Lake Sheldon
On Tuesday Feb 8th, Alice Nissen, Tom Douglas, Kurt Muller and Fran Wilcox met at the Garret Road put in to paddle Sheldon Lake. We were on the water by 10:20 am and had an absolutely great day for birdwatching!
Sheldon Lake was made in the 40’s to bring water to the war time industrial plants in the area. In the 1980’s it became a State Park. There are hiking trails, marsh lands and alligators! The estimate is around 100 gators; however, we didn’t see any on Tuesday. Tom explained to us that as the developers were making the lake, it was more cost effective to keep the excavated dirt in mounds instead of hauling it off. This seems to work for the bird community as there are some good islands for them to roost and nest. On the first little island that we paddled by, we saw a juvenile Ibis! As we continued, Kurt spotted the silhouette of a Bald Eagle on top of one of the trees. The eagle stayed for a bit, flew away and circled back. We saw blue heron, egrets and a plethora of anhinga. These guys do live up to their nickname “snake bird” as they swim through the water – especially the females whose heads and necks are tan/light brown.
We were heading toward the concrete put in off Pinedale Road and happened upon an island with what we thought, was an injured duck that perhaps was tangled in fishing line. After a closer look we didn’t detect any injuries or line entanglement and realized that it was an Egyptian Goose protecting his partner on their nest.
Egyptian Goose
Egyptian geese are native to Africa south of the Sahara and have an elevated god-like status. Some geese were brought to Florida and escaped. They are establishing themselves in the United States and sometimes you can see them along Braes Bayou. They are also hybridizing.
Along the way back we saw the lake’s overflow dam which looked like an infinity pool. We determined that the drop off may be close to 20 feet based on the height of the trees opposite us, but we did not investigate any further! We also got in a fair amount of bushwhacking and as we did so, found Apple Snail eggs attached to some stems and reeds in the water. We were off the water by 2:45 pm.
Tom and Kurt watching the bald eagle