People Can Be Aggravating!

   In all of my many photographing endeavors, I rarely find it necessary to photograph people.  (They do that enough by themselves.)  I stick to the flora and fauna around the Bayou.  Critters and plants are far more interesting.  Not that I have anything against humans in general, it is just that sometimes they (we) are so aggravating!

  This morning, I did the usual early rising and heading to the pier.  It has become a custom that seems to be hard to break.  I watched as the cormorants dove for breakfast and then skip out as the alligator eased in.  The cormorants knew better than stick around with that big, ole gator lurking about.  Since not much more was happening at the end of the pier, I moved to what we call "the cut".  This is a sort of a natural chute that runs alongside of the pier.  It runs from the shoreline down to the water edge and is how we slide the skiff in and out of the water when needed.  There are several tiny channels cut by the nutria and otters to the main part of the Bayou.  These are their runs to slip around the marshes.  It was near one of the runs that I noticed some of the small white "marsh asters" in bloom.  Well, those would have to be the focus of my photography ambitions for the morning.   After several pictures of the sweet flowers, I turned my attention to the "invasion" of humans.  Not actual people but the evidence left behind was frustrating.  Somehow, down one of those little channels, a large plastic jug had floated to the cut.  It sat there just out of reach showing its ugliness to all the world...showing humans' ugliness to all the world.  Why, oh, why?  Why do people think it is fine and dandy to toss their garbage into the water?  It is saddening but does show just about the full mentality of the human race of today.

  The bright yellow jug will sit (just out of reach of my net) until a high tide washes it further ashore.  Then it will be scooped out and disposed of properly.  Sometimes, I wish I knew who the "trashy" people are who leave such a mess....sometimes, I am extremely happy that I do not know. Yep, aggravating....purely aggravating.

Balloon Release

  Ok, call me a spoil sport or whatever you wish but I am going to flat out say that I do not like balloon releases.  Sorry, folks, those balloons do not help raise awareness of any cause, they do not go to Heaven to let your loved one know you are thinking of them and, no matter what the packaging says, they are not environmentally-friendly.  Yep, releasing a bunch of balloons, whether Mylar, latex or paper, may give you that warm, fuzzy feeling but, in the long run, you are just hurting something else.  The balloons wind up in the Bayou all of the time and it frustrates me to no end.  Why?  Because they do nothing but litter up the place.  The balloons (of all types) become hung up in the marsh and there is literally no way to retrieve them.  It takes latex balloons up to four years to decompose and Mylar ones even longer.  That is far too long and critters do not understand that these things are hazardous.  Let a deflated balloon (which they all do at some point) fall into the water and fish, turtles, birds, dolphins or whatever critter will think it is a bit of food.  Once swallowed, there is not much hope that it will ever pass before killing the critter.  The strings and ribbons attached to the balloon are even a greater risk to the creatures.  Even if the balloon, itself, is swallowed completely, the streamers attached cannot be "pulled" in or cut off.  These strings either choke an animal or entangle it so it cannot move.  Both scenarios kill.  Even the paper "sky lanterns" that claim to be eco-friendly are not.  They are held together with wires that are a snare waiting to happen.  A few years ago, I found a small raccoon so tangled in the wires of a sky lantern that it was literally hog-tied.  The baby raccoon had starved to death before I found it.  It broke my heart. Animals are curious by nature and find things like this fascinating....until they are trapped.  The sky lantern had been released to raise awareness for breast cancer.  Ok, fine.  Raise awareness...noble cause...killing an innocent creature because of it...not so noble.

  Just this week there was another balloon release on the beaches across the Bay.  Well, guess what??  There are now balloons stuck in the marsh of the Bayou.  I cannot retrieve them.  They are too far into the depths of the Bayou to reach by boat and I am sure not traipsing in risking a bite by a cottonmouth.  It is invariable that these will most likely cause problems for some creature.  One of my critter friends will perish because of human stupidity.  It saddens me to think of it.

  Folks, think.  Just think.  Think before acting.  That goes a long way.  There are other methods to raising awareness, honoring someone or celebrating.  There are ways that will not jeopardize wildlife nor cause a major littering problem.  Think....just think.  Please take better care of this earth....its the only one we have.

My Hero!

  I have this thing about people who throw trash in the Bay.  It aggravates me and makes me think "not so nice" things.  To me, the saying "Only trash litters" makes a lot of sense.  It takes a trashy person to litter up a perfectly clean place.  Why pollute the waters?  I have also found that those same people who toss their garbage into the water are the very same ones who complain that the Bay is polluted.  Well, la-di-dah...guess who made it that way???  Get real.

  Early this morning, Mark and I made our rounds about the hillside then wound up on the pier.  This  is our usual morning routine.  Once there, I spied something stuck in the marsh about half way to the mouth of the Bayou.  For the life of me, I could not figure out what that thing was.  It did not help that the rising sun was causing a blindspot right on the object.  I knew that it did not belong there so it frustrated me.  Someone had discarded some more trash into the Bay.  Ugh!  Mark, seeing how this upset me, decided to climb in the small skiff and go fetch the trash.

  As he paddled the small skiff across the glass-smooth water, I kept yammering about the ugliness of some people, their trash and their disrespect.  Mark reached down and pulled out a gasoline container.  Why in the world would you toss your gas can into the water??  Then, he pulled out a broken child's lawn chair.  Where did that come from??  We hauled both up the hill and properly discarded them.  Now, just how hard would that have been to do in the first place??  Come on, folks, put your trash where it belongs!!  And THAT is not my Bayou!!!  Through all of this, I realized that Mark is my hero!  Once again, he came to my rescue even if it was just to ease my mind about trash floating about in the Bay.

Don't Do It!

