I would normally be spending more time at upper priest, but with Washington so shut down it’s been crowded up there and being something like 10 miles to the end of the lake, I haven’t had the will to paddle out there and possibly have to turn around and head back to the truck!! lol I do need to spend some time around Pend Oreille since I’ve only been on it one time. I keep looking at google maps trying to find a place away from people, and where the banks aren’t a mountain side!! Lots of places to enjoy the water around though. Did a whitewater raft trip on the Clarkfork last weekend.
Handle: Josh_76116 (name & location)
First name or Nickname: Josh
Location, as specific as you want: .Fort Worth (not Dallas), TX
Years on here: less than 1
Years paddling: 1 (unless you count my Boy Scout and summer camp experience from 30+ years ago.
Favorite boat or 3: don’t know yet, just getting started. I have an Emotion Spitfire 8’ and just a month ago picked up my first sit in, a Dagger Blackwater 12.5 (2002 model), both bought used. saving up for a canoe to take kids out in.
Favorite places: Rivers and Creeks. Haven’t had many opportunities to get out away from local spots so I’m mostly on the Clear and West Forks of Trinity River. Now that levels are low I’m usually at Benbrook Lake or Lake Worth. Still waiting on my first alligator sighting out on Lake Worth at the FW Nature Center and Refuge.
Make that 4…
Handle: KaykerBee
First name: B
Location: Eastern Panhandle of WV
Years on here: one or two
Years paddling: 18
Favorite Kayak: depends upon the need - the Pgymy Murrelet is the sports car, the Necky Tesla is the expedition SUV
Favorite places: never get tired of the Chesapeake Bay but Lake Superior and the San Juan Islands are pretty high on the charts!
Favorite bird: the Cormorant. They do it all - fly, swim and SCUBA!
Cormorants also excel at projectile poopfire. Never get below or even within a few feet of one sideways.
The only thing worse than getting under a cormorant is getting under a group of cormorants.
Up to about 200 Cormorants roost on an electric distribution line I regularly boat or paddle under. We never make any noise in that vicinity. Last thing you want is a huge group taking off together as it is “weapons release” for a large number of them as they start flight. I’ve seen it from afar & luckily never have I been in the target zone.
When I was a kid , my Dad and I were on the Cooper River in his power boat. We came up on a raft of coots and blasted through them.
He had his head just above the windshield and Splat! across his glasses and face. I laughed so hard I hurt but he was a good sport about it.
Great Blues will drop a serious load if startled.
Hey, we all have unattractive habits, right? Llamas spit if they don’t like you, I had a couple of Chinese Weeder Geese who perfectly illustrated the expression “like s**t through a goose” but it’s just critters doing their thing.
As a biologist I find wildlife too cool for school. Even the armed and dangerous ones are fascinating for me. I was waxing poetic about sea nettles last weekend at Kent Island on the Chesapeake while everyone else was stressing about not falling in.
I have a degree in biology with an emphasis on wildlife. One of my paddling friends is an engineer. Another is a biologist ; Castoff on here.
We took a break off a creek on Jocassee and sat near a tree with several slugs on it. The sun was coming up and chasing the slugs back to ground. I didn’t know they could move that quickly.
The conversation turned to the sex life of slugs. The engineer was appalled . Doug and I are fascinated by the way nature works. Apparently some people aren’t.
.
DuluthMoose was and Fishdoc is a biologist, too. GuideBoatGuy has his degree in entomology. DuluthMoose was in charge of Lake Trout stocking/breeding for MN for many years.
If coots are to be held in low esteem, let’s do it for the right reason. Its not that they aren’t tasty or have disgusting excretory habits that offend our sensibilities, Too many of them and they make a total mess of aquatic vegetation, especially rooted vegetation. They can leave a pond suitable for carp and not much else.
Or so I’ve been told by a biologist and seems to be borne out by what I’ve casually observed.
But they are kinda’ pretty…
Blue Herons…yes there was a rookery on Fall Creek near the Boy Scout Camp. Seems that the Tenderfoot scouts would be leading the paddle. As often there was a BANG of paddle hitting gunwale just as the leaders got under that tree. Auto release…!!!
I feel an apology appropriate but not forethcomming . Sorry…not really.
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The noise the little ones make when they’re hungry is neat, esp in a rookery. I’d never heard so much clacking at once.
Coots are cute? Among waterfowl, I think they are the ugly ducklings.
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Could well be. But at the right time of the year there are hundreds on the local FLA lakes.
Growing up on the coast we used to call them a “shit a quart”! lol
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E-E-E-O-O-O! Nasty!
I’ll never look at (or paddle near) Cormorants again.
Comorante scat washes off better than most. Moscovie duck, pelican, Canada geese can be more challenging. And eagle scat has its own challenges and gets left around where ever they hang out.
Comorant and anhinga scat has little shells, fish bones, and crabs. Interesting…
We used to be have rafts of them
Handle: andykeck (bonus points for those that can guess my name)
First name or Nickname: Andy
Location, as specific as you want: Santa Barbara
Years on here: months, not years
Years paddling: 20ish
Favorite boat or 3: whatever I can get my hands on, currently my WS Tempest 170 Pro
Favorite places: I’m really enjoying getting to know the coast from Avila beach through Santa Barbara down to Oxnard. I loved paddling Deception Pass when I lived in Washington.
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Handle: GregofDelaware
First name or Nickname: Greg
Location, as specific as you want: Central Delaware
Years on here: since the 2014
Years paddling: 6
Favorite boat or 3: P&H Cetus
Favorite places: Coastal areas and lakes with lots of islands
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Handle: johngoldhurst
First name John - obviously
Location , Costal Connecticut
Years on here: ~2013ish
Years paddling : 8ish of weekly paddling.
Favorite boat current my Rockpool Isel and Impex Currituck
Favorite places: Eastern Long Island Sound and Rhode Island mid coast of Maine.
Dream paddling destination not visited Haida Gwaii or really anywhere in the costal Pacific Northwest. Apostle Islands. Oh and Greek Islands too! Hell lets live big Anglesey Wales too.
if you could paddle with anyone dead or alive, who? Gordon Brown or Chris Duff