#17: Winged Creatures In The Swamp

Louisiana Bound (2008) Part 17 of 40 - Winged Creatures In The Swamp Okay, so we are still in the Atchafalaya Swamp. On a stormy night it would be miserable, but on a calm evening at sunset, it is simply beautiful. A person gets a whole new perspective when viewing land from a large body of water. As a kid, I would be in a boat and think how peaceful and different it is on the ocean less than a half mile from shore. The land is like a new world! In the swamp, we could see some land, but the uniqueness was all the trees, winged creatures and different varieties of vegetation which jutted out from the land in strips and other shapes. The experience was special for me. The large nest we saw may have been of an osprey. The osprey's credentials are impressive. A large beautiful bird, usually black and white in color painted in a manner that not even a master is capable of capturing its beauty. Dig up a picture of one on line, it is worth seeing. This winged wonder dives from 100 feet, has curved claws to hold fish for long periods, and they say it adjusts the angle of the fish it catches to prevent the wind from slowing its flight. Would you believe it, the fish direction is head first and horizontal, just like it would be when swimming in the water, except, it is in the air. Captain mentioned that the osprey had a six-foot total wing span. Wilbur and Orville Wright would have loved studying the osprey. The great white egrets were visible to sighted people on the tour, but only from a distance. Yet, seen from far off, they still looked huge. How high, four feet, you've got to be kidding! However, we never seen one up close. On our Rail Trail walk in Bay City, Melanie and I saw an egret while walking on a narrow zig-zagging bridge. We watched it below the bridge in the shallow water. Slowly it stirred up the water. And kept coming closer to us. I thought it was following a fish. We became quiet. Then bingo, it plunged its head in the water and came up with a six inch fish in its bill. Quite content now, it wadded back to the edge of the bushes where it probably had a nest. Apparently it wades in shallow water and intentionally stirs up the bottom with its webbed feet. Small fish come for food. A few become food for the large bird. Maybe there was a bird family reunion in the swamp. Many varieties of birds were there, including snowy white egrets which we seen from the boat. They are much smaller than the great white egret. Captain tried to show us a sample of most birds, but they were often a long distance off and hard to see. Thinking back, the great blue heron were probably the dark birds which were occasionally seen. But maybe not, as the great blue heron is just slightly smaller than the fish-eating great white egret. The dark birds I saw seemed rather small. Our skipper talked about a double-breasted cormorant, a bird flying in the distance. Maybe it was double crested? Of the many birds in the swamp, most were not out in the open. They probably nested along the banks of the swamp. The dead tree with a line of woodpecker holes was a cyprus that had seen different days. It's purpose had shifted to that of providing nests for small birds and a pecking place for whatever creature was tough enough to drill a crooked line of holes into it. Probably many such trees existed in the swamp. This particular tree stood straight up with no branches, like a long electric pole in the ground, only it was in the water. Captain's vocals cords were working well. He had 40 years of story treasures to share with us, but only a small fragment of time in which to do so. I am not sure everyone heard the facts. Okay they didn't and me, I missed some also. I think Captain called the alligator "Bruce." Everyone was hoping to see Bruce. We were told about the alligator, and I expected Captain to really search hard in trying to spot him for us. Bruce had a nest or resting place in a very small cove near the bridge. I couldn't wait to get a look at him! Written by Harvey A. Bond

 

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