Hanging out at Laura's Lakehouse

I thought I'd update y'all on what's been going on around the house.  Really, of course, I just mean that I'm going to post some picture, mostly of birds, that I've taken around the house in the last couple of months. :-)

So, to get things started, here's a short video of one of our old friends and our friend's friend.

My hummingbird feeder has been a hotspot this summer.  Unfortunately, I can't help but to post too many pictures of these little cuties.  When I come back, I want to come back as a hummingbird.  They are like little helicopters!

These are some of the females that have been visiting (some are probably repeats, of course).

But, from what I hear---and it fits with what I observe---the males can be pretty nasty to the females, so maybe I'd be better off coming back as one of these guys:

The feeder has gotten other visitors as well, here's one of the now!

I'll diverge from my feathered friends to look at another winged visitor.  Robert and I were out doing yard work one Saturday, clearing trees that were blocking the view of the lake, trimming limbs, etc., when I found an injured Luna Moth.

She had lost her hindwing tails.  I feared that our yard work might have had something to do with that. :-/

A friend of mine from the park, one of the Teacher-Ranger-Teachers, is a science teacher, and she had talked about having raised Luna Moth eggs with one of her classes in the past, and I knew she would want this one.  They only live for about a week, and their sole purpose is to mate and lay eggs.  I figured we could keep her safe long enough to fulfill her destiny, and some kids could get a kick out science in the process.

You can tell that she is, in fact, a she by her antennae, the males' being bushier.

How exquisite is this furry little creature!  The markings on a Luna Moth have to be one of the most beautiful things.

I didn't want to leave her tractionless in the plastic critter carrier that I had her in, so I gently lifted her out to put in some natural bedding.  The don't have mouth parts, so at least I didn't have to worry about what to feed her.

 When I picked her up, the strangest thing happened!  She started vibrating like crazy in my hand!  I was astonished.  I carried her over to Robert to discuss this weird phenomenon, while she continued her queer quivering.  She didn't seem overly stressed out (not that I would be able to tell), but when on for about a minute.  She then abruptly stopped, and a second later we had lift off!  She flew high into the trees on the other side of an adjacent yard.  I knew my teacher friend would be disappointed, but if she had the strength to make it on her own, more power to her!

In my curiousity, I did a little research and learned the follwing:

"Moths heat up their flight muscles by vibrating their wings, since they do not have the radiant energy of the sun (being nocturnal) at their disposal to serve that purpose."

Now that's cool!

Here's one more critter before I get back to the birds.  Yeah, I might be a little odd, but this Dengue mosquito is too pretty not to share!

Now that I've identified it, perhaps I should not have let it bite me.  But it was worth it for the picture.

On with the birds...

One of my favs, you know I've got Green Heron pictures!

The good ol' Osprey has been making his rounds and keeping me entertained (i.e., distracted) as I work outside on my new patio set:

And this precocious young Red-bellied Woodpecker is always thrilled when I fill up the feeder:

The Belted Kingfishers have been fishing.

And finally, I've had some new visitors out at the lake.  There have been a few Eastern Kingbirds hanging out in the bushes by the dock.

And last, but far from least, a Brown-headed Nuthatch, my first ever!

Gator in Weston Lake!

Camping

The weather was great for camping the last few months.  I spent several nights at CONG, some with others, some alone.  Here are some random photos from a few of those camping trips...

VIP Mike helps get the fire going

Some park folks stop by for a visit

Morgan, Cody, Laura, and John relax in the campground

One of the nights I was camping with Claire (introduced in a previous post), we scoured the blackberry bushes in the campground for dessert.  She was such a blast to hang out with!

Claire picking blackberries

Add a little sugar and mash for soupy blackberry goodness!

Corinne and Claire

One night Claire and I went down to the Boardwalk to check out the synchronous fireflies.  We kept the flashlights off for most of the hike.  It was amazing!  The forest is so cool when you are hiking by the light of the moon and the sounds are so different---the Barred Owls were very active that night.

