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| Black Skimmer |
Good news and bad news. Good news first!!!! Team
Views From Our Kayak did paddle together again. Bad news...Wait...There are no bad news. It was one of our shortest paddles ever at this location, barely three hours, but we came out pretty satisfied with the way it went. As I mentioned in the preview, changed the opening pic. The Black Skimmer is a colorful bird and we do not see too often. But today we had plenty of pic chances and wifey took advantage of it.
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| Manatee at the Indian River |
Put In / Take Out: As usual, we used put in at the end of the dirt road north-west of the draw bridge over Haulover Canal. Check one of our previous posts about Haulover Canal for the location. If you are wondering how much it cost...well...is free.
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| Osprey |
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| Ruddy Turnstone |
The kayak was in the waters of the Indian River, at the West end of Haulover Canal, by 9:10 AM. We headed west to Mullet Head Island, which is a bird sanctuary. Did not make it there right away. Stopped on our way there when we spotted manatees on the Indian River. The mammals were a little busy preserving the species. Just to let you know, it is not a good idea to be anywhere close to frisky manatees. That being said we gave them a lot of room and wifey tried some long distance shots. I promised her she will have closer looks on the sea cows at Bairs Cove, a place where manatees like to hang out. It is not a sure thing but chances are very good you will see manatees there. It worked for us
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| Cormorants at Mullet Head Island |
I will not bore you to sleep with this post. It was a very short one for no other reason than the heat. It was very hot there today and after two hours I was exhausted. When wifey said she wanted to finish the paddle I did not protest this time. That gained me some brownie points. Just to let you know, we saw our only dolphin of the day at the small cove south of the west entrance of Haulover Canal. The dolphin was hunting and we observed it for some minutes. Then we headed Bairs Cove where wifey had a good time shooting pics of curious manatees. One other comment I have about this trip: The canal seemed today like a manatee highway. They were on the move. Maybe because they are looking for food after the bacteria event that affected the sea grass a month ago.
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| Brown Pelican |
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| Black Skimmer |
Did You Know That? The Black Skimmer is the only American representative of the skimmer family, being the other members the African and the Indian Skimmers. It is a bird you can see during the day but its habits are mostly crepuscular, meaning that you can see them during dusk and dawn. The touch method it uses to get food allows it to be successful catching fish during the night too. The Black Skimmer's jaws are equal in length when they hatch but the lower mandible is already 1 cm longer than the upper one by the fourth week. I do think they are one the most beautiful and colorful birds you can see around here.
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| Dolphin |
And now here are more pics of what we saw today at Haulover Canal...
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| Osprey |
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| Manatees' huddle |
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| Manatee |
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| Cormorants |
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| Black Skimmer |
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| Black Skimmer and Sea Gull |
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| Brown Pelicans |
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| Ruddy Turnstone |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| White Ibis |
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| Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron |
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| Brown Pelican |
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| Brown Pelincans |
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| Juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Twins...A pair of Juvenile Black Crowned Night Herons |
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| Brown Pelican sticks the landing |
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| White Pelican |
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| White Pelican |
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| White Pelicans |
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| Royal Tern |
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| Dolphin |
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| Dolphin |
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| Dolphin |
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| Dolphin |
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| Dolphin |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Belted Kingfisher |
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| Belted Kingfisher |
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| Osprey |
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| Manatee at Bairs Cove |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| Snowy Egret |
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| End of the tail...the manatee tail |
And that was it. Thanks for reading and hope you return for the next Views From Our Kayak.
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| Typical Mullet Head Island scene |
Wow, wonderful pictures! It is about time you and your wife got back in your kayak. I'm counting on you and master Dave to get me through another two or three weeks of rehab before I can paddle again.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
I worked on the tandem a week ago and it seems that we were able to fix the problem with our kayak. Did not make too much water this time. If that is the case, we will be out together more often.
DeleteHoping you will be in the water soon Joanne, but do not rush it. Take your time.
I do not recall seeing black skimmers at Haulover Canal. Very nice. As is the entire post.
ReplyDeleteI am going to start refering to you and the Mrs. as "Grandmaster".
Wow...Thanks Master Dave but we still have ways to go. Referring to the Black Skimmer, if my memory is correct it is my understanding that at least in one of your Haulover Canal posts( and I have read them all :) )there is a pic of a Black Skimmer. I may be wrong though. Maybe it was in some other place like Cedar Key.
DeleteJust did a search. No refernces to black skimmers at Haulover in my Tales. Plenty at Cedar Key.
Delete