This was my first official club trip since the Buffalo Bayou Regatta last March. It was a beautiful day, and the little lake was so full of people when we arrived before 10:00 that we had to park quite a ways from the boat launch. Just like last week, almost all of the activity was on shore – we essentially had the wet part of the lake to ourselves except for one canoe right at the beginning.
Bill and Hazel Nixon and Bob Naeger joined me this trip. It was so nice to see these good folks in person again.
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| Bob Naeger |
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Bill Nixon |
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Hazel Nixon |
We got on the water about 10:20 paddled to the “grate gage” at the North of the West end of the lake (where it wraps around almost back to the start). I measured the distance between bars at just under 4”. The water level was just above the 5th bar, so about .9 bars less water than last week.
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| Measuring Grate Gage |
We paddled through the middle of the peninsula (still not too shallow). I took some photos of a great egret on the shore. We spotted a juvenile little blue heron in the trees on the island, and got a few snapshots of him/her.
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| Great Egret |
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Juvenile Little
Blue Heron |
Next we paddled to the east end of the lake, which runs next to SH249 (noisy). A tree was turning color, so I got a shot of it quick to prove that there are seasons in Texas. Then we wrapped around the other big peninsula and went as far as we could go, then retraced our route back to the start for a complete circumnavigation.
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| Texas Fall Color |
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Another Great Egret |
We paddled across to some shade at the island (30 seconds) and took a snack break.
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Bill & Hazel at snack break
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As we were wrapping up our snack break a Great Blue Heron buzzed us (no photo).
We followed a little blue heron for a while, but I only got one shot of it as it flew away:
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Little Blue Heron saying goodbye
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We went back to the quieter end of the lake where I wanted to show everyone what I thought were a couple of alligator slides (see photos in last week’s photo album). We all agreed that it looked very much like what we are used to seeing in Armand Bayou where alligators are resting.
And we saw another great egret (and you always have to take a picture of a great egret):
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| Another Great Egret |
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Same Great Egret
ready for take-off |
Then it was back to the put-in / take-out – on the ramp just after 12:30:
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The Fleet Returns
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Other wildlife observed with no photos were: Cardinals, blue jays, dragonflies, damselflies, spittlebug cases, fish, frogs and UFOs (other birds).
On the way to get my car to move it closer to the ramp, I ran across this little guy snuffing around in the grass next to me. When he realized I was there, it jumped and ran:
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Armadillo - last wildlife for this trip
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Here are the maps of our delightful little escape:
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| GPS Route |
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GPS Route with Stats |
Link to Photo Album for more photos: Marshall Lake - Wildlife Survey