Econlockhatchee River

Soaring over the Econlockhatchee River

Tri Colored Heron (juvenile)

Today was my wife's return to the water. She took time to be with her parents who went back home last Wednesday. She wanted to go to Katie's Landing( Lower Wekiva River) and has been giving me a hard time about the pics from my last week trip. I did not want to go there but to somewhere in the west coast, maybe the Hillsborough River. But she took her sweet time and we were still at home at 8:45AM. So, not wanting to go to Katie's Landing two times in a row we settled for kayaking the Econlockhatchee River. It was a good decision in a hot, really hot and steamy day.

Put In / Take Out: The put in for this trip was the area at the Snow Hill Rd bridge over the Econlockhatchee River. If you are traveling on CR419, or Chuluota Rd, turn north at the traffic signal on Snow Hill Rd. The bridge is a mile and a half, maybe two, ahead. There is another put in to kayak the Econ River at the east side of the CR419 bridge over the river. We arrived at the Snow Hill Rd. bridge at 10:05 and were in the water by 10:12.

Econ River flora

Great Egret

A young lady arrived in a pick up truck with a dog. She said hello and walked into the bike trail. A couple in a canoe arrived from up river as we were leaving. They were the only boat we saw in the water. The gentleman told us they saw lots of alligators and that pumped us. We were not in the river more than 5 minutes when my wife spotted a juvenile Tri Colored Heron. For me that was a rare sight since as I write, cannot remember seeing a Tri-Colored Heron in the Econ, which is not a place where you will see lots of birds or other forms of wildlife. Sadly, up to that point the places with accumulation of trash were outnumbering the wildlife sightings. In and out the river the trash was all over the place.

A sad common view along the banks of the Econlockhatchee River

Bald eagle

So far we had not seen any gators and wifey started to feel tired. The heat was incredible and it was also humid. She had to clean the camera lens more than once since it became foggy several times. While looking for gators in the banks was also scouting the trees trying to spot bald eagles since the Econ is a nice place to see that raptor. Then, like maybe 40 to 45 minutes into our paddle I saw a dead tree and thought that it was a good place for an eagle to be. Besides the dead saw a pine tree and thought the same thing. Dang!!!!! If there is no eagle there... were are they? It was then when saw the eagle on another pine tree not too far from the first one I saw. Told my wife about it and she became very happy. It was a while since we saw eagles from the yak. Anyways, long story short she did shoot some pics from different angles. The eagle seemed to look at us and say..."Dudes...It is hot as heck. Find a shade as I did".

Bald eagle at the Econlockhatchee River

Did You Know That? Immature bald eagles do not develop their distinctive white head and tail until they are between 4 and 5 years old.

Great Blue Heron

Gator on the river bank

After several minutes shooting pics of the eagle my wife asked me to find her a gator. It had to be a BIG gator, per her request. Sure thing, next thing we know we are looking at a medium sized reptile that was sunning in the north bank of the river. We did not see gators as big as the ones we saw last February, when did our first report of Views From Our Kayak. That day we saw some big kahunas and also saw an eagle's nest with eaglets in it. We agreed that today we would go up to the nest and will then turn around. Today the big ones(gators) were somewhere else or in the bottom of the river but we saw our share of them.

Belted Kingfisher on the hunt

Trail bridge over the Econlockhatchee River

We reached the area of the trail bridge around 11:45. A Great Blue Heron was wading nearby as a couple in horses crossed the river using the bridge. It is not the first time we see horses in the area. It is part of what can you see when you kayak this part of the Econ River. We did not stop and kept going up river and to be honest, I was about to turn around 20 minutes after. The heat was brutal and wifey, did not blame her for that, was moody. Only because she saw gators to shoot pics at, and another eagle, she did not mind going all the way to the nest.

Econlockhatchee River gator

Econ River bald eagle

Just before the nest area we saw another, or maybe the same, eagle. This one was much closer because the tree where it was was not as high as the first one. My photographer had a field day shooting pics and told me..."I am going to change the settings just in case the eagle goes flying". Less than one minute later the eagle took flight and left in a hurry. Wifey did shoot some nice pics, the best ones I have seen her taking, of the eagle in flight, which made her very excited and happy. She started saying that she believed she got it and boy she did!!!!!! I was happy for her. She loves to see eagles and being able to shoot the pics she did take gives her something different to think about. She already misses her parents, I do, but at least for some time today she did not think that they are not here with her again.

Soaring!!!!!

We did paddle up river for maybe 10 minutes after the nest and were going to keep going when we saw two naked guys ahead of us in the south bank of the river. Seemed like they were going to take a dip. I do not know if they were camping there or what the heck were they doing naked in that part of the river. I only know that was not willing to expose my wife to that show so turned around right there. I am not a local but for the life of me, would not jump naked into the Econ. As a matter of fact, would not jump into the river at all. Anyways, maybe they did us a favor since  both us were very tired at the time.

Anhinga

We rushed ourselves in our way down river. Made one stop at the trail bridge and for a couple of gator pics. Here are more pics of what we saw today at the Econlockhatchee River...

Bald Eagle

Someone riding a horse over the trail bridge over the Econ

Gator

River Flora

Gator goes under

Tufted Titmouse (Thanks Anonymous)

Econ River bald eagle

And yet another gator

And they give the anhinga a 6 for style and 10 for effort

Erosion is putting a number on the river banks

Gator goes hiding

Great Blue Heron

Vulture

Turtle

Juvenile Tri-Colored Heron

Flying Eagle...Now...That is a perfect 10.

Well, that is all for this one. For more pics from this and past trips to the Econ please click on the following link: Econlockhatchee River

Thanks for reading and hopefully next week will be back from another place in Florida for another Views From Our Kayak!!!!!!

Econlockhatchee River