Strange Things In Strange Places

    One never knows what may wash in with the tide around here.  We are accustomed to finding all sorts of "treasures" after a hurricane but having things come in during the winter months is a tad unusual.  The north wind has a way of pushing the tide far out from the pier leaving no water to float anything much less a bunch of oddities.  An oddity did make its way to a small inlet on the other side of my brother's pier (just to the west of us).  A freak storm from the south pushed the tide far enough up into the Bay that it left gifts behind for us.  By gifts, I mean debris that needed clearing.

  At first, I had no idea why a buoy was sitting almost on shore.  It then occurred to me that this thing was yet another "treasure" left behind by the high tide.  At least, it is not MY treasure and I do not have to discard that huge thing.  According to the "Regulatory Buoy Markers" list, the marker seems to be either a "no swimming" marker or a "swimming" marker as both have a huge red diamond mark in the middle with an + in the middle.  I find it odd that both have the same emblem but, hey, no one should be swimming in this area anyway.  First, there are alligators that do not like to be disturbed.  The gators stick to the small inlets where they will not be harassed by people but will defend their territory if necessary.  People are the intruders...not the gators.  Second, the bottom here is mud...soft, mushy mud that makes it easy to sink up to your waist in no time flat.  In a matter of minutes, you can become hopelessly mired!  The mud has been compared to the "quicksand of the Deep South".  Third, under that mud lies anything that previous tides, reckless people and numerous storms have dumped into the area.  This means everything from broken glass to boards with barnacles or other pointy, sharp things hide just out of sight. 

  I am not sure what the writing says on the buoy but lets hope no one takes it to heart that this is a "swimming" area.  Once in, a swimmer may become stuck and, as that person sloshes around trying to free himself, all of the gators in the inlets will be alerted to his presence.  The gators will come to investigate causing panic in the swimmer.  Said swimmer will slosh even more to get to safety and may just happen to stir up some shard that causes a wound.  Things will go drastically downhill from there.  Again, people are the intruders...the gators live here.  But...sadly, if an alligator ever does defend it territory, it will be the one dispatched.  

  The buoy sits right against the shoreline in about a foot of water.  Hopefully, another storm will come in and either wash it further ashore or back out to where it originated.  Also, hopefully, people use some commonsense when it comes to being around the bayous and not need some marker to inform them one way or the other.

Long Time, No See!

  It is always good to see old friends even when those friends are critters.  After months of not seeing my buddy, the alligator, it was a relief to finally see him.  Over the winter months, the gators are not active so I miss their presence around the pier.  Once the weather starts to warm a bit. the gators make their appearance again.  Having the gators around seems as natural to me as having the mockingbirds singing in the rose arbor.  

  Contrary to what most folks believe, alligators do not hibernate.  They do not going into a deep sleep and snooze the cold months away.  Instead, they do a thing call brumation.  Gators have a way of slowing down their metabolism to preserve energy.  During this torpid state, the gators use little energy but are still awake. They spend the cold months in either lairs dug in the side of the bank, mud holes or even in thick marsh...anywhere that there is a bit of protection from the cold. They stay dormant until the air warms.   If a gator's lair faces the sun, it may crawl out to enjoy basking.  Once the evening starts to cool, it will crawl back under cover.  

  Our lack of winter allows the gators to do a good bit of basking but they never stray far from their dens deep in the Bayou.  This brumation is why my gators are missing in action for a few months.  Once they become active again, they are hungry and immediately start to hunt.  Anything is fair game for the critters.  Let the nutrias, otters, ducks, etc get lackadaisical during the gators' absence and they may just wind up being supper for a the reptiles!  My crab traps are also considered fair game for the gators but this is a small price to pay for the enjoyment I get from watching them.  Welcome back, Gators!  You have been missed.

They're Back!

  Late this evening, the old dog and I made our way down the hill to the pier.  It was already starting to get a bit shadowy so I knew I would not stay long.  When I first got to the end, fish were breaking everywhere.  Ok, so there was nothing else to do except catch bait and toss a line.  I did not hobble to the pier on a sore leg for nothing!  A few casts of the net gave me enough bait to give it a try.  Well, to make a long story shorter, I caught nary a fish.  

