Oconee River: South to Lake Oconee

May 25th, 2012. After making our way up the Oconee River to Fishing Creek and returning to Dyar Pasture, we decided to see if we could make our way down into Lake Oconee.

The route

*****

A single Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) tree directly opposite the boat launch. This is a non-native species from east Asia that is cultivated in gardens. This one got loose.

The Oconee River is wide and deep as it flows southwest immediately south of Dyar Pasture.

We saw several Great Blue Herons along this stretch of the river

*****

We went south as far as we could but couldn’t find a way into Lake Oconee. The river was very shallow and the openings to the lake were blocked by snags. We retraced our route and turned west into another bay at the north end of the lake. The water was shallow. We might have been able to make our way south into the main lake from this side but were running out of time. On our way back to Dyar Pasture, we saw this…

Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) that didn’t seem to be bothered by the heat. It seemed to be enjoying the heat. And look at that intense turquoise eye.

This Great Blue Heron didn’t like the heat at all. It had opened its wings to catch the breeze. Others have also seen this cooling method: here and here. This is the first time I’ve seen a Great Blue Heron using this method to cool itself. I’ve seen one use this method in the Fall to catch the early morning sun in an effort warm itself.

By the time we got back to the boat launch, the Rose of Sharon flowers were starting to close for the evening.

An American Snout (Libytheana carinenta) joined me while I waited at the boat launch to bring the boat in, and a…

Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis) was obelisking to avoid absorbing the full heat of the suns rays.
Click on an image to view a larger image

Identification resources:
Native and Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas and Georgia: Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon, Althea)
Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds:
- Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
- Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)
Michael Beohm, West Central Georgia Butterflies: American Snout (Libytheana carinenta)
Dragonflies and Damselflies (Odonata) of Georgia: Blue Dasher (Pachydiplax longipennis)

Distribution:
- University of North Carolina Herbarium: Hibiscus syriacus
- United States Department of Agriculture Plants Database: Hibiscus syriacus (Rose of Sharon)

Related posts:
- Oconee River: North To Fishing Creek
- Running The Oconee River: North from Dyar Pasture

Oconee River: North To Fishing Creek

May 25th, 2012. We launched at the boat ramp at the Dyar Pasture Recreation Area off SM Copeland Road in Greene County. We headed north. Not to see how far we could go up the river but to see if we could go up into Fishing Creek.

Our route.

We saw damselflies before we launched the boat. Blue-fronted Dancer (Argia apicalis)

Heading up river from the Dyar Pasture boat launch

Dragonfly. I’m not sure what this is. Its wings were deformed; it couldn’t fly.

Another male Blue-fronted Dancer on a snag.

Nearby, about a foot away on the same log, a damselfly that looks like a female Blue-ringed Dancer (Argia sedula)

Then there were the freeloaders who rode up the river on our boat – including what looks like a pair of Blue-fronted Dancers.

We headed up Fishing Creek. The entrance to the creek was fairly wide but shallow, only about two feet deep in many places.

*****

The creek narrowed. We had to keep an eye on the river depth. Georgia Power generates hydro power at the dam at the southern end of the lake which means that the lake, river and creek levels can fall a foot or so reasonably suddenly. We could have been stranded literally ‘up the creek’ had the power company started generating power. We were lucky though…

We were treated to an show of Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans) along the way.

The creek opens out into a wide, shallow bay. The Pink Queen we saw a year ago is to the left as we entered the bay. This is the entrance to the bay. The rods in the water have ropes with crayfish traps attached. We circumnavigated the bay and encountered this…

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) high in a tree. It was fanning to cool itself in the hot afternoon.

We returned to Dyar Pasture and then decided to go south to Lake Oconee. Highlights of that trip next…
Click on an image to view a larger image

Identification resources:
Southeastern Flora: Campsis radicans (Trumpet creeper)

Giff Beaton:
- Blue-fronted Dancer (Argia apicalis) [Male] [Female]
- Blue-ringed Dancer (Argia sedula): [Male] [Female]

Cornell Lab of Ornithology, All About Birds: Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

Related posts:
- Running The Oconee River: North from Dyar Pasture
- Pink Queen (Cleome hassleriana)

Great Blue Heron Side And Seek

May 11th, 2012. Continued from here. We continued upriver and found a tree that had fallen into the river but still had leaves. It may still be alive. W spotted a Great Blue Heron standing on the horizontal trunk. I couldn’t see it for a while; it was ‘hidden’ behind a leafy branch. The river had quite a current at this point so W had to work the boat upstream slowly while trying to get to a position that would allow us to see the heron. We made several runs up to the tree. We never got a completely clear view of the heron but…

The heron from a distance. Only its head and shoulders were in view.

