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Hey y'all! On Saturday Big Red and I went for a paddle all by ourselves. Dot is working on a prom dress for her granddaughter and couldn't come out with me. I went down to Guana Lake with the hope of getting some good bird pictures but mostly some alligator pictures. I wasn't disappointed. I didn't see any ibis's or any other exotic birds, but there were a lot of other birds there. And the lake is full of shrimp. At times they were hitting the bottom of the kayak in such great numbers, it sounded like rain on a roof. Sorry, use of cast nets is not allowed on the lake. At least I think that is what the sign said. It was a breezy all day which turned out to be a good thing since the sun was so hot. The water in the lake is extremely low. The park staff do that every year to hold down the vegetation. Where I put-in at Six Mile Landing, the water was so low the kayak was in the mud for about 40 or 50 feet. I almost considered abandoning the trip because 'poling' through mud is hard work. Thankfully the water deepened enough to float the boat. About 1/4 of the total trip was in water about a foot deep. All that said, on with the show.

This is at the put-in. Normally you don't see any 'land'.

Looking south near the put-in. This channel was inaccessible. 

As was this one looking north. The only channel that was navigable was the main channel. Getting out and walking here is a no-no. You will probably sink in mud past your knees. In some places over your head. 

This bird is a stilt. I saw well over a hundred of these.

A great blue heron with a little duck friend.

From Donna: The 'black duck' is probably a coot.

Taking off. Great blues don't like people getting close to them.

This is the way I saw gators until it warmed up. Even then they were always about a hundred yards away and pretty much impossible to get close too. Gators are more afraid of us than we are of them. 

Another great blue getting ready to take off.

Pretty birds.

Another taking off.

Gangly and lanky. 

This is a limpkin.

From Donna: What you are calling a limpkin is an immature white ibis. 

I thought the bill was kinda long for a limpkin.

At first I thought this was a mating ritual of some kind. Those are two great blues. It turned out to be a squabble over territory since one of them took off but the other one stayed.

It sure was a sight to see.

One of the first gators I saw out of the water. When they are basking in the sun, the chances of getting close to them is much greater. When they are in the water, they can feel the pressure waves from the boats and paddles.

I'll trust Donna to tell what kind of bird this is. There were a pair of them flying low over the water apparently trying to scoop up some shrimp.

From Donna: I think the gull is a Bonaparte's gull, but I'm not great at the shorebirds. 

She may not be that great at shorebirds, but Donna is, hands down, our bird expert.

This guy was about a four footer.

Another stilt.

Normally all the land on the right is under water. And this whole stretch up to the reeds was only a foot deep. 

When things happen sometimes they happen fast. I saw this guy before he saw me and as I was bringing the camera up to get his picture a small fish jumped into the boat. The noise of the fish flopping around spooked the gator and he took off. After snapping this I scooped up the fish and tossed him out. Darn!

I forget the name of this one (Donna ?). He looks black until he turns a certain way like here and then he sort of 'lights up' in the prettiest blue.

From Donna: Both brown and black birds are grackles.

I'm no expert but I do believe this is a gator nest. I looked around for mama since it is pretty well known that female gators are extremely protective of their nests. She is probably hiding back in the reeds. Needless to say, I stayed a safe distance away.

This is a tricolored heron.

He saw me about the same time I saw him.

Another one caught dozing. If you can catch them napping you can get pretty close to them.

Leaving the scene.

Another big boy.

When I shot this picture I wasn't sure what I was seeing. This a cropped and zoomed in picture of the original. It's two gators side by side. Undoubtedly boyfriend and girlfriend. 

I caught this really big boy sleeping. He is every bit of 8 feet and quite possibly 9 feet or over. They say you can guesstimate the size of a gator by the distance from the nose to the eyes. One inch equals one foot of gator. Laying a dollar bill (which is 6 inches long) on his snout would have left plenty of space to cover.

Approaching as quietly as I can.

I'm not as close as it would appear. I used a telephoto lens. Which is a good thing as you will see.

Getting closer.

He was really out like a light.

Check out those choppers. This guy was really big.

Closer.

I wouldn't have wanted to be close to him when he did this. All he wanted to do was run and hide in the water.

I'm sure he wasn't too happy with me for disturbing his beauty sleep.

Another sleeper. 

A brown bird. Donna usually emails me and lets me know what I don't know. So when I learn you will too.

From Donna: The brown bird, a grackle.

As you can see I enjoyed my little outing immensely. Seeing gators in the wild has the same magic as seeing dolphins. Albeit seeing dolphins is a whole lot safer. All told I paddled over 7 miles. Of course passing up the boat ramp by 3/4 of a mile didn't help any. I sure do like my GPS. I had a very good day on the water. I only saw four other boaters out there, two guys in a canoe and two other guys in single kayaks.

At this point in time, Oupa Seane has said he wants to go out with us next Saturday. Of course we will take him up to the St. Mary's river which he has fallen in love with just from the photos he has seen. One other person has expressed a desire to go as well but she has to check her calendar. If anyone else out there would like to accompany us, please let me know. We enjoy taking others with us to share what we have. Which is a lot of natural beauty. Most people have this image of kayaks being very tipsy and unstable and that rolling over in one has a high likelihood. Not so. All three of my kayaks have flat bottoms and are very stable. In all honesty I believe it is easier to roll over in a canoe than in one of my kayaks. And I have all the paddles and life jackets. Food and beverages are your responsibility.  No big coolers though, just those small softsided things. And you will need some shoes or sandals that you won't mind getting wet. And sunscreen. Bug spray isn't usually needed until the yellow flies come out near the end of May. 

Email to Jack Woodward      mailto:  jackwoodward66@hotmail.com

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