Birdwatching Boat Ride

 

Today I took the morning off of work, since the weather report said it was going to be beautiful, and Travalon and I took a boat ride into Six Mile Creek. Just before we got to the creek, we saw an egret standing in the water. I wonder if it was the same one we saw this past spring near our dock for one day? We were pretty far from the egret, and of course we don't bring the good camera on the boat in case it would get wet, so no pictures. The egret completely ignored us.

Then we went into the creek, where we of course saw mallards, Canada geese, and gulls. We also saw a couple of blue herons flying away from us, and a pair of sandhill cranes standing in the water, and another egret also standing in the water that flew away as we approached. We went so far up the creek that we could see the bridge for Highway M, but it got so shallow that we stopped the motor and rowed back almost to the mouth of the creek. We saw the pair of sandhill cranes again, but oddly this time they flew away as we neared, when we should have been much quieter rowing than motoring along. Then we saw another pair of sandhill cranes, but they also flew away as we approached. I saw the egret sitting in a tree, and then after we passed, it flew back toward the water. 

Once we were back in the channel out to the lake, we saw a bunch of ducks on the dead tree in the middle of the water. They tell me this used to be a substantial island that people camped on, but it keeps eroding, and when we first moved in it was a tiny island with a single tree on it. We dubbed it One Tree Island, but the island part washed out from under the tree, which died and collapsed. Now ducks like to hang out on its bare branches, but we also saw cormorants. They were brown, not black like I'm used to, so I'm wondering if this is autumn plumage for them. Unless they are a different type of cormorant...? That seems less likely. Anyway, it was a beautiful day with perfect sunshine and temps, and the birdwatching was excellent. I'm so glad I used four hours of vacation time!

Famous Hat