Dog River Critters

Rather bold nutria (big river rat) swimming in front of the kayak. Ever since the State of Alabama (ADCNR) started promoting the sport of killing of one of the main preditors of nutria (big alligators), the nutria population has been increasing.

Years ago I used to see plenty of alligators in Dog River and no nutria. Today I see plenty of nutria and no alligators. But, the State of Alabama does get to rake in fees from people who want to kill the big docile lizards. First the state gets a hunting license fee and then another fee for an alligator tag. Nothing like allowing the senseless slaughter of alligators to supplement the State's income all under the guise of calling big alligators a threat to public safety.

I cannot remember the last time in the past 40 years that an alligator attacked a person in Mobile. But dogs sure have been attacking and hospitalizing people. Several vicious dog attacks this year alone, one almost killing a kid. 

Why doesn't the State of Alabama have a hunting season on aggressive dogs which really are a proven threat to public safety?

05/12/2012 - Demopolis Vacation (3 of 3)

Vacation Paddle Trip - 3 days/2 nights in Demopolis, AL
Camp: Foscue Creek Park (US Army Corps of Engineers)
Launch: Foscue Creek Park Boat Ramp
Destination Day 3: Explore the rest of Foscue Creek, some of Demopolis's Urban Waterways, and revisit a shallow lake in the Demopolis Wildlife Management Area.
Distance: 13.5 Miles
Weather: Mostly cloudy and breezy, 80s.
Caution Note: Currents were negligible. Wind can be a factor on the open waters of the Tombigbee River and Black Warrior River. Water levels may vary significantly. You might want to check out the river guage in Demopolis before kayaking: http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=bmx&gage=dlda1GPS Trip Track: To see or download the track of this trip, Click Here.

Header image is a photo of 9 turtles on a log letting the sun dry out their algae caked shells.

Geese and a Great Egret in Foscue Creek.

Saw plenty of Wood Ducks today.

Great Egrets were plentiful along the sides of lakes.

Green Herons were seen around the urban waterways.

Yo, you have food caught in your beak.

I'm happy to see big headed snakes moving away from the Kayak. Don't let these snakes fool you, they can move very fast across water if you threaten them.

A nutria drys out after taking a swim. Note the hairless round tail.

While it may look like a nutria at first glance, note the fuzzy squirrel like tail. In this photo, Momma is getting a Mother's Day Kiss. I think these are Groundhogs aka Woodchucks which is one animal I've never seen while kayaking in the Mobile area.

Boats you may see range from small size fishing boats to...

...to industrial sized barges. I saw very few boats of any type during my three days kayaking in this area. This is the Coast Guard vessel "Wedge" which takes care of river buoys.

Chalk Bluff, White Bluff or as others call it Ecor Blanc is a geological formation sculpted over millions of years, unique to the Demopolis area. Can you see the two kids fishing on the bank? Those paddling on ASRT's Black Warrior Nature Paddle next weekend will get to see this White Bluff.

You can get to see more of the White Bluff geological layer in some urban creeks, too.

Wide open waters of a shallow water lake. Popcorn Trees dominate the shoreline.

Popcorn Tree islands are popping (pardon the pun) up in the lake. I bet when the popcorn tree leaves turn red in the fall that this would make for a memorable paddle.

Submerged aquatic vegetation keeps the water pretty clear in the shallow lakes. No motor boats up in this area.

Up one of the urban creeks the water gets clear and the creek bed holds some of the best skipping stones nature ever made.

Paddling up an urban creek.

Looks like some trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens).

If you want to see wildflowers, look no further than Foscue Creek Park.

05/10/2012 - Demopolis Vacation (1 of 3)

Vacation Paddle Trip - 3 days/2 nights in Demopolis, AL
Camp and Launch: Foscue Creek Park (US Army Corps of Engineers)
Destination Day 1: Foscue Creek and the lakes on the other side of Tombigbee River across from Foscue Creek Park.
Distance: 10.5 Miles
Weather: Sunny, no wind, 80s during the day, 50s at night. Perfect!
Caution Note: Currents are negligible. Wind can be a factor on the open waters of the Tombigbee River. The real concern is the Submerged Dam downstream and the 40+ foot drop. Avoid it!
GPS Trip Track: To see or download the track of this trip, Click Here.

