It came to mind for me today as I passed a pond that is along my daily travels just how lucky we are to be this far south. Not for the weather, though that is real nice. Nor for the sunshine that the folks up north don't see for many days in a row and we take for granted. But for the migrant bird and fowl species that call Florida home every year. What called this to my focus was a male hooded Merganser and his 3 girlfriends that have been in the same roadside pond for better than 2 weeks now. Funny thing is that the traffic 50 feet away is heavy all day long and it seems they don't notice. This started me looking and not far away was a male Wood duck, one of the most beautiful ever with his coat of many colors. His girlfriends must have been impressed as they weren't straying very far. Closer to the coast, and maybe along the marshy parts of the St.Johns, if you know what to look for are the Teal. Wings beating so fast you would think they were giant Hummingbirds. Pintails, Gadwalls and Canvasbacks are also here for the winter. Some folks I knew were big duck hunters and would get that 1000 yard stare when they started talking about some of the things they had seen while in the blind. You could just see the love of it all in their face. One of the guys Dad carried him in a modified backpack to go hunt ducks over one board bridges and through mud and slop to take him hunting when he was 2 years old. An old Pickup to get there, no boat or fancy blind. Just a few branches cut to give cover and shoe polish on their cheeks to cut down the reflection as they looked up to see them coming in. Having started when he was just out of diapers his Dad made sure that he never missed a season hunting with his Boy until age stepped in and said that he was done tromping through the marshes. The mornings and flurries of ducks they must have seen over the years. Huntinslabs posted a while back that he had Woodies flying all around him on a trip he made up the river. I wish I had been with him that morning. This past weekend I had Great Blue Herons, 2 in different parts of the river, sitting on a nest overhead and making sounds I have never heard them make before and following it with clapping their bill shut 3 or 4 times after every little song. I don't know if it was a defense thing or a call out to a girl or boyfriend. I can tell you that I've been around these outdoors in Florida since 1972 and had never heard it before. Now I've heard it twice in two days in two different locations. What I have spoken of are just the bigger birds that I see, and I know there are countless smaller ones that have also made the trip. We all know and understand that we fish for a lot of reasons, and not all of them have to do with fish. My hope is that this post might awaken someone to lift their head and look around at what surrounds you as we travel here and there doing what we love to do. Enjoy the pics, none of them are mine, and Thanks for taking the time to read this......Skeet.
