I really wanted to paddle Terra Ceia Bay in the Tampa Bay area but the weather just would not co-operate. If it was clear there would be high winds. If there weren't high winds it would be raining. If it was just overcast it would also be cold. So I finally gave up on it. Just a few days ago a huge tornado hit north of Orlando killing 20 people where I had stayed earlier. Also temperatures in the -40 to -50 range through the mid-west and northeast. Probably all part of the same weather pattern.
02/06/07 Paddling Blue Cypress Lake:
I've moved from the Gulf Coast almost to the east coast. I had Blue Cypress Lake marked on my map so had I read or heard about it somewhere. High winds here too. They seemed to die down some so I launched the kayak. Got out of the little creek I'm camped next to and found they hadn't died down that much... still blowing close to 15mph. 1.5 foot waves with some whitecaps. I paddled into the wind for close to an hour and didn't even get 1/2 mile. Had lunch while the wind blew me back and then paddled part way back again.
A lot of osprey right near the mouth of the little creek. Several nests and 6 or 7 birds perched in cypress trees out in the water, a couple with fish in their talons. I got my best photo so far of a bird in flight. I was getting ready to take a photo of one osprey when a second one flew by. I had the camera on and focused and all I did was swing the camera around and caught the osprey dead center as it was banking into a turn.
02/09/07 Paddling Blue Cypress Lake:
Went out the other day but had another couple in the canoe so only piddle paddled around for a while.
A great day for paddling today, temperature in the low 70's, no wind, and partly hazy skies. Followed the same course as the other two trips but was out 3 hours or so this time.
I can't believe the number of osprey on this lake. I passed more than 50 nesting pairs and covered less than 1/4 of the shoreline of this 5 mile X 3 mile lake. At that rate there must be more than 250 pairs on the lake. Some of them are still building or repairing nests. You see them flying around with twigs and Spanish moss in their talons. They may be still selecting mates too. Every once in a while I would see two osprey in a nest and one sitting nearby. Then one in the nest would get chased out.
Tons of osprey on the water and lots of red shoulder hawks on land. They weren't too shy either. Lots of vultures too. Saw a few alligators out on the water.
Cypress trees appear to circle the lake. They're not blue but are certainly different from most of the cypress I've seen. They're not dwarf cypress like in the Everglades but they don't seem to grow to great heights either.
02/10/07 Paddling Blue Cypress Lake:
Was getting ready to go out on the lake but didn't make it. About the time I'd changed clothes the power boaters started coming in. There's limited parking for them and they soon branched into the camping area. Since I was the only one there it didn't take long for them to take over. I really didn't want them 5 feet from me so I got up and left.
02/11/07 Paddling Lake Jackson:
Went up to the eastern shore of Lake Kissimmee yesterday in search of the endangered whooping cranes and actually found one. Big 5 foot white bird. Also found many sandhill cranes and even a crested caracaras along Joe Overstreet Road off CR 523.
Lake Kissimmee is a large lake with mostly a grassy shoreline. I thought I'd paddle some of the shoreline today in hopes of finding more whooping cranes but the wind was just to great.
Wandered over to nearby Lake Jackson where the wind wasn't so bad and did I get a surprise. It's only about a mile long and wide and not much more than 1 foot deep this year. But I found well over 100 sandhill cranes, maybe 150. They were bunched in groups of 20-30 around most of the lake.
40-50 white pelicans were surrounded by a couple hundred American coots. All of them were moving around as a single unit scarfing up small fish. They apparently were still hungry when they ate them all because they hit the airways and circled around until they found some more. They landed about 1/2 miles away and continued the feast.
Beyond that, 1 alligator, the usual assortment of anhingas, great blue herons, great American egrets and a few glossy ibises. They claim this area has the highest concentration of nesting bald eagles in the lower 48 states. There's supposed to be 150 pairs in the area but I didn't see any. Can't complain though.