South Carolina Flood

Our farm is one of those special places where I always feel at home and I can't wait to visit every year.  For the past decade on MLK Day weekend, my friends and I have been spending our time at our river house which sits on the normally quiet Black River in South Carolina.  This past year something drastic happened when a rain system dumped a wall of water over the Lowcountry of South Carolina.  

Black River flooded higher than it's 500 year mark and our house, that sits a good 12 feet off the ground, was found with 2 feet of water in it pretty quickly. Luckily, my dad was home and managed to get all the cars, the boats, the electronics, and some other items out of the house before they were destryoed.  The bad news is that the home is now gutted and empty.  A shell of our former fun memories linger.

It's hard to say when we'll have enough money to fix the house but it will happen eventually.  At least I hope that it happens before it becomes run down.  For now we just have to wait, let it dry, and try to plan for the future. The old farm house didn't even come close to flooding and for now, it's the new place to stay when visiting.  Even though I know we were lucky, I'm still sad to know that the water took something away from us that we may not get back.

Larimer County Driving Tour

Mid-day isn't the best time for birding but it will do when it's your day off, you wanted to sleep in, and you only have a few more days in a wonderful state.  I started with a quick stop at Dixon Reservoir to scan for ducks.  Easily picking up Cackling and Canada Geese and Common Goldeneye.

Next was a pull-off at Horsetooth Reservoir with a few more additions in American Kestrel and Red-tailed Hawk flyovers.

I love Bellevue and drove by for one more look as I headed up Rist Canyon.

The finale of the evening would be a easy drive down Poudre River Canyon.

The sun was out and the frozen river was melting.  It was such a beautiful day and a gift from Colorado before I fly to New York.

The dogs even got a little walk around Picnic Rock which they enjoyed more than you can tell from this funny photo.  Daisy never understands why I have to take photos when all she wants to do is get to some unseen destination.

It was the perfect day to drive about Larimer County.  I picked up two lifers, enjoyed the sunshine, and had some quality time with my pups.  I'm going to miss this place.

American Dipper

Finally the elusive American Dipper was bagged!  In celebration of completing my Master's I took the pups on a little drive down Poudre Canyon on Friday.  I've been searching for a dipper for over a year now but it finally all fell together.  I just took a chance at skimming the rocks as I slowly drove by the river and right after passing Mishawaka I saw the little dip jump off a rock.

The perfect place to see a dipper since a parking lot was literally 5 feet in reverse which I did despite the danger because of my overwhelming joy. A quick hop across the road and I was face to face with a nemesis bird.

You can see why the bird is easy to miss in the photo above due to it's uncanny ability to just turn into a rock.

This little fellow was perfect and gave me a show for about 15 minutes before flying downriver.  I watched it feed, swim, hop and bob.  The best part was I had it all to myself on a beautiful, sunny Colorado day.

Thanks little American Dipper with your rolly-polly body, your funny walk, and your feeding show on the Poudre River.  You made my day!

Stress Relief = Dogs & Rivers

Wednesday is the bump of the week, I hope this funny photo of two silly dogs helps see you through the madness of work and life.  My first homework assignment for graduate school is due today and in that honor, I want to send good positive vibes out into the universe.  What's your happy place when life gets stressful?

The Big Thompson

This summer I was lucky enough to take a few drives up the Big Thompson Canyon on my way to Estes Park.  The road is filled with little quirky stops like The Dam Store at the dam, the Cherry Store, and the Cowboy Church.  It's a winding canyon drive beside Big Thompson River.  The road hugs the canyon walls as the river sweeps by with little whitewater ripples in the wake.

Now it's all gone.  The road and the river have traded places at times and many of the homes and businesses are completely swept away.  The recent CO Flood has rinsed the canyon clean again.  Perhaps we were foolish, as humans to rebuild after the 1976 flood that took so many lives.  The 2013 flood didn't take many lives but it took the homes and roads away.  It left people stranded without access in and out of Estes Park.  

As someone that spoke to many of the flood evacuees while working at the Disaster Assistance Center, I believe most of them are just happy they survived. 

My sincerest wishes to the people that were affected by the floods and the communities that are still trying to hold it together.  Perhaps a trip to Estes Park is in order, I hear that these communities are depending on people for tourism to see them through the winter.  The Stanley Hotel and the photos of the canyon were taken by my Mom this August on a trip to Grand Lake.  At the time, I kinda laughed inside about the touristy part of taking photos from the car window but I'm glad I have a little memory of the canyon to keep.

