Juvenile Little Blue Heron Lookin' At Chu
CONDITIONS:
Water Level: 11 bars (very low – had to pole through several sections)
NOTE: “# bars” is a highly precise and scientific new measurement based on the number of cross-pieces exposed on the grate at the NE end of the lake – the higher the number, the lower the water
Temperature: not bad (mid 80s) – nice and cool in the shade
Clouds: Mostly Sunny
Wind: variable, from 1-8 mph (enough to screw up several photos)
Distance covered: 2 miles
I decided to get the boat back in the water so it would not get too brittle. It was a nice day, and the little lake was a happening place. Many people were out in their brand new Sundolphins and Pelicans, but not so many that they were not easy to avoid (taking out the literary eighteenth-century double negative, they were easy to avoid).
Nature included: Little blue, Tri-Color, Green and Great Blue herons, juvenile and mature Great Egrets, a cardinal, a blue jay, a couple of sandpipers, a squirrel, frogs, fish, turtles, dragonflies, damselflies and a Boeing 737,
There is no particular theme to this, so I’ll just post some of my photos in the order they were taken (got some good snapshots of some birds).
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Little Blue Heron
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Juvenile Tricolor
Heron |
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Sandpiper of some
kind (Lesser?)
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Juvenile Little
Blue Heron
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Juvenile Delinquent
Little Blue Heron
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Juvenile Little Blue Heron
going back to the hunt |
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Turtles
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Intense Great
Blue Heron
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Severely Inebriated
Great Blue Hero
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Reflections of a Log |
Toward the end of my little survey of the lake, at the west end of the island where it started getting shallow, I saw a turtle submerge. He tried to hide in the dense underwater weeds, but was not terribly successful. As I was looking at him, I noticed something shiny – a bright brass fishhook through his upper lip. I grabbed him at the middle of the shell and put him under a bungee on the deck in front of me, and paddled over to the nearest angler on the opposite shore. I explained our predicament and asked if he had some pliers, and he went to his truck to get some. I was able to cut through the hook and pull it through – a little battlefield surgery that will hopefully pan out for the poor little guy (gender assumed, no insurance).
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Turtle after Diving
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A Closer Look at
the Diving Turtle |
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Turtle Ambulance
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After releasing the turtle back to his hunting grounds, I cruised the shore of the island one more time, snapped a last few photos, and returned to base.
Color of Decay
Here are the maps of this delightful little escape:
Bonus Picture:
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| Grate Gage |
Link to Photo Album for more photos: Here