Cute and Not-so-cute

Carole and I see quite a lot of wildlife on our trips. We travel to places where we expect to see a lot of animals, so of course we're always on the lookout for creatures of every type and size. Going through my enormous files of digital photographs (one great thing that technology has brought us is the digital camera--my favorite toy!) I happened upon this trio of images.

One is the Key deer, a sub-species of the common white tailed deer. It's arguable that they're a sub-species at all, and not merely just a typical reduced island version. Limited space and food tells Mr. Evolution to reduce a creature's size (in many cases) to make survival a better bet.

It's breaking a number of laws to feed these very tiny deer. But they must be fed often because they tend to walk up to you if they see you. This group of does and fawns came out of the forest to panhandle. You really have to see these deer. The adults are very small indeed--no taller than a medium sized dog. And the fawns are ridiculously tiny.

The other shots are of the common brown water snake that lives here in the Carolinas. They look intimidating, and are often mistaken for the venomous cottonmouth moccasin. But actually this animal is a classic constrictor with no venomous bite at all. They kill their prey by squeezing it to death.

I saw these water snakes at Landsford's Canal State Park in South Carolina. This one was getting ready to molt. If you enlarge the photo you should be able to see that his eye looks milky. This is because the skin over his body (including his eyes) is almost ready to peel off. His markings are also largely hidden by the process.

Here was another of the same species farther down the river. You can see that since he is not molting his markings are quite evident.

Landsford Canal

Landsford Canal State Park (South Carolina)

Taken along the Catawba River.

After a twelve-hour shift on Saturday, my wife and I (along with a couple of hiking/kayaking pals) drove to nearby Landsford Canal State Park. Our main goal was to paddle our canoe along the Catawba River to see the vast expanses of Spider lilies that grow in the rocky shoals protected within the borders of the park, and to see the historic site of the old canal and lock system that allowed barges to bypass those same shoals in Colonial and post-Colonial days.

The rocky shoals just before the Spider lily habitat.

The highlight of the trip was, indeed, the huge expanses of Spider lilies blooming under a clear Carolina sky, but we also managed to see river otters, gar, various turtles, herons, red-winged blackbirds, and about two dozen or more water snakes.

The vast expanse of Spider lilies.

We got a very early start on our trip, arriving at the park at opening at 9:00 am. This was a good move, as the annual Spider lily Festival was today, so the park filled to capacity while we were on the river. The water level was a bit low, which made maneuvering a canoe a bit dicey over the rocky shoals. But we had a good time exploring the river and viewing the lilies.

Well worth the canoe trip to snap this shot.

By the time I got home, unloaded and stored the canoe and cleaned up, the physical activities of the past two days caught up with me and I collapsed to my mattress to spend the next few hours in quite a deep and restful sleep. I ain't young enough to keep going at those kinds of levels and shrug it off. So much for biking the nearby greenway I'd planned for later in the day.

Snakes abound in this park.

I highly recommend a visit to the Landsford Canal State Park if you're interested in pre-Colonial engineering or American history. In addition, of course, to just viewing a slice of nature in the Carolina Piedmont area.

Red-winged blackbird.

Part of the old canal and lock system that bypassed the rocky shoals. (Based on a sixteenth century design.)