Sunday, February 3, 2013

Silver River and more

The long drought is over.  Not the meteorological drought,  the Dave's  Yak Tales drought of no monkey photos from the Silver River.  It has been at least three trips.  Until today.


Underway in the canal from Ray's Wayside at 8:45
Great blue heron
 Robin
Great egret. All this, plus an otter, before I even reached the Silver River.

Air 50's plus water 60's = fog
 Ibis
Anhinga
 Wood ducks
Red shouldered hawk


 Great blue heron





 Blue heron


One of my better belted kingfisher photos

Cormrant and undetermined fish


 First turtle of the day. 9:43




Black crowned night heron

Moor hen
 Tri colored heron
The Silver River is great for 2 for, or even 3 for 1 shots, Great egret, anhinga, turtles

First gator of the day.  10:08 Would not have seen it, but paddled back to see this limpkin









 Green heron








Two deer. One, seeking sustenance from lichen

Five paces, turn, draw, fire!

First monkey pic in a long time.  And, I get a butt shot.

Solitary monkey, moving along the bank

























I encountered just 2 boats on the way up River,  canoes from Silver River State Park





Nest building has begun on the island near the head spring


Over the main spring, 11:30. There are several other springs on the upper part of the Silver River
The State is taking over the area
A good thing, in my opinion.  Why have a zoo with non-Florida animals at this spot.  Plenty of natural wildlife  to see.  And unnatural. The monkeys.


According to legend, Osceola signed the Treaty of Paynes Landing with his dagger







 Osprey



 Pie billed grebe







 You know it is a quiet day on the River when a State Park Ranger is out in a kayak.  He alerted me to the gator below.
I stopped,soon after, at the State Park ramp.  Had a sandwich and a chat about baseball and the transfer of the theme park with a gent who says he walks in the park every day.


Back on the water







Another solo monkey

Eyeing the little gators?







The River got busier as the day moved into the afternoon, but it was not too bad.  Power boats mostly obeyed the Idle Speed rule.   



Landed at 2:30. Water level at the launch is the lowest I have seen in 8 years I've been paddling the Silver River.

In 2 weeks, I will be at the Sweetwater cabin  No internet in the heart of the  Ocala National Forest.  But, there are 3 libraries nearby as counties, Marion, Lake, and Volusia, meet here.  The Forest branch of the Marion Co. system is 3/10 of a mile south of Highway 40.   I stopped to check out the WI FI.  It works, from the outside, as the library was closed.   So, I will be able to post a pic or two during my week long stay.
The cabin is about 20 miles away.  Just north of the bridge on 19 over Juniper Creek.  South of my next stop, Silver Glen  Springs.

Why are you scraping away the bottom and clouding the Spring?  Dickhead.
 Tilapia nest.  There were a lot of them


 The result of many nests

















I did not see Jody's flutter mill
I did not know, until now, that Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1918.  No wonder she was such a wonderful writer.

Speaking of The Yearling, I crossed HWY 19 to take a hike on the Yearling Trail. Cut it short, as the last battery died at the start.  At least I got this
Florida scrub jay.  It was 4:55. With no photo capability, I figured I might as well get home in time for kickoff. I did.

5 comments:

  1. Hope you saw bigger gators than I did.

    How did you find the current. In my opinion it was a little stronger than usual but you are the expert.

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  2. I found it about the same. It may be a bit quicker, as the level is so low. But, I was to busy taking pictures to notice.

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  3. Wow, what a variety - I think you got one of everything... except for Cinghiale of course. Just leave that once to me ;)

    Very nice. I especially love the shot of the gator who appears to have climbed a tree, where he sits in waiting.

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  4. The Silver matches the Hillsborough River for variety. Stephanie, see Luis' post from Saturday for Cinghiale. That's wild boar, for my non-Italian readers.

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  5. Must get there soon! Trying to catch up on all my old favorite places that I missed last year while I was in pain--went to Blue Springs area, Highland Park Fish Camp (Norris Dead River) recently. Going to Mosquito Lagoon today.
    You and Luis inspire me to make a trip to Silver River/Ochlawaha real soon.

    ReplyDelete

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