Silver River

Silver River Deer

I am not the one that comes back home over excited after a kayaking trip. But it happens every now and then. Today, or yesterday...depending on when are you reading this for the first time,  was one of these days. And it had to be. Silver River is a real jewel and it offers a wide variety of wildlife for your viewing pleasure. I had a hard time choosing the opening pic but the fact that it is the first time we see a deer at the Silver River inclined the balance to the one opening this post. Other than that there are bad news and good news. Bad news, this post may contain a record number of pics, good news?...the more pics the less I usually write so you do not have to read boring details.

Rhesus Monkey at Silver River

Put in/Take Out: We did put in, and took out, at the facilities of Ray's Wayside in Ocala. The cost is $5 per vehicle. Click the link for the address of this place. We arrived around 8:40 in the morning and were on the water at 9AM. Members of a meet group were arriving but I assume they went down river since we did not  see them anymore, as we paddled up stream.

Double - Turtle and Female Wood Duck

Little Blue Heron

It was one of the most quiet days we can remember at the Silver River. Boat traffic was scarce and not too many people in kayaks or canoes until we reached the state park ramp. Only a nice couple in individual kayaks were the only ones we saw before the state park. First we let them go ahead but they were chatting on their way up so I decided to paddle by them as soon as possible and we did so. The weather was perfect, a little humid, but it was not too hot. The cover of the trees in the banks of the river was a nice relief when we needed some shade. The river was higher than usual and was not as pristine as we are used to see it, maybe because rained like crazy in the area the night before.

Silver River Turtle

Silver River Buck

The trip started very slow. Not many pic chances. An Ibis' flock, a Little Blue Heron, turtles, and several female Wood Ducks were the only pic chances we had in several minutes. Things started to change after we paddled by the nice couple I mentioned earlier in the post. Lots of Red Shouldered Hawks flew around and many little birds also. We were not able to get decent pics of any of those but felt things were turning for the good. After turning into one of the pools that form in the river it looked to me like the forest was looking at me. Was sure I saw two eyes looking at me. Thought it was my imagination and kept paddling but once we were closer to the area where I saw the "eyes" looked again. Then saw the deer that opened this post. Our momentum at the time, even going up stream carried us too far and I lost the visual. Stopped paddling and as we drifted back with the current asked my wife to take the camera and described her where the deer was and for her to be ready to shoot pics. Did really think it was going to run away but to my surprise did not move and let us take some pics. I was a bonus when did realize it has horns...Nice...A Buck...was my reaction. Have to admit that do not know the difference between a deer and a reindeer, if there is any. Master Dave?

Great Egret

Green Heron

Our way up river took quite an effort because the current was a bit stronger and also because our sluggish kayak. Had to stop at the indentation on the river, a popular stopping place, where I drained it. The kayak/canoe traffic picked up a bit after we paddled by the State Park ramp, but it was not that bad. Then we saw our first gator of the trip and also a male Wood Duck. Some Moorhens were in the area, along with an Ibis. A Green Heron also made my wife happy after it posed for several pics. No monkeys were seeing on that part of the trip but had the feeling we were going to see them on our way back. Do not ask me why. It was just a hunch.

Silver River Gator

Alligator Snapping Turtle

The State Park was not too busy neither. We only had to move out of the way of the park boats only once. We ate a snack as the current took as down stream and planned to stop at the ramp to drain the kayak one more time since it was becoming harder and harder to made that big orange thing turn. That is what we did and it was a more than welcome rest too. As we rested a canoe arrived with three occupants. A nice lady, a young guy and a kid. I think it was the lady that mentioned that there was a huge snapping turtle near the ramp. We had seen one in the past but I was told that it became too big and moved away. It was a nice surprise to see it again (am sure is the same one) and we spent several minutes taking pics of it from the deck and under the water.

Alligator Snapping Turtle

A canoe left the State Park ramp just seconds before we did. Actually, I gave them a push. They went up river and we started paddling down river when my wife heard the lady on the canoe saying she saw something jumping on the trees and she thought it was a monkey. We did turn around and...bingo...a small troop of monkeys was right there, less than three hundred feet from the ramp. It was a small troop with lots of little ones that were spending more time between the leaves than in the open posing for pics. So we did not spend too much time there and continued down river as a motor boat was going up.

Silver River Rhesus Monkey

That was not the last monkey troop we saw. Maybe 20 minutes before finishing our trip we found another troop, this one bigger and more active. Wifey had a field day with this one. Sadly the lighting was not the better but she did what she was able to do. I did promise you not to bore you with many details and looking back, did not do a good job...Did I? So here are the pics of what we saw today at the Silver River...

Anhinga

Little Blue Heron

Ibis

Little Blue Heron

Deer

Great Egret

Turtle

Limpkin

Female Wood Duck

Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Green Heron

Green Heron

Ibis

Cormorant

Wood Duck

Wood Duck

Gator

Gator

Gator

Gator

Moorhen

Do not remember this one. TBD

Cormorants

Turtles

Turtles

Gator

Black Crowned Night Heron

Reptile version of  The Beauty and The Beast

Alligator Snapping Turtle

Alligator Snapping Turtle

And now Monkey Time!!!!

Do I know you?

I think this one is a little male monkey

Taking care of all these little ones has to be an exhausting job

 

And would like to add some underwater pics to finish...

Alligator Snapping Turtle

Alligator Snapping Turtle

Alligator Snapping Turtle

And this is it for this one. Boy this is a long one. Sooooorry but it was so much fun. Well, hope you forgive us and come back for our next post and to share more Views From Our Kayak...and maybe from under the kayak too...