Wekiva River

After 8 hours on the Hillsborough River, and a 170 mile round trip drive Saturday, I did not get out of bed until 9:15 Sunday morning, January 9, 2011.  Made the 20 or mile so drive to Katie's Landing, where I had further delay.  Turned on the camera.  No memory card. Back home in the computer.  No problem, I had a new back up. "Memory Card Error"  Not the card you gave me, Pete.  Was there a card in my old, backup camera?  Yes.  I was good to go at 10:45.

Alligator 1

Great egret 2 Woodstork 3

Great blue heron 4 Ibis 5



Glossy Ibis 6

 As I did Saturday on the Hillsborough River, I am taking a census of the animals I photographed.

Sandhill crane 7

Anhinga 8  At first glance, I thought the rope was a fish. I hope it was able to dislodge it.

Turkey 9

A cool, breezy morning as I paddled down River. Windbreaker and wind pants.  Sunny enough for reptiles.

Turtles 10

Eastern phoebe 11

Good day to be an alligator.

A couple guys launched a canoe just before me, They went down the Wekiva.   I saw no one else for an hour.  There is a piece of high, flat ground about an hour down River. A popular, illegal, campsite. A campfire was burning. No sign of anybody at the spot, chances are whoever lit the fire failed to fully extinguish it and the wind ignited the coals. And a log.


I stopped, just as pair of paddlers were coming up the River. "Is this yours?" I asked. "No, it was here earlier" "I think we should put it out" They landed at a better spot than I, the gentleman filled what appeared to be a small tackle box with water, jumped up on the bank, and doused the fire.
He then asked if I was with Green Wave.  That's a site I occasionally contribute to.  It was good to meet Ed and Brenda. They were on the way back to Katie's. I continued to Blackwater Creek.

Black crowned night heron 12 on Blackwater Creek.

Paddled up Blackwater for a half hour. Not quite to my usual break spot.  I did not want to be out to long. I was tired, and had a Packer playoff game to watch.

Belted kingfisher 13

Limpkin 14

I took my lunch break at the fire spot.  Which was still smoking.  I soaked my towel in the River and wrung it out over the ashes.  And, I had to pee, so made good use of that. Two more towel fulls and it seemed to be out.

Ibis and blue heron 15

15 animals ties the amount I saw on the Hillsborough the day before.  If memory serves, I saw only 9 boats.  The final 2, kayakers coming up from Katie's.   One said hello.  Winfred, a guy I've seen a couple times on Blackwater Creek and Rock Springs Run.  I could hear him telling his buddy about Dave's Yak Tales as they went down the Wekiva.   So, four people on the River knew me.  This blog thing must be working.

Stopped at the Lower Wekiva Preserve trail head, planning to ride my bike on the nature trail. But the brochure at the kiosk says bikes are not allowed.  So, I walked.  The website says different. http://www.floridastateparks.org/lowerwekivariver/activities.cfm#3

No animals spotted.  There is a service road at the entrance.  Seemed fairly hard packed.  I've walked that before, may have to see how far it goes on the bike next time.