As the morning fog began to lift, we set off kayaking under cool skies and cloud cover. We took a two-hour tour among the mangroves, and saw many yellow-crowned night herons as well as other herons, egrets, cormorants, and osprey, one or two kingfishers, and even a mangrove crab (a foot or so from my eye - it popped back into a hole in the branch while I watched).
Some birds startled easily; some tried to escape notice by sitting quietly (while watching us intently). It is good to go in a small, silent group -- many birds are easy to miss if there are any distractions.
 |
| Yellow-crowned night heron |
 |
| Young mangroves |
Only one of the cormorants was in the traditional pose (wings outstretched to dry) - and he was on marker #11 in the middle of open water. I took a dozen pictures of him in that pose, but my favorite is this one where I caught him flying away.
 |
| Cormorant in flight |
Most of the cormorants we saw were mostly submerged, necks and orangey bills showing -- something like ducks, until they dived down and then flew off.
 |
| Heron hiding in the foliage |
 |
| Tricolor heron |
 |
| Little blue heron |
 |
| Egret (yellow feet, dark legs) |
The tide was with us on the way in to the trail loop, but against us on the way out. We were glad we'd rented the seat cushions, and I found it was helpful toward the end of the paddle, as we started working harder, to use the life jacket as a back rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment