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| Barred Owl |
It was tough to select the opening pic for this post.The Barred Owl got it because we do not see this bird too often. The owl had tough competition for the opening: A Gator, an Osprey, a Spoonie, and a Black Crowned Night Heron made it a very difficult selection this time. It was another good paddle at the Hillsborough River. Is that a surprise? I took us almost a year to go back to the Hillsborough River. The most recent time I ended up with a bite in my right hand that sent me to the ER since it doubled its size overnight. This time we hoped for a different kind of experience in that aspect.
Put In/ Take Out: We used the facilities at Trout Creek Park. The Hillsborough County has done a heck of a job building parks every four miles ( I believe ) from each other along the river. There is a charge of $2 per vehicle and the honor system is use. We started at Trout Creek Park and went to the next one up river, Morris Bridge Park. Then returned to Trout Creek Park.
We started at Trout Creek Park at 8:05 AM under a gray sky. It improved as the minutes went by. We headed up river on route to Morris Bridge Park via The Nature's Classroom. Here is what we saw in that span of our trip...
After The Nature's Classroom the river narrows and stays like that for maybe half a mile. At that point the current was swift and the river was not as high as we were expecting with all the rain we have had. The paddle through that section was a little harder than usual but it is not impossible. Then the river gets wider and the current is not a big problem anymore. It is also true that we did hit several stumps. Here is what we saw from on this section to the river on our way to Morris Bridge Park...
When we arrived at Morris Bridge Park an armada of kayaks was there, getting ready to go down river. They were a little animated (noisy I really want to say), so we decided to take our time and sat at one of the tables in the park. 40 minutes after we were on our way down river. We were back at Trout Creek Park at 1:15 PM, give or take 5. Here are our views from that section...
This is it for this one. Thanks for reading and hope you come back for our next post. We will be kayaking at another place and sharing with you the Views From Our Kayak. Do not forget to check Views From Our Kayak - Facebook and "Like" us, if that is the case.
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| Tri-Colored Heron |
Put In/ Take Out: We used the facilities at Trout Creek Park. The Hillsborough County has done a heck of a job building parks every four miles ( I believe ) from each other along the river. There is a charge of $2 per vehicle and the honor system is use. We started at Trout Creek Park and went to the next one up river, Morris Bridge Park. Then returned to Trout Creek Park.
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| Hillsborough River Turtle |
We started at Trout Creek Park at 8:05 AM under a gray sky. It improved as the minutes went by. We headed up river on route to Morris Bridge Park via The Nature's Classroom. Here is what we saw in that span of our trip...
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| Carolina Wren |
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| Carolina Wren |
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| Hillsborough River Gator |
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| Red Bellied Woodpecker |
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| Juvenile Ibis |
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| Tri-Colored Heron |
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| Turtle Reflection at the Hillsborough River |
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| Osprey...(What are you looking at?) |
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| Scene on the Hillsborough |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Limpkin |
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| Anhinga |
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| Gatorrrrrrrrrrrr ahead!!!!!! |
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| Prothonotary Warbler ( did not think we were going to see this one here) |
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| Limpkin |
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| Tri-Colored Heron |
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| Tri-Colored Heron |
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| Roseate Spoonbill (Spoonie) |
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| Spoonie |
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| Tri-Colored Hero |
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| Mottled Duck |
After The Nature's Classroom the river narrows and stays like that for maybe half a mile. At that point the current was swift and the river was not as high as we were expecting with all the rain we have had. The paddle through that section was a little harder than usual but it is not impossible. Then the river gets wider and the current is not a big problem anymore. It is also true that we did hit several stumps. Here is what we saw from on this section to the river on our way to Morris Bridge Park...
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| Great Egret |
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| Barred Owl |
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| Black Crowned Night Heron |
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| Gator....It was a great day for gator viewing!!!!!! |
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| Head On111111111 |
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| Black Crowned Night Heron |
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| Black Crowned Night Heron |
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| Black Crowned Night Heron |
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| Anhinga |
When we arrived at Morris Bridge Park an armada of kayaks was there, getting ready to go down river. They were a little animated (noisy I really want to say), so we decided to take our time and sat at one of the tables in the park. 40 minutes after we were on our way down river. We were back at Trout Creek Park at 1:15 PM, give or take 5. Here are our views from that section...
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| Cardinal (female) |
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| Happy Face!!!!!! |
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| Fishing Black Crowned Night Heron |
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| Gator...The Sun was out on our way back to Trout Creek Park...so were the gators |
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| Great Egret |
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| Anhinga |
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| Red Shouldered Hawk. By now we were back at The Nature's Classroom area |
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| Red Shouldered Hawk |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey...The section between The Nature's Classroom and Trout Creek Park is Osprey Country |
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| Turtles |
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| Pic friendly gator |
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| OK folks. Are you done with your pics because I am back to the water... |
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| Heyyyy!!!!!!!! |
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| Life is good...is not it Mr. Gator? |
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| Osprey nest |
This is it for this one. Thanks for reading and hope you come back for our next post. We will be kayaking at another place and sharing with you the Views From Our Kayak. Do not forget to check Views From Our Kayak - Facebook and "Like" us, if that is the case.
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| Hillsborough River Scene |
Simply beautiful colours...lovely!
ReplyDeleteI haven't been there since December, 2011, and that's when I got the good Cottonmouth pictures. Must go soon.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures, as always, Luis.
I'm also surprised the water level isn't a bit higher.
Pictures are great, as always, loved the inflight pics of ospreys and hawks.
ReplyDeleteThe osprey could be the subject of a caption contest. :) The shots are all gorgeous, my favorite is of the gator head on!
ReplyDeleteWonderful pictures. Enjoy your site!
ReplyDelete