As most people know, I'm not much for birthdays.  This year I was planning to camp on a day that just happened to fall on my bday, so you could almost say I celebrated it!  Cliff joined me and we had a nice, relaxed evening.  We had gotten word of an active pileated nest just off of the boradwalk, so we woke up before the sun to check it out.  It was pretty chilly, but we had a nice walk through the floodplain.

Cliff on the boardwalk early in the morning

We didn't find the nest, but we did find this HUGE LOBLOLLY PINE!  (It was kinda hard to miss!)

The weather has gotten pretty warm, but I'm feeling a little overdue for a night in the tent.  If the multi-day paddle doesn't happen soon, I'll at least have to do some "car camping".

'Yakin'

I've been out paddling, mostly at home or in CONG, several times over the last couple of months.  A few of those trips have been as a volunteer on the guided canoe tours down Cedar Creek. 

Carol (NPS Volunteer) spotting snakes on Cedar Creek

Earlier in the spring a lovely woman called Claire was in from Charleston.  Claire, I learned, camps in CONG on her own for two weeks every spring.  I ended up camping with her for a few nights, but that'll be in my "Camping" post.  Since she was around for a couple weeks, and since she's a super-cool chick, I offered to take her paddling.  She had done the guided canoe tour once on an earlier trip, but had not been on the creek since, and had never kayaked.  She is a natural!

Holly and Morgan had joined us in Holly's tandem kayak, and everyone had a blast. 

Though, come to thing of it, when we would stop to gawk at snakes Claire would ignore us and paddle on...  We followed this Red-bellied Water Snake around the creek for a while, and I think that might have been Claire's least favorite part of the paddle.

CONG is a participant in the Teach-Ranger-Teacher (TRT) program.  Public school teachers perform their regular teaching duties during the school year and serve as legit park rangers during the summer.  Then, when they return to the classroom they incorporate their experiences in park into the lessons that they present, escort (in full uniform) their students on field trips to the park, wear the NPS green and grey to school for National Parks Week, etc.  It is a great way to expose children who might not otherwise have the opportunity to the natural resources protected by the park service. 

Over the last few months I've gotten to know Vikki, one of CONG's TRTs.  Earlier in the spring we spent the weekend in the park camping and paddling.  This is great because she knows a lot about the park, and I get to have loads of fun and learn a lot.  She took me out to the "Hobbit Tree" off Cedar Creek.  Well, usually it is off Cedar Creek...we had a week or so of rain and the water levels were up several feet.

To get a good look at this "walking maple" one usually has to pull out and walk up into the trees.  The experience is a little different when you have to paddle up to it.  Often visitors will take photos standing in the "doorway".  Here Vikki is trying to peek in, looking for bats, without tipping the kayak.  But, I had the camera on her just in case things didn't turn out as expected! ;-)

Vikki and I have a shared sense of adventure is great.  I'm hoping to head up to Boone, NC next week for a couple of days where she and her husband are spending a couple of weeks in the mountains.  I need to make my way out of central SC.

The last trip I'll share took place just after term let out.  Earlier in the year a new ranger, Lindsay, came on board.  I had offered to take a friend and USC professor, Frank, paddling.  We set the date, but I knew Lindsay had not had much time to explore the creek and our trip fell on one of her lieu days.  So, I invided her along, she made arrangements to borrow a park kayak, and we were set. 

We paddled upstream from my usual put in at the South Cedar Creed Landing iron bridge. 

We saw lots of Cottonmouths and Brown Water Snakes.  We managed to get further upstream than I expected, about a mile and a half, before we ran into our first barrier that would required portaging.  We decided to hop over it and press on, knowing there were at least 16 more such spots in the creek over the next 5 miles.  I hopped out of the boat into the knee-deep creek.  I was not too surprised to find that I was in the water up to my torso...there are plenty of places on Cedar Creek where one wrong step will put you in thigh-deep mud.  We talked about it...briefly...and decided that portaging may not be the best way to go.  I wrenched myself free from the sucking creek-bed and we headed back downstream. 

We headed back to the landing early afternoon.  Frank had work to get to and we had to make arrangements with Sean, of the park's maintenance crew, for a pick up.  Since we had the extra boat he had been kind enough to take us down that morning. 

