Birders say that a bird heard is a bird counted and its neat that you don't have too see them, but when your hearing is as bad as mine I usually have to rely on my sight. So it was a real surprise when even I could hear the whoopers calling to one another.
Suddenly their calls became louder and they rose into the air flying over the levee and directly over our canoe. Renita hurried to get out her camera and actually caught two of the family. Its by far the closest we have ever been to flying whoopers and of course it made our days highlight reel.
A little later a flock of about 200 American white pelicans arrived high overhead. They tumbled down as they made their descent and finally reformed into vees as they looked for a place to set down. We watched them for quite a while before they flew out of sight, probably heading for the back end of Copano Bay.
It was our first day canoeing/ kayaking with our friend Val, and even though the wind was strong we were able to make it quite deep into the bay. We passed two fisherman by at least one hundred yards but it was still to close for one as he started to swear at us. I couldn't hear him as he was far away but Renita said he used the "f word" multiple times and so of course I then steered our canoe down his line, you don't swear at women where I come from,(At least I didn't splat the water with my paddle).
We didn't get near any rosettes but several pairs flushed as an air boat roared along the shore deliberately pushing the birds up so the riders could see them. I prefer our method of quietly paddling near them and watching them feed. Of course we saw the ever present great blue herons and some snowy egrets.
Later we fought the wind back and it was hard paddling as we gave the waders a wide berth. I cast my net for bait and caught a small white shrimp. It always neat to see the diversity that your net brings in. I didn't catch any bait but it didn't matter. We had been blessed with whoopers flying over our canoe! Clear skies
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