  I did, however, see a couple of old friends.  Just before it got too dark to see, I noticed something come out of the Bayou and turn toward the pier.  The shadows from the tall pines hampered my view so I just waited.  This could be any number of critters but the wake left behind it as it swam led me to believe that this was my friendly gator.  Soon, the critter was near enough for me to identify it and, sure enough, it was an alligator.  As this one neared the pier, a smaller one came out of the Bayou.  That one hung near the far shore but could clearly be seen.  The two gators knew Mr. PJ and I were on the pier so they kept a slight distance away.  Mr. PJ, the old dog, never noticed the gators.  In fact, he snoozed the entire time they visited.

  It has been a while since the alligators have visited the pier at the same time I was there.  More oft than not, they come out after I have retreated to the Little Bayou House.  Their crab trap raiding shenanigans go unseen under the cover of darkness!

Gators and Hailstorms!

  The storms just keep rolling in on the Bayou and the one today was a doozy!  Not only did we have our usual inch or so of rain, spectacular lightning show and high winds, this storm decided to change things up a bit and pound us with hail.  The hail, sometimes up to golf ball size, pelted the Little Bayou House for nigh on an hour before moving on to drive some other poor folks mad.  The pounding on the rooftop was deafening at times but all's well that ends well and we suffered no lasting damage.

  The morning before the storm was quite perfect, though.  While heading down the pier, a large splashing on the shoreline made me think that the otters were at play.  I readied the camera only to find an alligator instead of my frolicking otters.  This gator was a small one of about four feet in length and was happy to be floating about in the water.  It watched us warily but made no effort to vacate the vicinity.  I watched a while before turning in the other direction. Ha!  Another gator was eyeing us from the south!  This was a much larger critter than the first.  It, too, showed no fear but watched our every move.  I do believe both were waiting for us to fill the crab traps with bait so they could have breakfast.  Too bad, Gators!  You tore the wire on the traps so no bait will be needed!  You, my fine friends, will have to work for your meal today!

  Now it is nightfall and, once again, thunder rumbles as another storm is approaching.  These are all bringing moisture up from the Gulf and inundating us with rainfall.  Thankfully, the hill dries quickly and there is no standing water.  I do not mind these storms and I am pretty positive that the gators do not either.  (Although, they may not have appreciated the hailstones!)

Keeping the eyes open!

  While on the pier, we noticed that the small gator was edging closer and closer.  This little guy raids the crab traps for his supper and he had no time for silly humans to be in the way.  I figure that if we hang around long enough, he will soon decide that we mean no harm and will come on in to eat while we are watching.  We were not the only ones watching that critter though.  Our friendly Night Heron had flown to a nearby post to wait for handouts.  I am not sure if the bird had even noticed the gator at first but all too soon, it was a tad nervous.  Even though the bird was perched high above the water and out of reach of the gator, it kept a wary eye on the critter.  It was just last summer that another Night Heron made the unfortunate choice of roosting low on my brother's pier and was snatched by a larger gator.  Supper had been served.  It is quite amazing how an alligator can maneuver itself up and out of the water to catch a bird!

   It was an almost comical scene as the Night Heron kept tabs on the gator.  When it landed on the post, it was facing the opposite direction of the critter.  The bird would nervously look over its shoulder and then back towards us.   It definitely wanted to swoop down to pier-level and try to con us out of our bait.  This bird loves the menhaden handouts that it receives when it visits.  I guess I am just a sucker for these friendly birds as I will hand-feed them all of our bait if given a chance!

  This is a Yellow-crowned Night Heron.  It was not too very long ago that these birds were hunted. The breasts of the young birds were thought to be a delicacy.  Hunters would raid the nests for the juvenile birds and sometimes wipe out an entire rookery.  This put the population of the birds in the danger zone so now it is unlawful to kill them.  This law makes me happy as I like the birds.  The Yellow-crowned Night Heron is one of the few wild birds that can be easily coaxed to be friends.  All it takes is a good bit of patience and a bucketful of menhaden to make a lifelong friend.  Every summer the birds come back to visit and it seems as if they remember our rendezvous!  

  Keep your eyes open, Little Yellow-crown!  Watch that gator!  Don't fall prey to him and I will make sure that you have an easy meal on hand.

A New Face!

  Mark and I headed to the pier late yesterday evening.  It had been a hot, tiring day of shed-building and we needed a little rest and relaxation.  A bit of fishing would suit the bill just fine.  Earlier in the day, he had emptied the crab traps of their dozen or so fat crabs and noticed that there was still plenty of bait but we would soon have to refill them if we wanted to continue to get crabs.  We were in hopes of catching a few catfish to use as bait and perhaps a redfish or flounder for the next day's lunch.  When we pulled up the crab traps once again, they were all torn open.  Hmmm? Something was definitely amiss here!  The trap doors were closed once again and we started our fishing.  Mark caught a huge flounder but that was the only bite we got the whole evening.  Still it was interesting.