Beaver swimming

While spending MLK weekend on the family farm, we had an unexpected visitor.  As we were spending time on the front porch I saw something moving across the river upstream.  At first I thought it was a snake but then I noticed it zigged and zagged away from the shoreline and veered down the river.  As it came closer I saw the brown body and grabbed my binoculars.  It was a Beaver and a first sighting for some of the MLK participants.

We watched the Beaver swim down Black River, passing us without even a glance.  Off it went into the patch of Alligator Weed and out of sight.  It was nice addition to a fun weekend. I'll take this unexpected guest any day!

Thanksgiving at Black River

My family has a house on a lovely farm on Black River in South Carolina.  Each Thanksgiving we come together to give thanks, eat fried turkey, play games, and enjoy the fun.  This Thanksgiving lived up to all my dreams.  We had over 20 friends and family attend and plenty of photo time.

We relaxed around the yard, played washers and corn hole, and enjoyed cooking and sharing our time together.

The weather has been so hot in Florida this year, I was so happy to wear a jacket and longsleeves on the farm.  And the food was delicious as always.  My mom always delights us with her good home-cooking.  Oh how I wish I had more of Mom's butterbeans right now!

It was great to come together with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and parents.  They make me miss South Carolina more than I usually admit.  The changing leaves, the dark tannic river, the crisp air, and new frost on the ground all remind me of how much I love my home state.

I also did some birding while on the farm.  I'll have a post up later this week with my bird tally.  

Ginnie Springs Camping

Ginnie Springs Campground may be one of the most fun in Florida but also the loudest.  We arrived for our camping trip around midnight and by the sound of it, the party had just started.  We found a campsite in the Beaver Landing area and set up our tents.  After the humidity soaked us through we walked down to the springs for a little night dip.  Ginnie Springs is also the only spring that I know of that actually keeps a lights on at night for swimming.  This is one of those private, anything goes kind of places.

For the next two days we enjoyed swimming, floating down the river, and hanging by the campsite.  The mosquitoes weren't too bad and the heat of the day was spent in the cool 70 degree waters to cool us down.  If you're looking for a camping destination in summer while in Florida, I believe the only place that is bearable are the springs.

Even with the large crowds were found bits of natural encounters.  Damselflies of all kinds would ride the rafts with us down river.  And the snorkeling is easy in these clear waters.  We saw bass, catfish, and sunfish of all kinds.  We also woke up each morning to a cacophany of bird calls from the Fish Crows roosting above our campsite. 

I highly recommend a trip to Ginnie Springs, even if its just a day trip.  Floating down the Santa Fe River is so relaxing and then swimming in one of the parks six springs is also a nice way to unwind from a hard work week.  I will definitely be returning to this little piece of Florida heaven.  Maybe next time I'll try on a less busy weekend.

Canoeing the Loxahatchee River

Osprey nest on the Loxahatchee River.

Geraldine and I stopping for a snack by some Cypress knees.

Photo by Geraldine

The riparian zone of Loxahatchee is great: Slash Pine meets Cypress trees meets Mangroves.

I love the Mangroves with the Cypress buttresses in front. Weird mixture of brackish and fresh swamps.

After our 2 hours of canoeing we headed over to Jupiter Beach for some wave jumping. The beaches here are my favorite in Palm Beach County.

Two Butterflies, Two Parks, One Plant

The Common Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis, is poisonous to humans but it absolutely ushers in the butterflies to sip from it's pin cushion flower head. This plant of the Madder family grows across the United States but in my encounters it's always near some swampy land or river. Recently while in Riverbend Park and Blue Spring State Park, I saw Common Buttonbushes growing on the riverbanks. And both of the plant had butterflies, though of different species.

The butterfly I saw at Riverbend was a Palamedes Swallowtail, Papilio palamedes. This large swallow tail is one of the largest butterflies in the United States. The only swallowtail that rivals it in size it's the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio gaucus. Below is a few shots of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail seen form the headwaters of Blue Springs.

Swallowtails are relatives to the Birdwings, the largest butterflies in the world. Not all swallowtails have "tails" but most of them do have them. Both of these large butterflies were easy to see and I followed them way into the distance. Summer may be slow when it comes to birding but at least I have the butterflies.