Bayou, Birds, Blackberries

Penny’s back is getting better. She was able to get up and around this morning without excruciating pain. I decided to take out the kayak in search of more blackberry plants.

I got the kayak in the water around 7:45. That’s a little later than normal and a good breeze was kicking up. It would be a headwind as I paddled to the head of the bayou. The temperature was in the high 60’s and the breeze was pleasantly cool. As soon as I started paddling I realized my muscles were a little sore from our kayaking 2 days ago. My hands are still giving me trouble and they also let me know that this outing would not be all fun. Every stroke is a reminder I’m getting older. I thought of my Aunt Margaret who turns 98 this Sunday and how debilitated she is. So despite the relatively minor discomfort I was feeling I relished the fact that I made it to retirement and still have physical ability to enjoy the kayak.

About half-way up the bayou I spied an older couple out on their dock sunning themselves. It looked like something they did often since they had coffee and the paper with them. Their yard was huge and one corner of their house was all windows that overlooked the undeveloped area of the bayou. I was happy to see someone who lived on the water actually enjoying it.

Ahead, on the water I got a glimpse of a large flock of birds diving and bobbing for fish. Overhead pelicans were cruising looking for a meal. Periodically one would go from graceful flight to an awkward attempt to stationary flight and then into a screaming dive thrusting its head forward and wings back as it hits the surface for maximum penetration. This attempt was successful and after straining out the water the bird flipped his beak up and swallowed his catch.

When I got close enough to identify the flock of birds I found that they were cormorants, about 50 of them (I counted), closely packed and just churning up the water as they dove for fish. A few small terns also circled and swooped to snatch small fish at the surface of the bayou. Whatever fish were there must have been plentiful to attract such a crowd.

The head of the bayou was shady and protected from the wind. I headed up the fresh water stream where I found all the blackberries last year. The water level was higher than the last time through and several large branches that were above the surface were now submerged. I was more cautious this time, watching out for poison ivy, spider webs, wasp nests and, (who knows) maybe a gator. It is now apparent that poison ivy and blackberries like the same conditions to grow in back here. I’m not extremely talented steering a kayak in a narrow stream. I kept bumping into branches, stumps and getting scraped by bushes. Its was, however quiet and secluded back there. I was resting my paddle across the kayak enjoying being the only person out here when something bumped the underside of the kayak. It actually startled me since I was barely moving and I wasn’t paddling. Thoughts of gator flashed in my head. It turned out to be a big submerged branch lying in wait to scare any unsuspecting kayaker who crossed its path.

I saw bunches of blackberry bushes, many having just bloomed with fruit setting, but they were too large and too deeply buried in the underbrush to do anything with. I decided to beach the kayak and search on shore. The overgrowth was quite thick so it took a while to find a place I could actually get out on dry land rather than squishy marsh.

Once ashore I found 6 plants that I was able to dig out with roots and were small enough to fit in the kayak. I loaded them in and got back in the kayak coming dangerously close to tipping the thing over. I worked my way downstream out to the bayou still bumping into stumps and branches as I went.

The breeze back on the bayou felt good. Once again it was a headwind. It’s interesting that in the 2 hour time period between paddling up the bayou and paddling back down the wind changes 180 degrees. The birds were still feeding as I passed them on the way back to the car. I must have gotten uncomfortably close to them because all 50 cormorants disappeared under the water simultaneously. Poof, suddenly there were no birds! I was happy to get the boat back on the car and head home. My hands were getting quite sore.

I now have the plants in the ground and will wait and see if they survive the shock of transplant and transport. Regardless of how the plants in the yard do I will be heading up the bayou with a bucket come blackberry-picking time.