Bull Island, SC bottlenose dolphin
Near Five Fathom Creek, SC bonnethead shark feeding on crabs
@castoff said:
canoedoc good shot of an Ironhead (woodstork) , but I plan on doing another thread on bird photos as stated above. However thanks for posting . I grew up in FL and Ironhead is a colloquial for woodstork.That is a great shot of a young sea lion(?) or is it shark bait Chuck?
Chodups, that is so coooool. one problem I have is getting the camera out and ready and I have missed many a great shot. We need a bit of luck from time to time
Apologies, Castoff. Tried every way I can think of to delete the photo - simply unable to do it.
@canoedoc said:
@castoff said:
canoedoc good shot of an Ironhead (woodstork) , but I plan on doing another thread on bird photos as stated above. However thanks for posting . I grew up in FL and Ironhead is a colloquial for woodstork.That is a great shot of a young sea lion(?) or is it shark bait Chuck?
Chodups, that is so coooool. one problem I have is getting the camera out and ready and I have missed many a great shot. We need a bit of luck from time to time
Apologies, Castoff. Tried every way I can think of to delete the photo - simply unable to do it.
Absolutely no problem. I figured if we posted birds also the thread would be way to long. Really thanks for posting and no need to delete. That photo took me back to my childhood growing up near Indian River.
Two of the group of six buck deer that hung around our camp on Yellowstone Lake. We nicknamed them “The Frat Boys.”
cool thanks.
Really enjoy seeing the whales, bear, mule deer and elk. I have spent a good bit of time in wilderness areas in Colorado, and seen the animals Raftergirl posted, but haven’t paddled in the west. The nice thing about being on the water is how quiet you can be. Many animals seem to find that less threatening.
@castoff said:
Cape Island, SC dead loggerhead turtle
what happen to him? How old is a logger that big? thanks
Momma moose at Grand Teton. Some hikers said she had a baby back there with her, but I kept my distance so I didn’t see it. No way I’m making a momma moose mad.
Hi PaddleDog, they have to be about 20-30 years old before sexual maturity, and can live up to about 70 years. This one was killed by a boat’s propeller. I don’t know the age, but I suspect it was well up in years. If you look closely you can see where the prop went down the side facing you in the photo. A couple of interesting points of info about this area of the Cape Romain Wildlife refuge. Over 25 % of all loggerhead nest on the SC coast are on Cape Island. If you add the 5% of nests on Lighthouse Island next to it this is about 1/3 of all nests in SC. They start showing up in April and mating in May. Lots of turtles around then in fact while paddling one came up under my good friend Frank and almost tipped his kayak over, This area has almost no light pollution and is sort of centrally located in the longest stretch of undeveloped US Atlantic coastline which is about 100 miles long. It is my favorite area to paddle because of the lack of development and people. Lots of birds winter here too.
Anyone interested in visiting the area are welcome to get in touch with me. It is about a 20 mile round trip paddle out and back through the marsh. It gets up to 7 foot tides on spring tides and winds can be challenging so it helps to paddle out with an ebb tide and back with the flood tide.
I should add this Loggerhead is probably a big frmale.
thanks for the info castoff! 
I am enjoying the west coast fauna. Thanks for posting. The Sea Lion seems really curious. I have not been able yet to snap a photo of a loggerhead in the water as they are up and back down before I can get the camera out,
Here is a shot taken in Greenville, SC on the way home from a paddle trip on Lake Hartwell. Never know what you might see when going on a paddling trip.
