Basking in the Sun

   After another cold night, more firewood was needed.  The old wood-burning stoves can put out lots of heat but only if you constantly feed them their favorite food...wood.  I was happy that what I had hauled in last night did carry me through the cold morning.  While our "cold" may not seem like much to others, it does seem bitterly cold to us down here in the Deep South.  We are so accustomed to winter being more like a late fall than anything else that when the temperature does drop into the 20s, we are COLD!  Like I said, though, I had enough wood to see me through until almost 9am.  Then, it was out to cut more wood.  This is all working out well since it cleans the yard.  After the last few tropical systems blew through, there are enough stacks of logs needing cut to see us through the entire winter.  So...out to the stacks, I went.

  At one point, I stopped to stare at the Bay.  The sun was out beaming with brilliance making me want to be on the pier instead of cutting firewood.  Pier??  What is that on the pier??  Down toward the outer end of the pier was a dark blob.  From the distance, I could not make out any distinguishing marks to tell if this was a bird, an otter or just some debris that blew onto the planks.  There was only one thing to do.  Time to take a break, grab the camera and stroll down the hill.

  With the first step on the pier, my mystery blob came to life!  A long neck stretched up and wings flared out.  Ahh, Gus, the brown pelican was basking in the warm sunshine!  He had his head tucked beneath his wing when I first noticed him so there was no way of telling just who was there!  Ole Gus was probably just like me.  We want to be warm!  At least, I have the Little Bayou House and the cast iron stoves to keep me warm at night.  Gus sits on the pier with the north wind making things miserable.  Thinking of this, I eased back off the pier and let Ole Gus bask in the sunshine undisturbed.

Gus Needs An Umbrella!

   Son and I were making light of all the fog that has shrouded the Bayou since around the start of December.  He made the comment that while others wish for a white Christmas, we are pretty much guaranteed one...only not snow...fog.  White out fog is the winter rule around here.  Trees stay drippy,  floors stay sticky and my hair seems to always be limp and lifeless.  While the views of my hikes are blurry, I, at least, have the ability to "walk softly" on the molding leaves.  Critters cannot hear me or either they are so fed up with the weather that they just do not care if something else is on the prowl.  We are one...the bayou critters and I.

  Early morning was a bust on the pier as the planks were iced over making it a mite treacherous to make an attempt at getting to the end.  I had to be satisfied with staying on the shore end for fear of slipping into the icy mud where I would become mired for sure.  It was not until the frost melted that the pier was walkable.  Along about 8am, I ventured out once again.  It was then that I found Old Gus, the brown pelican.  Poor old fellow was trying to dry out his wings.  It was a pointless task with the heavy fog drenching his feathers as fast as any drip drying could be taking place.  It was not hard to imagine just how cold the pelican must have been with wet feathers and spread wide wings.  Critters have it rough.  I could always make a dash back to the Little Bayou House.  Which is exactly what I did and, along the way, I grabbed another armload of firewood to stoke the old wood-burning stove.  

Framed!

   Early this morning, Mark and I headed to the pier.  He wanted to see if the tide was high enough to get the small skiff out for a bit of fishing.  I have had a hankering for a nice redfish for a few weeks now and was in hopes he would be able to ease out into the Bay to catch a few.  Alas, that did not happen and does not look as if it is to happen for the next few days.  The range between high tides and low tides is practically nil for the next few days.  Then, stormy weather is to set in again.  Fishing from the pier may have to suffice.

  What turned out to be a low point for us worked out well for the pelicans.  Several brown pelicans were resting on the (still) unfinished pier.  (The recent storms have made completing the repairs caused by Hurricane Zeta nigh on impossible.)  The pelicans were happy campers with the lower tides as they were able to corral plenty of mullet.  Their bellies were full! 

  While most of the birds flew when we approached, one fine fellow stayed put and I was able to perfectly "frame" him with the odd structure of the remaining pier boards.  "Old Gus" was very polite when it came to posing for the camera.  (Either that or he was just too full to budge!)  The brown pelicans are year-round residents here and are always a source of great entertainment.  They have some of the quirkiest personalities of any birds.  You never really know just how they will react to your presence.  

  After a good ten minutes or so of photographing the bird, we decided to head back up the hill.  It was high time for me to crank that lawnmower.  Goodbye, Gus!  See you in the morning!  I've got work to do!

Hangin' With Old Gus

   One of my favorite things about living on the Bayou is the abundance of wildlife.  Here lately, that abundance is becoming even more abundant.  Yet another wooded area is being clear-cut which drives out the critters.  It hurts me to think of how many little ones are being killed as the crews drive their machines over the dens.  Just recently, my aunt and uncle's old place was clear-cut and it was heartbreaking to hear the tiny animals' screams.  Those that were large enough to flee were separated from their parents and, at night, the cries were almost too difficult to bear.  I could only imagine the agony.  People don't care, though.  It is all about the money.  

