Remember a couple days ago when I told you about the fire ant hills. Well on this island there are a lot of those hills. If you don't know any better it just looks like a mound of dirt....kind of like a large mole hill.
However, the second you step on one (or disturb it in any way) thousands and thousands of fire ants explode out. Mike hit one with a stick as we passed it so I could get a picture. Sorry the picture isn't all that good.
Okay, on to more pleasant things! At the beginning of the hike you could see the lake that is on one side of the island. It is a huge lake but we only saw a couple boats.
It was a hot day so the dogs decided to take a dip as soon as they got off leash. Sparkie wanted to chase birds but mostly ended up just pointing and cocking her head.
In the beginning was a very large field. I just happened to look up and see a beautiful Red Shouldered Hawk sitting atop a tree.
As I tried to walk closer he decided to move on.
After the field we came to the trail. It was so pretty.
On one side was a thinly treed forest and on the other side was a beautiful swamp. We could hear a lot of very interesting sounds coming from in there but there was so much brush that we couldn't see much in there. Too bad as we could noises in the water and in the trees that sounded very interesting.
As we got to the end of the island we saw numerous Anhingas in the tree tops.
They would fly around quite often - I suppose they weren't too comfortable with the dogs swimming so close to where they were perched.
We let the dogs swim at the end of the island where the lake and the river meet. We figured the water would be cold enough there that there wouldn't be any alligators there. Slugger loved being off leash for a while and of course especially enjoyed getting to do a lot of swimming. Wazzu didn't want to be left out of the swimming once the big stick came out.
Mike was busy throwing sticks for the dogs and I was kept very busy looking at all the different wildlife. This was a very active spot. Behind us just a bit was a very large marsh. It was full of ducks and other birds. Suddenly the bird dog side of Sparkie appeared. She went full speed running into the marsh chasing some birds. The problem was some parts were shallow and she could jump through the water and suddenly it would be very deep and as she jumped she would go way under the water. We got a little worried as she went out a long way. Mike called her back and she immediately turned to come. But it took a lot of work and was very strenuous. Now suddenly the Whippet side of her came out and she was sure she was going to drown and she started crying. Mike really thought he might have to go in to save her. Oh what a sight that would have been. Fortunately, after much effort and splashing, she made her way back.
While the dogs were swimming I saw this grebe taking off. I was fortunate enough to get the splash in the picture as well.
As we walked back on the far side of the island we were right next to the river. This afforded the opportunity for more wildlife. I can't identify this bird from this picture but I liked the way the sun was showing through his wings.
As we got to the dam there were some concrete posts sticking out of the water. There we saw some Anhingas.
And more rare, we saw an immature White Ibis.
Across the river on a wire rope were a whole line of pelicans.
As we got to the dam there were probably 30 or more Turkey Vultures. They were sitting all along the dam. I was busy taking picture of them and once in a while a couple of them would fly off.
Then suddenly about ten of them started flying in circles above me - only probably about 20 feet over my head. As always, Wazzu is very protective of me. She must have thought they were a danger to me as she started chasing them away and growling at them. As soon as she got them all far away from me she came running back to me to make sure I was okay. What a sweet girl.
As we were about 20 minutes from the end of the hike the girls went into a little field next to the path. Not a good idea as within just seconds Wazzu was standing still with her paw up. This always means stickers. But unfortunately these weren't just little stickers They were the very sharp and stinging Prickly Pear buds.
Wazzu had numerous buds in her paw both on the top and the bottom. Mike is always prepared for this and in his pack he carries some special type of pliers. As we was trying to get them out of his pack Wazzu started getting scared and tried to get one of them out with her mouth. All she ended up doing was getting her tongue and mouth stung and she started shaking her head around. When Mike tried to pull out the buds out Wazzu let out some really big cries. It must have really hurt as Wazzu has a very high pain threshold and rarely cries. The rest of the way back she walked very slowly and gently.
Just as we were getting in the car I spotted a Great Blue Heron watching us.
We went home for a quick lunch and dropped of the dogs so that we could head over to Fort Island Trail Park which is only about two minutes from the RV park. This is the park we happened upon a couple days ago quite by accident and ended up seeing some Manatees.
Today was an even better day! While watching the water looking for Manatees we saw an Anhinga steal a fishermans bait.
It was way to big for him to eat. He struggled with it for about half and hour before giving up and leaving it in the water for someone else to fight with.
Then a Great Egret landed on the dock railing hoping for his turn to steal some bait when the fishermen weren't watching. It seems like that is favorite pastime of many of the birds.
We were just about to give up on seeing any Manatees when suddenly it was like a Manatee highway. Over the next 15 minutes we saw 10 - 12 Manatees. And they were so close and so easy to see. I got a lot of really good pictures but I'll just share a couple of them with you.
Most of the Manatees went by in groups of two or three. They were just barely under the water and the sun was shining so it was easy to see them. It's hard to tell from these pictures but these Manatees were HUGE.
While most of the time they stayed under the water as they went by us a few times they came up for air just as they swam by us.
They all were very smooth and most had propeller cuts on them - very sad. But this one must be very old as it had barnacles all over it.
Mike and I were both very excited to have seen so many Manatees - and so close up! Boy, people are paying big bucks to go on these boats that hold about 40 people to go out and hope to see Manatees. I'd say we got pretty lucky to have found this spot!
Well, time for Wazzu's daily squirrel stalking outing!
Debbie
1/15/07
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