Exciting Wildlife Encounter at Oscar Scherer

February 2-6, 2017                                                                      Most Recent Posts:
Oscar Scherer State Park                                                            Birding and More at Oscar Scherer State Park
Osprey, Florida                                                                              From 26 to 82 Degrees in Florida?

During our last week at Oscar Scherer we were still enjoying our wonderful site.  We had several birds visit our feeder and they were fun to watch.  The squirrels never gave up hope that they could climb the pole and were always there on the ground when the blue jay threw the bird seed in every direction. 

We mostly had catbirds, cardinals, tufted titmice and blue jays coming around.

I can just imagine how mad he was that he couldn’t jump from that branch over to the feeder.

At times we had several birds all waiting in various spots for a chance at the songbird feeder.  The long white bag hanging below the squirrel and the female cardinal is a thistle feeder but no one showed up for it.   In addition to the cardinal, there are two tufted titmice in this picture.  Do you see them?

Finally a day or two before we left, the greedy blue jays had emptied the feeder and we took it down rather than refill it.

Not only do they fling the seed out with their beaks but they tip the feeder to the side and spill the seed out.

Again this week, I went out every morning on the Green Trail where there were always birds to spot.  Not one day went by when I didn’t see the Bald Eagles and others too fast to catch in photographs.  I very often saw the Scrub Jays whose pictures I featured in my previous post along with the juveinle eagles.  The link to it is in blue above.

If you look closely on this map, you can see the campground road on the lower, south, side of the river.  The green trail begins there and shortly there is a brown trail/service road that comes into it from the right.  It isn’t on this map but it nearly parallels the back of the campground.

On our last Friday, I had just started out on the green trail and out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving down that trail off to my right.  I was surprised to see it was a cat.  They aren’t common outside in campgrounds like dogs are. And then I jumped to my senses and realized that this was a very BIG cat.  He stopped for a second less than 5 feet from me.  I stood perfectly still.  He must have decided I was OK as he came on up the trail toward me, rounded the corner, turned his back to me, trotted in front of me and went loping ahead in the direction I had planned to go.  I quickly put my camera up after I recovered from my shock.  The pictures aren’t great but here they are.   What a THRILL!!  

What a set of paws.  I’m very proud of myself that I didn’t break my ankle as a result of my excitment in seeing this cat as I did in 2001 when I encountered one while hiking the Appalachian Trail  in Virginia.

We finally had some really beautiful weather this week and we spent an afternoon at Nokomis Beach.   This is my idea of where to be in the winter.

How about the beach bum in his blue sunglasses and safari hat?

A group of skimmers moving in with the sparkling waters of the Gulf of Mexico behind them.

On our way back to the car we watched a large cruiser go through the raised drawbridge on the road we take to and from the beach.

As you can see, Oscar Scherer has a number of hiking trails.  They are color coded.  Green is the one I most often hike.  It is closest to the campground.  On this day we set out from the campground, went across the bridge, beyond Osprey “Lake” (boy what a stretch) and over to do a piece of the red trail.  We were looking for another scrub jay family on our way to what is known as Big Lake which is off of the yellow trail on the far right.  More on that later.

Although we didn’t find any of the Scrub Jays, we did come across an unexpected body of water that isn’t on the map.   Unexpected discovery is great fun.

Don’t think this was a new discovery for him.

It’s a beautiful blue sky day.  We’re walking down a sandy trail and out of the corner of my eye, right on the edge of the trail . . .

I see this.  Do you see it hanging there?

I stopped to look and take some pictures and he scrambled further up.  You can see his head really well camouflaged.

He’s the Rough Green Snake.  Very handsome.

Just FYI, surprised me but clearly in Florida, they hike in dresses.  Wonder where he told her they were going.

We crossedthe Legacy Bike Trail running between Sarasota and Venice..  This is not it.  It is paved.  This is the yellow trail on the way to Big Lake where we expect to see more water birds.

We cross the South Creek further north of the park.  Looks beautiful.  Later on we find that we can no longer access this area of the creek from the park in the kayak because of the hurricane damage this past fall.

Tracks along the creek.  One of them is racoon.

When we get to Big Lake we are dumbfounded to find huge earth moving vehicles and piles of sand.  No one mentioned this in any information in the park.  What ARE they doing?