*****

*****

Several views of he heron. It watched us but didn’t seem to perturbed, particularly since we made five or six approaches to the tree and came quite close to it on the last approach.

Finally, we gave up approaching the tree from downstream and came around to get a view from the upstream side of the tree.

The heron didn’t see things the same way when we approached from the upstream side. I got one last shot before it flew off.

Next: Pink Queen (Cleome hassleriana)
Click on an image to view a larger image

Identification resources:
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology: Ardea herodias (Great Blue Heron)

Related posts:
- Running The Oconee River: North from Dyar Pasture
- Oconee River: Goslings On The Go

Great Blue Herons On The Move

I’d only seen one Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) fishing around the lake at Fort Yargo State Park this Fall. It seemed a little unusual but, since the water level had been relatively high during the Summer, it was likely that herons might have been in the more remote marshy areas around the lake.

I might have been right. Yesterday afternoon, I encountered three herons in close proximity on a newly exposed beach. I didn’t realize they were there. I spooked the first one, which flew away, before I saw the other two. A second flew away soon after leaving just one.

This heron wandered along the shore while keeping a close eye on me.

Unfortunately, it also felt a need to leave and flew across the lake just above the water.

It’s not unusual for herons to give an alarm call as they fly away. Interestingly, none of these did; they flew off silently.
Click on an image to view a larger image

Beautiful Fall Morning

After a terribly hot Summer we are enjoying a beautiful Fall; how to mid 40s in the morning and mid to high 70s in the afternoon. I’ve made my first concession to the cooler weather; rowing in long pants and a sleeveless vest. It’s cool when I start out and borders on a little too warm when I get back in. The Fall color is developing so the views change every time I go out.

One of my favorite views. The bridge by the boat launch.

Some trees on the island (segment 16) are changing color.

Looking back towards the island again. I had to share the lake with three other boats this morning.

The dock just to the north of the camping area (segment 7). The slight smokiness in the upper right is from wood cooking fires. This is the cruelest section of the row. The smell of cooking bacon. Yum!

More trees changing color along the Bird Berry trail (segment 10a).

The nature center (segment 10).

Heading back down the lake from the nature center (segment 12).

A lone sentinel. This Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) was warming itself in the early morning sun.

More color (segment 13). The red tree in the center is a Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Click on an image to view a larger image

Related posts:
- Fort Yargo State Park: Early Fall Color

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

This photo has won First Prize in the 2009 Photography Contest at Fort Yargo State Park that was sponsored by the Friends of Fort Yargo and The Barrow County News.

This was another of my ‘row and drift’ photos taken on a November morning. The heron was warming itself high above the ground on the trunk of a tree that had fallen but hung up against another tree trunk (at the north end of Segment 12). I had seen this bird in this spot previously and noticed it again in time to glide to a stop opposite it and on the opposite side of this narrow neck on the lake. The wind was blowing gently from the east. I drifted across the lake for about 15 minutes, taking photos repeatedly until the heron decided I was too close and flew off. This was one photo in this series.
Click on the image to view a larger image

Related posts:
- Marburg Creek Reservoir: Fort Yargo State Park
- Loose with a Camera…

Great Blue Heron: Early Morning Fishing

Click on the image to view a larger image

Great Blue Heron

Some sunny weather at last. The temperature was 47F and the lake was smooth – to start with at least. The Blackgums (Nyssa sylvatica; Black Tupelo) started to change color a few weeks ago but other trees had shown little inclination to follow suit. In the last couple of days, however, many trees have started to change color in earnest.

This is a view of the shoreline above the boat launch (Segment 18) on Marburg Creek reservoir in Fort Yargo State Park.

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

A Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) flew to the point at Segment 11-12 when I entered Segment 11 and didn’t fly off when I rowed back. I pulled wide of the point and floated towards the point in the wind. The heron watched me closely but didn’t fly away until I was quite close.
Click on an image to view a larger image

The Early Bird Gets The …

It’s still hot but there’s a sense of autumn in the air. Some of the trees are starting to drop leaves and the Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) are ‘showing up’ again. I don’t see them much during the summer in the last week or so they have started to appear again. This morning I saw five. Only one was in the open. Most were hanging in the woods at the lake shore hunting. They are shy and retreat into the woods if I slow down or stop.

This one, however, was preoccupied with hunting. I stopped a fair way past it and floated slowly in with the breeze. Just after I took this photo it caught something on the shore, not in the water. I think it may have been a frog judging by the amount of effort it had to expend to swallow it.
Click on the image to see a larger image