Today there wasn't as much as in past trips. It was such a nice day, however. It was really good to be back on the water. My boat felt good going through the water.

This is a Great Blue Heron that was hanging out on the side of the river. I watched him for quite a while. Then the wind blew me off the weeds I was sitting in and this was enough to cause him to fly off.
I have to check my bird book when I get home but I am pretty sure this is a juvenile White Egret. They start out dark and then turn white. Also in the picture is a turtle. They were both soaking up some sun. It was kind of cool and breezy.

This guy was definitely soaking up some rays. They have these swim platforms up in Blue Spring and this gator was hanging out. Not that there were people wanting to swim but this would cut down on the swimmers. He is only about 5 feet long but that was big enough for me. It was a very nice day out on the river and I am staying at one of the cabins at the KOA campground by Tallahassee. The cabins are pretty nice and it really cuts donw on the noise from the highway. Tomorrow I am going to spend some more time on the river early in the morning. 

Stay tuned

Wild life on the Santa Fe River

This was a group of Turkeys I spotted. This was the edge of someone's backyard right on the edge of the woods. This picture was taken early in the morning. There was another grouping of 4 or 5 just in the tree line. I wasn't able to get a decent picture of them. 

This alligator was cruising along in the river. It looked to be about a 6 footer. He headed over to the bank and I stayed on the other side of the river.  In the picture he is floating pretty high in the water. As I got closer he sank down until only his eyes and nose was out of the water and then he disappeared completely.

These 2 turtles had a nice little rock to sit on and check things out. They were keeping an eye on me as I passed by. Of course I was keeping an eye out for submerged rocks. I did manage to get a few new scratches on the bottom of the boat. 
I spotted this deer standing in the brush. As I got closer she started to walk up towards the trees. Finally she turned and looked back posing for a picture and then walked off into the trees.
This Yellow Crowned Night Heron was hanging out fishing. He looked at me once and then went back to fishing. I took a few pictures as the current carried me by.  
This snail appeared to be laying this eggs on the side of the Cyprus Tree. This was another early morning picture. 

I saw a good bit of wild life along the river including some Wood Storks , Red Tailed Hawks and some Cattle Egrets. I also saw 2 snakes swimming across the river in the rain so I wasn't about to get out the camera.

I have lots more pictures and don't forget Black and White Wednesday

Part 2 Silver River

Here are some more of the pictures from the last weekend. I figured the monkeys had their 15 minutes. Here is a close-up of a Cormorant. These birds actually swim underwater to catch fish. I love the color of their eyes. This one is looking right at me. 

This is a young Heron. I like these birds. They can range from almost black to a pale blueish gray. This one was just hanging out watching me pass by.

This Great Blue Heron was stalking some fish in the water. The current was sweeping my by pretty quickly so I never saw him catch anything. But I did get to watch him stalking fish which is better then either flying away or just standing there.

Here is an Ibis(R) and a Heron(L) They were hanging out among these lilly pads. The Ibis was busily looking for something to eat while the heron was just watching. 

It was a great day on the water. I took lots of pictures mostly of the monkeys but I managed to see many other things as well.