  This afternoon, the skies were gray and a sort of drippy fog shrouded the Bay.  I slipped down to the pier to see if the moccasin was in its usual spot but could not find it.  Perhaps it was too dreary even for the snake.  A lone brown pelican was roosting on one of the pier posts so it became my target! Old Gus (all brown pelicans are named Gus, for some odd reason.) looked mighty fine as he rested a bit from fishing.  About thirty photographs later, the bird and I said our goodbyes and we each went our separate ways.  It is nice to spend time with old friends.  Even better to spend time with the critter sort of friends.

Shhh! Old Gus is Sleeping!

   Early this morning, Mark took the little skiff out on the Bay for a bit of fishing.  I stayed behind on the pier for a bit before heading to do some gardening chores.  While on the pier, a thick fog was enshrouding the entire Bay but I did manage to catch a few photos of our resident Brown Pelican.  The bird was sitting on a post at my brother's pier not far from ours.  The bird was sound asleep!  Shhh!  Do not wake Old Gus!

  It is easy to tell when a Brown Pelican is sleeping merely by observing its position.  With the large bill, the bird has to find some way of not toppling forward when dozing.  The method that works is to twist the head to one side, tuck the large bill up under a wing and the sit perfectly balanced.  Old Gus was in this position at daybreak but when he heard Mark's outboard motor crank he stretched out his neck and settled back into the usual awake perching position.  This is with the neck tucked but bill forward.  The bird can still rest but can also keep watch on what is happening around him.  

  

The fog obviously had Old Gus a bit drowsy as he made no attempt at leaving his post all the while I was on the pier.  He sat and rested.  It was about four hours later before he decided to make the effort of getting out of "bed" to catch breakfast.  Old Gus was lazy this morning!  Shh...he is sleeping!

Hey! I am your best friend! Give me FOOD!

  Happy New Year!  It rained...and rained...and rained.  Then!  Then, it rained some more.  At times, the storms were so severe that I could not hear anything save the water pelting the rooftop.  Thunder, high winds and torrential rains seem to have settled in for the duration.  Once it started yesterday, it seems that the system forgot to move on out of the way.  Last night, it poured.  Today, it poured.  And now. it is doing the same.  Nonstop, torrential rains seem to be the norm.

  Since I could not get out to the pier today, I sat looking at some of the pictures that I took just before this storm settled in on the Bayou.  One made me giggle since it was of Cinderella, the pelican.  She (or he? I am not sure which) is such a friendly thing and will follow me around just begging for a handout.  The day of the photograph, Cinderella was almost too friendly.  I had just gone down to make sure the fishing gear was secure when I turned to find Cinderella following a few steps behind me.  I sat down on the bench to have a chat with the bird.   "Well, now!  I suppose you are wanting your lunch."  I said to the pelican.  I had no intentions of throwing the net but the big, sad eyes made me change my mind.  I got up to retrieve the net.  The bird followed.  As I tossed the net, Cinderella stayed right with me.  The net came back empty.  Poor Cinderella!  No lunch for her!

  I sat down again and watched as the bird sidled up along side of me.  I put out my hand to show that I had no minnows and the silly bird nigh on snapped off my fingers!  It is a good thing I was quick handed!  I pulled back my fingers just in the nick of time!  SNAP, closed with the bill!  Ok, so the bird thought my fingers were little fish!  Not good!  Now, every time I wiggle my fingers, Cinderella and Gus come running up the pier.  They both want minnows!  My bait bucket will never be safe again!

The Naming

  Take one tiny girl fishing and introduce her to critters that she has never seen and she will name them all.  For the past few days, we have been able to share the Bayou with our granddaughter, Mary Ruth and grandson, Mark Charles.   While he loves being outside and seeing everything, the little fellow is still to young to fully appreciate what is around him.  He is all about playing and exploring his newfound freedom of toddling.  Mary Ruth, on the other hand, is at that perfect age of learning about nature and she loves it.  

  One of the highlights was the feeding of the two pelicans.  It did not take long before Mary Ruth decided to name them. The Brown Pelicans of the Bayou have always been called "Old Gus" for as long as I can remember but Mary Ruth decided that the two needed individual names so the second of the pair became known as "Cinderella".  Hey, this worked for me.  Gus and Cinderella now reign as King and Queen of the Bayou.  It is great but being as both male and female pelicans look the same, I can only hope that they are named correctly.

