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Friday, June 29, 2012

Hillsborough River

Hillsborough River Gator

Last Friday was my last official  Friday off under my now past Flex Schedule. Lat night decided to take today off, since last Friday was a bust because the weather, and went to the Tampa area and kayaked at the Hillsborough River. It was an unusual day at the river, that was incredibly high due to all the rain that TS Debbie left.


Hillsborough River was really high after as the result of TS Debbie


Put In / Take Out: Trout Creek Park. Fee is $2. Check one of our previous posts about the Hillsborough River for more details. We did go from Trout Creek Park to Morris Bridge Park, our usual route when we kayak here. No visit to Trout Creek this time.


Turtle


First of all, let me apologize for updating this post later than I said first. It happened that something did bite me yesterday when we were taking a break at the Morris Bridge Park. A bug I never saw, but felt, gave me a kiss and my right hand is now swollen. It started to swell yesterday and my wife gave me something in any case of allergic reaction that put me to sleep. Woke up at 4:45AM today. That being said let us keep going with yesterday's trip.


Osprey


To be fair, the high level of the waters made this trip less than stellar. Wading birds were scarce and the it was not easy to paddle up river. Thanks to somebody, I can only assume the guys from the outpost, marked the way with ribbons. Thanks to whoever did because it would have been really hard without that. The river has flooded everything and it was hard to recognize the main canal in the bends. At other areas just the common sense was enough but it was a great help to have the ribbons. The flooding also brought a mystic view to the paddle. At some areas the reflections made a special mirror effect.


Mirror mirror...which is the most beautiful river?


Well, there is not too much to say about this trip other than it was less than stellar. Not too many people in the water. But one of the ones we saw was kayaking with a guacamayo, which we thought was odd. We made the trip to Morris Bridge in a little less than two hours and while the current was  not a problem in low ground areas, it was challenging fast in the high ground areas where the main canal was better defined. A sluggish 13 foot kayak did not make it any easy. At Morris Bridge Park did go for a walk at the boardwalk and that is when the thing that has my right hand swollen now happened. On our way down river we saw a grand total of three gators, a record low for is at the Hillsborough.


Do not ask. I will not tell.


Now let us go to the pics. This is taking too much effort with only two fingers available to write...


Ibis works as doorman at Trout Creek

Osprey nest

Little Blue Heron

Osprey's lunch break

Anhinga

Little Blue Heron got lunch

No such a thing as an easy meal

Little Blue Heron

Red Bellied Woodpecker at Morris Bridge Park

Cardinal

Squirrel

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Carolina Wren

Turtles

Great Egret

Ibis

Gator




Red Shouldered Hawk

Limpkin

Working to id this one

TBD

Gator

Gator

Osprey

Limpkin



Ospreys

Ospreys

Water up to the observation deck at Trout Creek Park


And a few scenic pics to close this one...

















And that is it for this one. Not much variety in the wildlife pics and a harder than usual paddle. If you are planning to paddle here you may want to wait for the waters to recede a bit. Thanks for reading and hope you come back soon so we can share the Views From Our Kayak.


Scene at the Hillsborough River

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Orlando Wetlands Park

Wabbit (always call it like that)...ehr...Rabbit
Trip to the past on this first pic. Brought so many memories from my childhood. Poor Elmer. Anyways...Back to the future now. The weather held me back today one more time. Wanted to kayak Canaveral Sea Shore but did not dare to go due to the horrible forecast. Plan B was the Lower Wekiva River but after looking the weather radar saw a huge zone of rain coming this way. Decided to stay at home but then at noon felt the need of taking a walk and see some wildlife. So to the nearby Orlando Wetlands Park I went. As I do with my no-kayaking posts will go directly to the pics. In the meantime a sample of what I saw today in a gray day at the Orlando Wetlands Park.


Green Heron enjoys dinner

Softshell Turtle

Turtle

Black Bellied Whistling Ducks

Snowy Egret

Cattle Egret

Anhinga

Wood Stork

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Great Egret

Ibis

Little Gator

Anhinga

Gators at the "nursery" 

Moorhen

Green Heron

Little Blue Heron

Doves

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Red Bellied Woodpeckers

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Softshell Turtle
  
Gator

Green Heron

Anhinga

Moorhen Chick

Moorhen and chick

Immature Little Blue Heron

Sandhill Crane


That is it for this one. Looking forward to the next  post, hopefully from the water if the weather cooperates. It sucks to have nice weather during the week only to see it deteriorate on the weekend. Thanks for reading and see you soon.

Florida Trail