Saturday, March 07, 2009

Paddleing the Wacissa River.....Eagles eating GBH? and The Big White Birds have landed.

Howdee all,

Yesterday we paddled down the Wacissa River with Dennis aka...Gator bait and his daughter Rhonda whom met the day before at Wakula Springs.
Dennis has paddled this river before........so we were in good hands.....besides....its always good to travel Gator country with bait..

The Wacissa is a clear spring fed stream ..12 springs according to this website.


Jeff and I haven't paddled in ...humm..... a long time. Thank goodness this was nice flat water.
No rapids..just a little wind to contend with.
We did hit one tree...it survived.

The scenery was beautiful and we saw great birds...Have you ever tried looking thru binos while on a canoe? Not easy...so looking at warblers was out of the question..


We saw at least 7 Bald Eagle,Red shouldered Hawks, Lots of Herons, Egrets, Ibis, Coots, Morehens, and the usual suspects. Heard a Limpkin.
But the real treat for us was The Swallow tail Kite a life bird for us.
No birdie photos. We just enjoyed the viewing with our eyes.

What you don't see here is Jeff and I bickering with each other for the first half hour...each blaming the other for not paddling correctly....finally Jeff admitted he didnt know why his steering wasn't working...and we happily paddled away ...I had to work xtra hard to help steer when we got off course!

We did see Alligators...several crossing the water before us...YIKES ....Luckily Gator Bait was in the lead!


It was a splendid day.
But the 10 miles had my arms
aching ..not muscle ache...just a dull all over ache.....I had to apply copious amounts of Ben gay type lotion, heating pad, and two Excedrin...went to sleep and woke up with no pain.
Thanks Dennis and Rhonda...for a great Day!


Today we had a late start.....We've done just about every trail at St. Marks wildlife refugee...So we decided to do a five miler that we hadn't done...It wasn't that interesting..but we did get some exercise. We later went to our favorite birdie viewing area location 130....
Where I spotted this Bald Eagle chowing down.... and Turkey Vultures waiting for the leftovers...
I was curious to see what it was eating...The eagle left and what i could see looked to me to be the carcass of a Great Blue Heron. Does anyone know if Eagle kill Great Blue Heron?



After checking out the Eagle we walked a bit further and scoped the area for birds.
Whats this flying in????


Oh..Cool...we have been here two weeks and this is the first time we have seen the White Pelicans at St. Marks.. there must be at least 100 here.....



I am wondering if they are starting to Migrate norther..

We are headed north in a week....Migrating with the Birdies...

18 comments:

  1. How far north are you going?Heading east ourselves on the 22nd and staying in Fl until April 5th and then heading north. (But no swamp riding for us!)
    We're getting back to Salem really late this year.

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  2. Gator bait LOL. The videos of the bald eagle and pelicans-very nice!
    I know Bald Eagles will eat ducks, so I would think they might tackle a heron if they had a chance.

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  3. Dawn,
    What an interesting story. Loved your paddle thru gator country and feel your pain with steering a canoe. Sounded like some fun was had, tho..good the pain killers kicked in.
    Loved the videos! Never saw an eagle take down a blue heron but did see evidence of one that had taken a Canadian Goose. A friend of mine actually watched the female Bald Eagle wear down the goose and drag it out of the water to the shore.

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  4. Sounds like you've had a wonderful time, Dawn. I've never been in a canoe. It must be a great experience.

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  5. As for gator bait,remember when it comes to dangerous wild creatures, the only thing you have to do is out run your partner! :)

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  6. What a gorgeous place for paddling, and birding. I'll bet you were a little sore.

    Where north are you heading next?

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  7. Arizona girl...
    You know my schedule now...via your blog..hope to see you.

    Janet...yeah i guess it could take a GBH..I just am trying to picture that encounter

    Tina...My arms are feeling fine now..the heating pad worked wonders

    Bobbie..you must try canoeing...go on nice calm water...

    Andy..Yeah I hear ya..I think i need to make sure I bring someone along that is slower than myself..

    Gaelyn.
    we are headed to Georgia...How bout u?

    Adele...dearest sista ...you are a goof head....and that is all I have to say.

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  8. I agree with Adele, the water is very green, so I guess I am goof head 2. I love those numbers after names. I also know that is one canoe ride I would not go on. Far too tiring and scary!

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  9. It looks so nice there and you look like you had a lot of fun in those canoes!

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  10. It all looks so beautiful and peaceful!I love the second shot - it looks like a (Florida artist) Ben Essenburg painting.

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  11. Hi Dawn, first time at your blog, looks like you have some great stuff, can't wait to explore more.

    Tom

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  12. Hi Dawn,

    Cool blog - thanks for the comments on mine. Interesting reading about your adventures on the open road. Hope you get up to Connecticut soon. Maybe we'll even run in to each other.

    Luke

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  13. mudder...yes you and sista are silly

    Kallen, yes great time had by all. luckily no alligators got us.

    Muse Swings..It was just lovely..I will have to check out that artist.

    Tom.. Welcome ...hope you come back again.

    Luke, will be in CT June July...sometime...maybe then

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  14. Enjoyed the photos and I can relate to those sore muscles. My sis took us up and down hills and along the coast line, down steps to the beach, back up steep steps...and then to bed at night on a hard bed..ha! My hips are so sore.

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  15. Sandy,
    Hope your muscles are feeling better..Sounds like you had a great trip.
    thanks for stoppin by

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  16. Cool Bald Eagle video!-'ve seen eagles take down ducks and Mergansers. I imagine that they could take a Heron if it was the right place and time and they were hungry enough. I could just image a GBH getting stuck in something and then having the eagle come down to take advantage of the situation.
    I just googled and saw the birdchick blog mentioned eagles going after swans and herons.

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  17. I got a nice McNabb jersey from sport-jerseys.biz.

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ok what do you really think?????