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Sunday, January 12, 2014

Econlockhatchee River

Econlockhatchee River Gator
"I love when a plan comes together"...John "Hannibal" Smith

There were only two things in my mind this morning when I put the kayak on top of the minivan. See the eagles at the eagle's nest and see big gators in a sunny beautiful day. Went two for two.

Great Blue Heron

Put In / Take Out: This one started and ended at the Snow Hill Rd bridge over the Econ River. Please check previous posts about this location for more info.

Little Blue Heron (Juvenile)

My day on the river started at 9AM. The plan was to paddle to the eagle's nest, South of the Flagler Trail bridge, then return to the Snow Hill Rd bridge. Did not plan to take too much time but when did arrive to the nest none of the owners were there to be seen. This is what I saw on my way up river....

Belted KIngfisher

Red Shouldered Hawk

Red Shouldered Hawk

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

BIG GATOR!!!...Did not give me chance for a full body pic since went under but got him on my return trip.

Little Gator near the nest area

Same gator of the pic above

Gator Close up

Eastern Phoebe

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Eastern Phoebe

After some minutes of waiting decided to paddle South on the Econ. Did not go too far. Reached an area with a bunch of people camping and turned around right there. Thought about stopping at the nest area to stretch my legs and then continue down river. So glad I did that. Was sipping water from my bottle when saw a white head in the sky. Mr Eagle was coming back to the nest and based on his reaction was not too happy to find no one at home. Will let the pics tell the story...

Mr. Eagle comes home

"Honey...I am home"
Mr. Eagle flew around the nest area for a minute. Maybe looking for his mate

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Mr. Eagle goes back to the nest to do his job

Inside the cup he goes

And here comes Mrs. Eagle

She makes a dramatic entrance...

"About darn time"...said Mr. Eagle starting a discussion

Bald Eagles vocalizing

Mr. Eagle was not in a good mood and gave her a piece of his mind.

After the last pic there was silence, Mr. Eagle turned around and left the nest. Mrs. Eagle took his place in the cup. I did start my trip down river to the Snow Hill Rd bridge. Wait a minute...Time Out... Just after Mr. Eagle left a nice young couple, maybe college kids, came through the trail. They saw something hanging in a tree and went for it. It was part of of something called Geocaching(????). Anyways... I took some pics and promised to put them here. Here you go Shamus and Taylor. It was nice to meet you...

Shamus retrieve the Geocaching box (Sorry if I misspelled your name)

Taylor seems to be having fun

The kids see what is the content of the Geocaching box

Well, after meeting Shamus and Taylor and showing a few of my pics to them, started my trip back to Snow Hill Rd...

Little gator

BIG Gator, the same one I saw on my way down river.

Gator. Trying to get a full body shot

Finally!!!!!!! Got him!!!!!!!!!!!
Another Big Kahuna at the Econ River

Belted Kingfisher

And this is it for this one. Check our Facebook Page (there is a link in My Favorites) for more pics of this and past trips. Thanks for reading and hope you come back soon. We will be share more Views From Our Kayak.


Family enjoys the Econlockhatchee River....

3 comments:

  1. Holy cow that's a big gator. I'm gonna need a bigger kayak!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes it was. But was not the biggest one I saw today. That one took the silver medal.

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  2. Whew that's a big ole gator!!! Lovely photos!

    ReplyDelete