I never thought I would see so many creatures as I have in the past week! I went kayaking with my friends. I was a kayak newbie, so I was a little nervous, but once I found how easy it was to go, I fell in love with it.
The first journey, we found a poor baby bird who looked almost dead in the water. I wouldn’t have thought it to be alive if I hadn’t seen it gasp for air. I had us quickly scoop it and placed it in the back of one of our kayaks.
We ventured on down stream…or up stream? It’s hard to tell with the bayous. Under the bridges I saw where birds had made giant nests. They looked so cool! The looked like giant dirt diver nests. There were ducks along the shore, quacking noisily together, and a few turtles. Then another bird in the water, its parents trying to get it out. We saved that one too. It was a baby crow.
The weather was nice that day. It was cloudy, drizzling every now and again, so the heat was super bearable. And the birds, well, we made friends with them. I kinda wanted to keep the baby crow because those things could make good pets, but I saw the mites. So I mostly held onto the little finch…if that’s the type of bird that is…he had the roughest life on sea and looked younger than the crow. Either that or crow babies are stronger. I have no idea, I’m not a bird expert.
We went kayaking again a couple days later. We went to Black Bayou. This is a national wildlife reserve, so it’s more of a swamp. This is where all the critters were. The spiders and the alligators. An eagle’s nest (did you know their nests are as big as a queen sized bed?) and many other birds. I even saw a blue heron, they recently went from endangered to the threatened list…if I’m remembering correctly.
I don’t have pictures of this trip. I didn’t want to get my phone out. But Bridget did!
Black Bayou is filled with lily pads and cypress trees. It was stunning to be in the middle of it all. The eagle’s nest is the end of the boat trail. Before we went back we all decided to tie ourselves together. It was so funny! I don’t know if it’s a normal thing to do, but I’m sure we looked quite amusing. We would play the Pirates of the Caribbean song (Daniel’s suggestion — genius!) when paddling fast. I hope someone saw and heard that…cause it made my day for sure.
As beautiful as the swamp was…I do not care to go back on those waters. Too much anxiety about capsizing among the gators and spiders.
Mom Life and Beyond 