We walk down to the elevated platform to see if we can figure out what’s going on in our state park.

Sort of looks like they are making a little island out in the middle.

The birds don’t seem to mind.  Of course there is no machine activity this late in the day.

We walk on down the trail on our way back determined to ask at the Nature Center about what’s going on here.

We spot another large machine tearing up the ground on this side.  I’m concerned about the invasion of exotic species like the Brazilian Pepper on all of this disturbed ground.

W’e find an illegal short cut from the yellow trail up to the Legacy Trail which shortens our trip back in the sun.

Bicyclists pass us on the Legacy Trail.  This is the first time we’ve been to Oscar Scherer and not ridden on it across Route 41 and down to the beach.  David is having some balance issues and we think it’s not safe just now for him to be on a bicycle.

On the final leg of our hike we pass Osprey Lake.   It’s just outside the nature center and to call it a “lake” is a joke.

But it suits this tri-colored heron just fine.

We stop at the nature center and are told that Big Lake is a borrow pit created when they built the road to I-75.  As it’s not a natural lake, it fills in.  They are taking this opportunity to dig it out and create an island in the center for a rookery.  Should be interesting.  Sure is a mess now.

These two weeks have gone by rapidly and we’ve only had time to get out on the creek for a paddle this one time.

The beginning of this paddle is simply hilarious as David tries to use their “easy” entry bar to just slide right in to his kayak.  You grab the bar where he has his hand, sit into your kayak and away you go.

 

Not as easy as it looked.  The kayak seems to be getting away.

I don’t think this is how it’s supposed to work.

Shoe is off but he’s pulled the kayak back and eventually gets himself and his paddle inside.  Don’t know how I got these pictures I was laughing so hard.   Well done David!!

The creek is wide at points but narrows as it goes up toward the campground

We pass by some sites that are directly on the water.

A couple of mallards are along the bank.

We pass under the auto bridge that goes into the campground.  It’s pretty narrow for a big rig.  One lane.  If someone is coming in.  The person wanting to leave has to wait.

The creek narrows further as we approach the walking bridge from the north end of the campground to the Nature Center and “Lake” Osprey.

Though there are rocks that create rapids just beyond the bridge, in past years, at high tide, we’ve been able to go on under the bridge and up into the other end of the creek which we saw on the Yellow Trail.   But today I’m turning around.

The water is deep enough but just beyond it, a large tree blocks the passage.  Probably hurricane related.  This particular area around the bridge is often the fishing spot for a lovely green heron.  I don’t see him from the kayak today.

But I did see him from the bridge earlier in the week.

He’s spectacular.

Heading back into the wonderland.

We pass a fishing yellow crowned night heron.  He doesn’t seem to care at all about us.

Even though it’s been a couple of hours, the mallards are still in the same area we saw them before.

The Live Oak Trees reflect beautifully in the dark water of the creek.

We know we’ve reached the park boundary and are almost to the inland waterway when we see the houses appearing before us.   Wonder what the hurricane was like for them.

It’s sure been a great afternoon on the water for us.

On our last Saturday night, we went down to see the drumming down of the sun again.  We never did get there on either of our Wednesdays at Oscar Scherer.  It’s a smaller more intimate gathering on Wednesday and I’m sorry we missed it.  But the drummers and others are great any time.

A couple of women who know how to shake those jingle hips.

Not sure who their long haired friend ws but that’s some outfit he’s wearing.

Every kind of drum, every kind of drummer.

My personal favorite drum.

The birds were gathering all along the shore as the sun continued down.

All  kinds of dancers, all kinds of costumes.  We thought this one was the most “unique”.

We gave our best dancer award to this beautiful young woman.

These aren’t just any hula hoops as you’ll see.

Dancers of all ages with smiles on their faces.

The sun’s power could only push the dark clouds aside in a small area.  But still its orange ray came across the water and up onto the shore.

The drumming intensified as the sun appeared to sink into the water and the clouds to close the door behind it.

At this point, the cheering and clapping begins and continues until the ball of fire can no longer be seen.

But the party goes on and the colored lights come out.  Remember those hoops?

A cape of lights.  I absolutely love this.  So did David apparently.  These are his pictures.

Our stay at Oscar Scherer is over and it’s clear why we keep returning here.  We were headed to Koreshan State Historic Site when a change in plans came up.   More on that next post.