12/17/17

Beaver and Lime Sink Trails

We were happy to see sunshine yesterday. Don't let all that brightness fool you into thinking it was warm, however. It was not. It's supposed to warm up a little bit today, but even the cold temperature didn't dampen our enthusiasm for the bright light. What a different world when we can see color.


Smitty and I took our shadow selves for a walk.


It was a short walk. A huge family showed up for the weekend, renting out all the cabins available. If I had to guess, I'd think the each person drove a separate car...including the youngest of the children...because there were enough cars for a convention. There were lots of kids yelling and riding bicycles and, as you might guess, dratted woofies. Shadow Smitty did not like that at all.

When we had Smitty's shadow back inside, we took our own shadow selves on a hike. The Beaver Trail was just a few steps away from the RV.


Here's where we saw the sign about alligators climbing trees. There was a lot of information about gators on the sign, but I only included the most important parts related to whether we would get eaten.


It kind of makes sense that they would be able to climb trees if you think about it because they're just big lizards, and lizards climb trees and walls and anything else vertically oriented. Heck, I've seen them walk across the ceiling when we lived in Hawaii...lizards, that is.

So the hike began with a boardwalk over a little part of the lake that jutted into the forest.


It was a loop hike and so fairly quickly, we had to decide which way we were traveling. We opted for the waterfront portion first. It would take us to an observation deck.


Beyond, the trail turned back to the familiar sand, and it was marked with white blazes.


We were keeping a weather eye out overhead for any tree-climbing alligators. We saw none, but we did see plenty of abandoned birds' nests.


Eventually, we came to a small observation deck, scaring away a couple of ducks in the process.


We sat here for a few minutes, but the only thing we saw were our shadow selves. It gives them a Messianic complex when they realize they can walk on water without getting wet.


Walking on, we couldn't watch for alligators too much because we had to watch where we put our feet. The trails here are a network of tree roots, and it's easy to trip or twist an ankle.


On the other hand, they also form natural stairways where running water has eroded away the sand.


Here was something else interesting. These trees grow up about 10 feet, then bend over. There were a few places along the trail where they formed tunnels.


There were informational signs all along the way about different things we might see; i.e., birds, animals, plants, trees. We were interested in this one because it talked about the length of the pine needles carpeting the forest floor.


Sure enough...it's a little hard to see it from end to end, and so I've marked the ends of this pine needle in the image below.


Walking on, the Lime Sink Trail came into view. We could head back to the RV here, or turn around and go back the way we came.


We decided on the third option...the left fork.


That took us to the Lime Sink Trail. You can see where we walked on the trail map below. Our RV is where the smaller of the two red circles is close to the middle of the image.


We followed the two trails around to where the spring is located, marked with a larger red circle, and then we walked along the road back to the RV. You can also see the Woodpecker Trail, marked in a brown-dotted line, just above the spring. That's the trail we took the day before.


Okay, the Lime Sink Trail it was. After walking a little ways, we had one final chance to head back to the campground. We hadn't seen any tree-climbing alligators, and we were away from the water at this point, so we soldiered on.


There were pine cones littering the trail. Most were about five inches in length. It's always tempting to pick them up, but then...what would I do with them? Who among us hasn't collected dozens of pine cones, only to store them for decades to be thrown out when we move to a new house? Raise your hand.


Also, we saw these deer tracks.


We'd seen a white-tailed deer dash across the trail in front of us. Really, we only saw the flash of his white tail, but it was thrilling nonetheless.


He was way too fast for me to hope to get a picture of him, and so I swiped the one below off the internet. Take away the fence in the foreground, and you're seeing what we saw.


We did manage to spy this Red-headed Woodpecker.


He kept flying away from and then back to this tree stump. Then he'd crawl around to the back side where he was hidden. Still, I caught him one more time when he stuck his head up high enough.


When we saw the woodpecker, we'd come to a change in the scenery that was marked with this sign.


Looking ahead, we could see a more open area, and the trees were draped with Spanish Moss. We've learned from informational signs that Spanish Moss is neither Spanish nor moss or lichen. Instead it is a flowering plant. You can read more about it right here.


We'd nearly reached the end of the trail at this point, but we wanted to stop off again at the spring I spoke of in yesterday's post. We started farther down river and spied this large bird sunning itself and warming its wings. It appears to be a Great Blue Heron.


Here, we also saw several turtles swimming beneath the surface, but no alligators.


Beyond was another large bird...possibly another Great Blue Heron...and it too was standing with its wings spread wide.


Walking to the platform where we stood the day before, we noticed these two large fish...only one appears in the image below. They were not identified by any of the informational signs. Each was at least three feet long. I've since done some talking with my friend Google, and I believe these might be the longnose gar. You can click on that link and tell me if you agree.


The water is very clear, making it easy to see things beneath the surface. The longer we stood there, the more we saw.


We saw several turtles. They appeared to be looking right at us and deliberately swimming toward us.


We believe these are the yellow-bellied slider. For sure the one in the first image is because I could see the yellow flash near the eye.