  Just about dark, I noticed a small blob out on the water.  It seemed to be getting closer and closer as the sun started to set.  I knew that "blob"! That was a gator!  I had been missing Big Mama and the youngster from last year but this one seemed a lot smaller.  This was surely not Big Mama and not even the eight footer that had been hanging about the pier.  This was a new face..one I did not recognize!  We watched for a bit as the little rascal drew near the pier.  We knew all to well what that little fellow wanted!  He was the culprit that had left the crab traps in such a mangled condition!  The bait was too much of a temptation for the gator.  

  Mark came to the conclusion that he was going to have to find stronger wire to make new traps.  The standard coated wire was just not gator-proof.  It seems that every summer we spend a good deal of time and effort to outwit the critters of the Bayou.  Our efforts seem to be in vain, though, as the critters always manage to feed upon our bait.  They are just a bit too wily or perhaps a bit too strong.  It is a battle of the wits with the critters winning at this point.  Given time,  I am quite sure that Mark will come up with a sturdy trap that can withstand the otters' cleverness and the gators' strength.  Until then, I will just sit back and enjoy the company of the gators, otters and any other critters that wish to pay me a visit!

Tree Scars

Today, I was reading an article that said that a tree scar like the one shown here is definitely a sign that alligators are in the vicinity. Well, that piqued my curiosity! The picture in the article was almost identical to this one that I took in my front yard. While I am not denying that there are alligators in the Bayou here, I was perplexed by the thought that any 'gator was causing the tree scars. Reading further into the story, I found that the 'gators were not chewing the bark of the unfortunate trees but rather this author is professing that Nutria were the culprits. Nutria are large rat-like critters that are native to South America and were introduced to the United States in the 1930s or so for "fur-farming". The farming did not catch on as a lucrative business but the Nutrias rather enjoyed the living here and decided to stay. The remark about the alligators was purely there because they are one of the few natural predators of the Nutria. The writer stated that where there are Nutria there are surely alligators. Sensationalism! Aha! While I am relieved that the alligators have not taken to eating trees, I would have to argue this whole idea of Nutrias eating them! Sure, they are vegetarians and they do a lot of damage to the roots of the marsh grass but to eat my trees?? Sure, I have too many Nutrias in the Bayou to count, but to say they rip the bark from an oak?? I have never heard of such a thing! To be truthful, I know for a fact that placing the blame of the tree scars in my yard on a poor unwitting rat is ridiculous. No animal chewed the bark on these trees unless you consider a hurricane an animal. I will admit that some hurricanes can be beastly, though! The scars on so many of the trees in the yard were left by debris that was washed or blown in with a storm. Debris as large as the trailer part of a semi truck banged, smashed and careened its way through the trees in my yard during Hurricane Katrina. Almost every tree, bush, and plant in the entire yard was skinned and bruised by these collisions. So, I will not blame the hapless Nutria for the damage done, unless of course someone can prove to me that these semi-aquatic mammals can climb tall trees while gnawing! The second picture was taken of a tree scar that is approximately twenty feet high. (Yes..the tidal surge of Katrina did get that high in my yard.) The sad part is that not all trees survived. About half the trees on my place perished during the storm and we are still losing them even yet. The damaged areas left the tree trunks vulnerable to wood-boring beetles and Carpenter Ants. Since the storm, maybe ten trees per year have died or have become so diseased that they had to be removed. This makes me sad as I relish a shady yard during the summer heat. I have tried to compensate for this loss by replanting although trees take many years to reach the maturity of so many that were lost. As a fast growing replacement, I have been planting fruit trees of all sorts. Hopefully, they will withstand any future storms. And hopefully, even though they do some damage to the marsh, the Nutrias can live on happily in the Bayou. (And hopefully, the alligators will keep the Nutrias in control.) Natural predation!

This evening brought another round of thunderstorms to the Bayou, making my usual trek to the pier nonexistent. As we sat listening to the clang and bang of the thunder, Ezzy and I could only dream of what exciting adventures we might have had if the weather had only been clear. She looked absolutely bored as she flopped down on her rug by the front door. Poor Ezzy..I promise that we shall go out at first light!