We recently led a birding canoe trip on an early Saturday morning. It was a fantastic morning and many a bird were spotted and heard. A participant followed up the trip with writing a post about his experience, as well as one of the guides, Alicia. A special thanks Stacy Z, our master birder on the trip, for sharing her knowledge of everything feathered!
Read all about John and Alicia's adventures:
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From Jon, River Guest:
We set out on an adventure, the first ever for CNC. Two fearless females lead us in a flotilla of canoes, both brimming with enthusiasm and knowledge that's contagious.
The mission: To see wildlife - BIRDS! The means: By paddling down, around and back up a 3-mile stretch of the Chattahoochee. This is the maiden voyage for CNC's birdwatching canoe trips. The outing is a great success. The early morning waters of the river are cool, calm and inviting.
Alicia and Stacy are our guides. They spot an osprey that soars over yonder, prospecting for fish in the river. We ogle and ooh and ahh. We hug the shady Creek bank, floating with the current.
Red tailed and red shouldered hawks enter the scene. Their aerial antics entertain us. Their calls so resonate. They invigorate us.
As we near our first dip into quieter waters, we learn of the river's length, in a short gunnel-to-gunnel talk.
Into the backwaters, and we are canopied by overlapping treetops. It feels like we are waking up in a bayou of peace and tranquility.
The river's shallow, clear bottom reveals footprints of a great blue heron. Then, on the bank, there it stands in all its majesty. Cautiously, it flies off as we approach. In flight, the heron is even more awesome. No matter that it's leaving us.
As we paddle softly on, a family of geese paddles their way through a pretty, little shortcut between two islands. We see them from the rear, but up close. The pass-through seems made just for them.
Eagle-eyed, Stacy steers our eyes to a red-headed woodpecker way atop a dead tree's apex. Both the spotting and the bird are amazing.
Beautiful gold finches flit across our path. Their fast wings add a splash of colour to brighten the day further.
We stop to learn about the wonderful, thriving cattails.
We swing over to the base of the cliffs. That low angle view up the sheer rock is quite impressive. So is the tree that somehow finds a way to grow from the outcropping.
What's that! The youngest in our group tells his mom there's something in the water. A swift undulation reveals a snake crossing the river. Alicia and Stacy know it's a black rat snake. Non-venomous and determined to get to the other side, even though it is not a water-bound creature.
We explore a narrow channel on the way back up the river. The current is fine. We don't face much resistance. Into the channel which takes us past a private dock that surprises. The channel is very quiet, full of flora, and we wind our way back out to the river's main body.
We come up on a clump of bushes and shrubs that crackle and chirp with melody. A shy, white-eyed vireo's song is unmistakable. It conceals itself from view.
In plain sight, as we cruise back to the take-out point, are the vultures. Flying together are three black and one turkey vulture. We're all relieved they seem uninterested in us.
Then, to top things off, a broad winged hawk swoops into our patch of sky. A rare sighting for this neck of the woods indeed.
We are all quite satisfied, and our arms and shoulders got a bit of a workout. I come away wanting more and wondering: Were we watching them or were they watching us?
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From Alicia, River Guide:
This morning was a trip I had been anxiously waiting for - a bird focused canoe trip. On my way in at 6:45AM, fog covered the river and I was nervous that it would inhibit our ability to spot birds. In the wetlands along the corner of Willeo and Azalea, I spotted Great Egrets and even immature Little Blue Herons (they are small and white, dark bill and legs), and my hopes to see some great feathered friends rose.
Before we could even get to the canoe landing, Stacy stopped along the boardwalk for some birdspotting! By the time we did make it to the landing, the fog was gone and the water was clear and smooth! The paddling plan was to head downstream and take the route over to the Gold Branch backwater, head back towards the cliffs, and then explore a new channel that we had heard was a beautiful spot.
We then went through the wetlands and toward the cliffs, and since the water was clear we could see heron tracks in the muck below the shallow water. Witchity-witchity-witchity sang the Common Yellowthroat. We paddled all the way up to the cliffs and looked upstream to see two more Osprey hovering - literally. They have a wingbeat pattern that allows them to stay in one place so they can search for fish below. Vultures - both Turkey and Black - rode the morning's thermals up to soar high in the sky. We paddled back upstream, right along the streambank and got a look at Eastern Phoebes, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, White-eyed Vireos, and of course a Northern Cardinal. Then we took a "road less traveled" - a little channel that took us through blooms, and birches, and a few briars. We had heard from Zelia - another Master Birder - that this would be a nice place to explore. I was confident enough with our participant's paddling skills to take them into this narrow waterway. Although it did not add any birds to our list, it was wonderful! Dragonfly haven and a huge yellow-bellied slider all were hidden back there.
As we turned to head across the river and back to our boardwalk, a final, awesome raptor soared above. A Broad-winged Hawk circled us and we were able to get a really great look at it - it's amazing to think that this bird, much larger than many of our long distance migrants, travels thousands of miles twice a year. Birds really do amaze me.
I think that counting all birds seen and a few heard, we encountered 27 species on Stacy and Alicia's wild bird tour. I am really looking forward to August, and Stacy suggested a birding trip closer to migration, later in September/October.
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If you are interested in joining Alicia and Stacy on the next Birding Canoe Trip, you can pre-register online here:
http://chattnaturecenter.org/river-canoe-trips.html
The next birding trip is August 27th and we are working to find a good date in October to add an additional trip!