I've logged plenty of hours on the water this season, but I'm dying to get on the river.  We are trying to work out a trip down the 50 mile Congaree Blue Trail.  We'll put in in Columbia and paddle down to south of the park.  It's usually a 2-2 1/2 day trip with a couple of overnights on the sandbars.  I'll let you know how it works out!

Shrooms

I've been collecting photos of some of the mushrooms I've seen around the floodplain.


Some type of weird growth on the lower boardwalk near Weston Lake.  It looked like it belonged in the ocean.

The next three were all growing close to each other off Weston Lake Loop, right by the lake.

My Favorite!

The ledge to the left of these is the brick walkway leading up to the Visitor Center.  The tallest shroom here was about 1/2 inch.

This was just off the elevated boardwalk near Sims trail.

Birds Galore!

If you are not interested in my feathered friends (Sarah), skip this post!  :-)

Some of these photos are not great, and I've only included them because I want to keep track of what I've seen.  As far as "Life birds", I don't count birds that I saw before I every paid attention as birds that have been seen.

Around Springwoods Lake

The Canada Geese are multiplying.  Aren't they ugly? :-)

A swift swallow.  Perhaps a Northern Rough-winged?

Suspected Rough-wing

Suspected juvenile Rough-wing

Around Campus
 I ran into quite a flock of Cedar Waxwings while walking out to my car one afternoon.  I just happened to have my camera on me.  The Mockingbird was none-to-thrilled about the visitors.

Cedar Waxwing on Greene St.

Mockingbird on Greene St.

 In Shreveport (or there 'bouts)
I saw some old favorites and picked up a few life birds when I was back in Louisiana in May.

Juvenile Orchard Oriole (Lifer)

Carolina Wren

Red-winged Blackbird

Chipping Sparrow

White-breasted Nuthatch

Great Crested Flycatcher (Lifer)

Black-throated Green Warbler (Lifer)

Magnolia Warbler (Lifer)

Black-and-white Warbler (Lifer)

Baltimore Oriole --- Lifer for me and Dibs (a.k.a., Eva)!

American Redstart (Lifer)

  On to CONG!

Birding with Ranger Kathleen

 Warblers:
Hooded Warblers:

Male Hooded Warbler (Lifer)

 

This Hooded Warbler nest was just only about a foot off the boardwalk and in perfect position to peer down into.  We did not advertise its location and pretty much all of the visitors passed by without noticing or disturbing.  

Hooded Warbler nesting

There were a total of 4 eggs laid.  They hatched while I was in Louisiana.  The chicks were about a week old the day before I returned to the park when a violent thunderstorm disrupted their little existence.  Too sad. :-(

Hooded Warbler eggs

 Northern Parulas:

This is a neat progression of images.  These two Parulas were chasing each other all over the forest.  One paused on a limb and as I was about to get my shot, the other dove in.  They latched together and somersaulted towards the ground.  Not great pictures, but a neat moment to catch.  This was either mating behavior (my bet), or territorial pissings.

 

The two above actually hit the ground.  It was too weird!  A couple seconds later, this little guy popped up.  The other, a female I expect, took off.

 

Prothonotary Warbler (Lifer):

 

Black-throated Blue Warbler (Lifer) [Carolina Chickadee in the foreground]

Pine Warbler: 

Pine Warbler - How cute is that?!?!

 Prairie Warbler (Lifer): Not a rare bird, but the only one seen in the park this year as far as I know.  I saw him two weekends in a row at the same campsite.

 Red-shouldered Hawk Nest:

Red-shouldered Hawk sitting on a nest high up in a Bald-cypress

Red-shouldered Hawklette

Red-shouldered Hawklette

White-eyed Vireo

Barred Owl

 Pileated Woodpecker

Indigo Bunting (Lifer)

 Other Randomness:

Cardinal Nesting

Eastern Bluebird

Eastern Towhee

Gray Catbird (Lifer)

White Ibis

Juvenile White Ibis

Summer Tanager (Lifer)

Red-headed Woodpecker (Lifer)

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Lifer)