No trip to north FL to see family would be complete without a trip over to Mandalay. Best-est place in the world, as I might have mentioned before ;) I am writing about this particular trip, because it was Zach's first trip in the summer - a rite of passage in our family! Worthy of note!
Mandalay is an old house on the Aucilla River, and is perfect for spending time outside and appreciating nature. This dock has been appreciated for generations in our family as a place to sun oneself, to swim, to sit and watch the river flow past. My cousin is demonstrating below the proper use of the dock :)
Getting out on the water is also key at Mandalay. It being Zach's first trip there in the summer, we took the canoes out and paddled up the river. The bridge is about a mile and 3/4 up river from where the house is, and it's generally used by the family as a turn-around landmark when we go out paddling. So, of course, I had to take a picture as we arrived there :)
It was a day full of wildlife to see, too! Besides the standard fiddler crabs and little birds (lots of hummingbirds!), Zach saw his first gator! We do have gators on the Aucilla, and this one was chilling out near our neighbor's boats. Never got really close to us and our dock, (I think we were too noisy), though he was definitely close enough to watch! We saw another one as we were paddling too, though not as close as the one at the docks. Prompted the question, "Have the gators around here ever been know to do something... stupid?" No worries, though - much easier prey than us around here!
The osprey nest was very active too. There are always a few nests up and down the Aucilla, and we passed one as we were paddling. There was a baby (well, juvenile at this time of year) in the nest crying for food, and two adults swooping up and down to the water from the trees to go fishing for the hungry one. We paddled slowly as we passed, so we could watch them flying about and fishing. Beautiful birds!
The osprey nest was very active too. There are always a few nests up and down the Aucilla, and we passed one as we were paddling. There was a baby (well, juvenile at this time of year) in the nest crying for food, and two adults swooping up and down to the water from the trees to go fishing for the hungry one. We paddled slowly as we passed, so we could watch them flying about and fishing. Beautiful birds!
The unusual wildlife was the raccoons! A pair of young raccoons came right up to the rushes near the house and were just hanging out!! We could hear them crunching on something, so I think they were hunting the fiddler crab that live in that area of the bank. 25+ years that I remember of going down to this house, and this was the first time seeing raccoons there, and certainly the first time this close to the house! They climbed the trees when I came out to take pictures of them. Sorry, little guys! We did get some very good pictures though :)
No comments:
Post a Comment