  Early yesterday evening, I sat on the pier watching the Brown Pelicans as they dove for fish.  As the weather cools, it should be about time for the White Pelicans to make their arrival in the Bay.  Soon, masses of pelicans, ducks and geese will crowd the Bay and Bayou as they search for food to carry them through the winter.  The sheer number of birds will make the pickings slim and the work hard for many of the birds.  As the water cools, most of the fish will leave the shorelines and head to deeper waters.  The smaller of the water fowl will have to search for their dinner while ones like the Brown Pelicans will be just as at home with the deep water dives.  Although they appear clumsy at times, these birds are extremely adept at their type fishing.

  Most folks who fish the area are responsible about nature.  True fishermen, whether they are the "catch and release" sort of the "wanting supper" sort, have enough respect for the water and its residents to not damage the Bay.  Nets, used fishing line and trash are not flung into the water or left on shores, this refuse is properly disposed.  Others do not care. I can speak with confidence of this. Several folks have been banned from the pier merely because they did not follow the rules.  Litter was tossed overboard, trash left on the pier and more dumped on the shore. My sister is always saying that "Only trash litters." In this, she is speaking of trashy people who have no respect for nature.  I agree with her. 

 Folks do not realize just how their litter can cause serious problems for the critters of an area.  More pelicans are killed by means of trash than any other means.  Nets and fishing lines tangle about their feet and necks making it impossible for them to feed. It is estimated that over a thousand pelicans die each year in the immediate area alone due to the entanglement of discarded fishing lines!  Plastic bags, bottles and cans resemble fish while underwater.  The bird can accidentally ingest these. A blockage forms and the bird dies.  Chemicals, oils and water pollution make the birds ill. These all cause a slow death for the birds. The sad part is that all of these things could be avoided with very little effort on our part.  We as humans make messes.  We as humans should have enough responsibility to clean them.  

  It would be so easy just to avoid all of the issues that mar our waterways.  Simply ask "Will this cause problems for any part of nature?"  If the answer is yes, then "DON'T DO IT!"  Simple as that. Just don't do it. Think about my friend, Brown Pelican, the next time you think of tossing something in the water or on the ground.  He needs you to do your part to preserve his future.  

Blue Glowy Things..again!

Deep in the night by the light of only the moon, objects can take on a whole different appearance.  Things that lurk in the Bayou, whether they be live or inanimate, can sometimes be quite creepy.  Perhaps it is just the idea of being out on the marsh without the ability to fully distinguish what something is.  Case in point, those little glowy things again!  I have been told numerous times by some of the "Old Timers" around here that swamp gas sometimes can play strange things against your mind. Swamp gas supposedly creates luminescent bubbles that drift up from the marsh edge and float for a distance before sinking. I have seen these.  At first, I assumed that I was observing some fantastic "glow-in-the-dark" bugs that were flitting about the Bayou.  Then there are the blue glowy things that are submerged beneath the murky waters.  These things slowly move about the mud in the shallows.  I am still not sure what those are!  Perhaps we have bioluminescent fishies swimming around under the pier!  This is not too far-fetched as it may seem.  Moon Jellies, those little jelly fish that glow when you touch them, are always floating about the Bay.  Still, some things just cannot be explained.  Others are easy.

I was on the pier when I noticed a bright blue glow against the marsh.  It was obviously something floating and not submerged.  The sun had already set so taking a picture was far out of the question.  The "object" merely glowed and could not be identified.  I was fascinated to say the least.  Knowing that there was to be little wind during the night, I was confident that this might be still near the pier at daybreak.  Sure enough, my glowy thing was still shining bright come morning. The half moon was enough to see blue but nothing else. I was excited!  I was going to solve the mystery!  At daybreak, I was a bit disheartened.  My exciting glowy was not some yet undiscovered new critter.  It was a can.  Some litterbug had tossed their can out in my Bayou!  Ugh!  That was not nice at all!

I tried to scoop the can out of the water but to no avail. It was far out of my reach.  All I could do is watch as it filled with water as the waves bounced it against the marsh. The can eventually sank to the bottom where it now sits polluting my Bayou.  Why, oh, why must people be so heartless?

Fishing but not for fish...

I have this pet peeve that sometimes drives me a bit crazy.  As you all know, I love my Bayou.  It is my own little chunk of paradise.  It is my escape from all the weirdness of the world.  It is my "happy place" where I can go and find peace.  Yep, I love my Bayou and all that is there...almost.  Occasionally, something really irks me.  It takes a lot to rile me on most days but let me find find just one careless person littering the waters of the Back Bay and I do become quite irate.  Not that it does much good as I can never confront the folks that toss junk in the water and marsh.  People!  There are litter laws for a reason!  If you want to enjoy the water..keep it clean!  My sister has organized a clean-up day in her small town.  Every so often, most of the good folks of her community gather together to pick up trash along the roadsides.  They work all day, have a fine lunch and good fellowship.  These fine folks know that it takes a bit of work to pick up after those who just don't care enough to keep their trash to themselves.  The slogan of this group of concerned citizens..."Only trash litters!"  To me, that says it all...Only trash does litter.  No decent person would ever dream of messing up this paradise we call Earth.

This evening, I took our long handled scoop net and fished a good bit of litter out of the marsh near the pier.  A lot, I could not reach.  Still, I pulled out nine plastic bottles, seven beer cans, a shoe, one short piece of rope and a fishing lure.  Hmmm, well, at least I can reuse the lure and I suppose it was lost quite by accident!  The bottles and cans were too nasty for recycling, the rope was rotten and the shoe..well, lets just say I don't want it!!!  Here is a novel thought...if every one picked up a dozen or so pieces of trash each day, perhaps we could make a difference.  Also, if slovenly folks would clean up their act..perhaps we would not have to work so hard to clean up behind them...just saying.   Remember..Only trash litters!