  After feeding (and naming) the pelicans, her daddy showed her a baby shrimp that he caught in the minnow trap.  At first, she was having no part of holding that weird looking thing!  She soon warmed up to the idea and shyly put out her hand.  The shrimp laid quietly in the palm for just about two seconds before it flipped (as shrimp are prone to do) and slid between the pier boards.  This caused Mary Ruth to burst into a fit of giggles before settling down to the task of naming the critter.  "Tiny." she quietly murmured.  "Tiny."  Well, at least that was appropriate!

  Next came a baby crab.  Since she had held a shrimp, her dad thought she might like to hold the crab.  NOPE!  THAT WAS NOT HAPPENING!  I let the little critter crawl up on my finger to show her that the crab was not out to eat her but she still was not convinced.  The crab never made it to her hand before it, too, scooted between the pier boards back into the water.  Since she had named the other critters, I knew it was best to ask if this one to had a name.  I was not disappointed..."Yes, it was named Crabby!"  Alrighty then.  Crabby, it was.  

 So, Old Gus, Cinderella, Tiny and Crabby all live in the Bayou and all are probably back at home telling their friends about the cute little girl named Mary Ruth!  I know for a fact that the first two are going to miss their friend when she heads back to her home tomorrow.  This mawmaw is going to miss both tykes terribly.  The Bayou is going to feel so very lonely.

Mary Ruth and Old Gus

  Most of today was spent on the pier.  While adults fished, the grandlittles and I more or less played.  Mary Ruth and her daddy fed the seagulls a bunch of old bread and my sweet daughter-in-law caught a nice sized flounder.  After a bit, Old Gus came to visit.  The pelican was begging for a handout and he knew right where to come.  With a bucket full of little mullet and menhaden sitting on the pier and two sweet children waiting to share their catch, Old Gus had come to the right place.  He would eat good this evening.

  It all started with Mary Ruth tossing a menhaden at the bird.  Old Gus scooped up the minnow and swam in a circle.  This tickled the little girl causing her to beg for another minnow to feed Gus.  I fished a second minnow out of the bait bucket and handed it to her.  This time, I told her to wait before throwing the bait in the water.  "Call Gus.  He will come to you."  She started calling "Old Gus! Come here!"  Sure enough, the bird swam right up to the pier and opened his mouth.  He wanted the sweet little girl to feed him.  The minnow was thrown, he scooped and the little girl squealed with delight.  Instead of flying away, Old Gus made a tight circle and returned to beg for more.  Not to be outdone by his big sister, Mark Charles tossed several minnows to the bird. Old Gus was getting his belly filled tonight! After about a dozen menhaden, our stash was depleted but neither the little girl nor the pelican was finished with this game!  We started on the little mullet.  Six of those were soon in the gullet of the bird.  Mary Ruth squealed and giggled with delight over her newfound friend and the bird got his fill of minnows.  He has never had it so good!

  This pelican is one that hangs around the pier and has lost all fear of me.  I feed him an occasional minnow but never to the extent of today. What fun...one pelican, a bucket of bait and two tiny tots make for a perfect way to spend the afternoon.

Goodbye, Old Gus.

About a week ago, Michael and I were on the search for driftwood.  We wandered the marsh edge and picked up any that had washed ashore with the recent high tides.  When we came to the pier, we noticed a pelican sitting on the end.  It seemed to be resting after some strenuous diving.  We made our way down the pier and the bird never moved. Old Gus sure looked tired.  Michael sat down about ten feet from the bird and talked with him as I took pictures.  The bird sat and stared at us never once making the effort to flee.  After about ten minutes of this, we continued our quest.  I really needed driftwood for a few art projects and communing with a pelican just was not helping our stockpile.

Fast forward until yesterday.  Mark came in from securing his boat and informed me that I had a dead pelican by the pier.  Well, I like that!  "I" had a dead pelican!  Who does he think I am?  Perhaps "I" am the keeper of all waterfowl?  No, he really did not mean that I had a dead pelican but rather that there was one near the pier. The fact that it was pouring icy rain kept him from disposing of the body.  I did not get down there to survey the matter yesterday but today when I ventured to the pier, I found the carcass.  Sure enough, there was a dead pelican right beside the pier and it was starting to be a little, umm, ripe.  I think Mark thought some hungry critter would come drag the thing far into the marsh but instead, it just laid there like dead animals are prone to do.  Like I said, it was starting to get a bit rank so I had the bright idea of removing the carcass and disposing of it.  Being as our pier is quite high above the marsh, this was going to prove a tad difficult.  I was really not wanting to get in that mud with a dead bird.  Spying the boat hook, I had a brilliant idea! I would hook that bird and haul it to the open water.  There it would wash away with the tide and not be my problem any longer!  Pure genius!  I slipped the hook under the crook of the bird's neck and lifted.  Ahh, that was much lighter than I expected!  So, there I went traipsing down the two hundred foot pier with a dead pelican dangling from the fifteen foot long boat hook.  Ms. Ezzy was following behind making loud sniffing noises.  She was not sure about this and wanted no part of any such actions!  Once on the end of the pier, I shoved the bird out into the water.  Maybe a gar or gator would take a liking to pelican and rid the thing from the area.  I was wrong.  I had miscalculated!  The tide was rising!  That dead pelican almost beat me back to the marsh!  Oh, my!  Well, at the moment at least, it was not lodged in between marsh clumps.  Perhaps it would remain free and go back out with the falling tide early tomorrow morning. Hopefully!