Like I said, they appeared to be swimming toward us deliberately...


and looking right at us.

Got any fritos? Doritos? Cheetohs? What? Nothing but Clif bars? No thanks.


There were lots of little minnows and other larger fish swimming below the surface. The sign told us we could see large-mouth bass, but I don't think we saw any.


While we were there, three of these guys flew in, making quite a racket. Google tells me that these are Common Gallinule.


Also, we're pretty sure we saw a few of these guys.


Here's one...their shells seemed smoother than the sliders.


At about the same time, Mike and I spotted several of the sliders sunning themselves on the far bank.


Look how this guy has his legs stretched out behind. The warm sun must feel good. They looked like large rocks...larger than a bowling ball.


From there, we walked back to the RV. Across the lake and far away, we could see another large bird. I'm guessing this is a Great Egret, but it was hard to tell from this distance.


Inside the RV was some domesticated wildlife. Sadie was still napping right where we'd left her hours earlier.


And that was our hiking day. We spent the rest of the day relaxing.

Today's journey will take us about half an hour down the road to George L. Smith State Park. There, we're expecting to see the refurbished Parrish Mill and Pond, a combination gristmill, saw mill, covered bridge and dam built in 1880. On the way back home, we'll stop off to pick up a few things we need. Tomorrow, we'll be moving on down the road again.

11 comments:

QUILTING IS BLISSFUL, DI said...

Hello--from Florida--Your first large bird is not a Heron--it is a female Anhinga and the second photo is of a male Anhinga--the female heads and necks are brown and the males are black--they are also somethings called the 'snakebird' cause when in the water all you see is there heads popping out of the water--they even swim under water most of the time and they impale the fish with their long shark beaks!!! and when they come on land they fluff their wings like that to dry them out!!!
love all the information you are giving us--even the home fur balls and their naps are cute--have fun with the adventures--
enjoy the moments, di
I have only been living in Fl for a bit over 2 years--and have learned alot about southern birds as I love birds and photographing them!!

Quilting Babcia said...

Interesting about the long needle pine. Did you find out why they're almost gone now?

QuiltShopGal said...

What a wonderful hike. So many wonderful things you saw. I've seen a lot of turtles in the wild, but never any fresh water turtles. They appear much larger than I had anticipated.

QuiltShopGal
www.quiltshopgal.com

quiltzyx said...

Well, your pic does look like the Gar in your link. I think you must be correct. Fun to see the birds showing off their wing feathers & the turtles that came up to say hi.
Sadie looks very comfy, wrapped up in her quilt.

Continued safe travels my friend!

Vroomans' Quilts said...

Love the large birds as we don't see them in this area - small blue herons occassionally. Probably with the cold the gators are in a sleep mode giving all the other water life advantage to enjoy. Sadie is my kind of gal when it's cold.

WoolenSails said...

What a day for a hike and spotting local wildlife, sure wish I could have gone with you, so many new and unique birds and critters in one place.

Debbie

Kate said...

You've visited some very beautiful places the last few days. Hopefully you'll get some warmer weather for next week's hikes.

Cathy Smith said...

Ha! When I first glanced at the post I read it as the Slime Link Trail! Now that's all my pea brain sees now. Hahaha!

Brown Family said...

I am glad you got some sunshine! The white-tailed deer looks much larger that the ones we see around here! The turtles are interesting as is the info on Spanish Moss!

piecefulwendy said...

We used to have a redheaded woodpecker that would come to our feeder. He was always fun to watch, with his brilliant colors. He was very territorial and would roust any bird who thought to join him at the feeder. I was very disappointed when he just seemed to disappear. I haven't seen any since, and we think it was due to a drop in their population. You've had some good trails to explore. I've enjoyed seeing what you are finding.

kc said...

Great birding shots - you're lucky the woodpecker let you take his photo. Around here, they are pretty common, but elusive. Once they see you seeing them, they go quiet, and usually behind the tree. Or phone pole. We are lucky enough to have a pileated couple in the woods, we hear them all the time, but have only seen them twice in 3 years. We also have a persistent couple that have drilled out a fence post a few times. Finally, I convinced hubby to just let them have it! They nested about 4 feet off the ground and raised at least 2 babies this past spring. Now we have 2 other fence posts with holes in them.

I believe you are right - it's a gar. And the turtles are probably seeking a handout!
Here's a link to some video I shot at Woody Acres, in Rockport, TX....yellow bellies and Slipsie (soft shelled) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yaHmKSqQFY&t=16s

Here's a gator in the Myakka River, about 2 hours south of us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaQW8S1zebE

I believe your big birds with wings spread are Anhingas. They don't have oil on their feathers like most others, so when they get wet, they can't fly well. That's why you often see them sunning with their wings spread wide. You can tell the difference between Anhingas and Cormorants by the bills. Cormorants have a curved (downward) hook to the point of their bill.

Can't wait to see where we go next! It hit 81 degrees here today...just sayin. LOVE LOVE LOVE the heat!