I found out about Foscue Creek Park through Alabama Scenic River Trail which is using this park as base camp for their upcoming Demopolis-Black Warrior Nature Paddle on May 19-20. Perfect weather prompted me to explore the waters in the Demopolis area, which is about a 3 hour drive from Mobile. Why did I wait so long to kayak in this area?

Header Image is a field of beautiful wildflowers at Foscue Creek Park. The US Army Corps of Engineers deserve two thumbs up for this Park.

Foscue Creek Park is circled in Magenta. I had no idea there were so many backwater areas in the Demopolis area to kayak.

Foscue Creek Park is one beautiful US Army Corps of Engineers Park. I'll be going back! On many of the camp sites you can drag your kayak down a few feet to the water and launch. Nice!

I did not have one of those creek side campsites so I launched at the Foscue Creek Park boat ramp on the grassy shoreline. I understand that paddlers in the ASRT event will get to kayak through the Demopolis Lock and Dam which will lower the kayakers about 44 feet. If you haven't yet gone through a lock and dam in a kayak, sign up soon!

When turtles wave hello it is usually a good sign of friendly wildlife.

I saw more wildlife in this area in one day than I saw in the upper Mobile-Tensaw River Delta all last year. A nutria swims along the water while four great egrets forage for insects on the shoreline vegetation.

A baby nutria runs circles around Mom.

This reminded me a bit of Bayou Jessamine in Baldwin County, except on the banks of this waterway, wildlife foot prints are everywhere.

One cypress tree with an amazing root system.

Demopolis Lakes are teeming with wildlife.

The wildlife is noisy when bolts off across the water.

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies were all over the plentiful Water-willow flowers (Justicia americana) that lined many of the shorelines.

Pipevine Swallowtail Butterflies were all over the plentiful Water-willow flowers (Justicia americana) that lined many of the shorelines.

Water-willow close-up.

Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias perennis).

Take time to observe and you will see who is watching you as you paddle along the waterways. Deer have very flexible necks and this one keenly watches my every move even though its body is facing the other way.

A baby duck surfaced next to the kayak and then froze when it saw me. The funny placement of the large duckweed makes it look like a girl duck.

Big movement about a kayak length away on the bank of the narrow creek caught my eye. We surprised the hell out of each other. This large Bobcat was staring me down and crouched like it was ready to leap my way. It was a tense situation which I diffused by splashing water on the Bobcat with the paddle causing it to leap twice to get up the 15 foot high bank and disappear. Whew!

03/25/2012 - McCullough Creek and Moore Creek

Header image is a merge of several photos showing the shoreline of Moore Creek.

Water levels were high enough that I was able to paddle way up into McCullough Bayou. Note the scenic shoreline.

End of the line on McCullough Bayou - a 4-foot high beaver dam. Do you see the box turtle in the middle of the dam? I was surprised that there was so little trash caught up in the beaver dam.

People certainly aren't throwing tires out their car windows so where are all these tires coming from? Do you see the Mardi Gras beads?

Wasp and Hornet killer spray certainly cannot be good for Dragon Flies.

Saw a couple of fish today. Here is a dead gar.

Another dead fish. Why are so many fish turning up dead on the shoreline? Do you see the sneaky snake hidden behind the household garbage? How about the snake's head? At least the snake was alive.

Speaking of live, Nutria are alive and well in Moore Creek.

Not much change in the regular trash bergs in Moore Creek.

8-Ball in the Corner Inlet.

On the way back home I went through a small petroleum sheen. There were 3 motor boats in the area earlier. Did the petroleum come from a boat or from the garbage allowed to rot in the water? Based on consumer demand, humans might as well get used to waterways polluted with petroleum.