It is always sad to see the passing of any of my critter friends.  Old Gus will be missed.  Don't get me wrong.  Old Gus will be back in the morning!  He will be diving for mullet at sunrise!  You see, every Brown Pelican is named Old Gus in my view.  Pop named them this and it has just sort of stuck all of these years.  Tomorrow morning, I will greet the pelicans with "Good morning, Old Gus" after bidding farewell to Old Gus this evening.  Goodbye, Old Gus.  It has been great knowing you.

The "Perfect" Date!

The weather for the past few days has been what most folks would call ideal.  The temperatures were mild, if not cool and the sun was beaming happily.  A slight northerly breeze set this off quite nicely.  Since it was so ideal, Mark and I spent a lot of our time fishing.  To us, this is the perfect "date".  We head to the pier, catch a few baits and sit a spell. Even if we do not catch a thing, we are happy campers!  However!  With all of this idealness came fish!  Yep, we caught enough speckled trout, redfish and croakers to have several meals ourselves and share a few.  To my way of thinking, this constitutes for the best date ever!  I guess I really am a country girl or, maybe, "Bayou Lady"!

While on the pier soaking in all this perfectness, I kept my camera handy.  You never know what might wander into view.  We watched "Old Gus", the pelican, dive for mullet and watched as a whole flock of Common Loons flew into the Bay.  They immediately joined up with the lone one that spent the summer with us and the early-bird loon that came last week.  With the loons migrating here already, I am pondering that Farmer's Almanac warning that we shall have an early and cold winter this year.  

Late afternoon saw us back on the pier.  This day would end as gorgeously as it began.  Cool, clear and crisp are the words that come to mind!  Fall has settled in on the Bayou. Now, if we can keep any late season hurricanes away, my perfect day can spread out into many!  Then..I shall welcome winter wholeheartedly!  

Old Gus

Living on a bayou, I have the opportunity to befriend a lot of the birds and animals that live or just visit here. Sometimes, an unusual sort of trust starts to grow between us..maybe it just becomes apparent that neither of us wants to harm the other and a bond is formed. One of those friends, the Brown Pelican is more or less an icon of the bayou. It is rare that a day passes without a least seeing one..more likely than not, dozens can be spotted. Years ago, my dad nicknamed all Brown Pelicans "Old Gus". The name stuck and today we still talk about Old Gus. It matters not if it is the same bird ..it is still Old Gus! If it is a Brown Pelican..it has to be Old Gus! So..Old Gus and I are friends.

Brown Pelicans make themselves at home wherever there is plenty of fish. Watching them, you would think that they would not be well suited as anglers. They seem to be relatively clumsy as they waddle around on the pier on their short legs and big feet, but just watch them in action! I am in awe of the adeptness of this fisherman! Old Gus has a wingspread of more than six feet and can fly in a straight line just above the water for what seems like an eternity. When fishing it will fly a bit higher, spot a school of fish and then will dive to make its catch with its huge pouch. In the air and on the water their agility far outweighs their awkwardness that is apparent on land.

Little known fact~Pelicans incubate their eggs with their feet! Most birds use their breast skin to keep the eggs warm but pelicans use the webs of their feet to warm and turn the eggs. This habit almost led to their demise during the 1950s. Eating fish contaminated with DDT (pesticide) caused the shells of the eggs to thin. The eggs would break when the bird shuffled onto them.

There is a Brown Pelican that has taken up residency on the posts of our pier. Every night it roosts there waiting for sunrise. Old Gus seems to have no fear of me when I venture down the pier early in the morning. So far, it has kept its distance, but I do get the feeling that, if offered, it would accept a handout from my bait bucket! Old Gus waddles about ten feet in front of me always keeping an eye turned my way. Then, as soon as the sun starts to brighten the sky over the trees, it takes off. Fishing has begun! Up over the bayou..dive.. splash!...head up..drain the water..swallow breakfast! Up again and repeat! Then it seems as if there is a meeting of "The Order of Old Gus" to discuss the day's catch and swap fish tales. Sometimes up to a dozen will gather together for bit before this all starts again. I am glad Old Gus likes my pier..I just wish he would learn to clean up after himself!