ON THE WATER AGAIN!
Day 138 – Sunny and clear this morning at 6:45 a.m., 36 degrees. It warms up quickly here. It’s a fat old sun. We waited until it reached 60 degrees at 11 a.m. and headed out to go kayaking. We launched from Palo Verde County Park into the Oxbow Lake which is an off-shoot of the Colorado River, without the wind & tidal pull. It was wonderful. Although the wind was up to above 10 MPH, we had no problems. The long, narrow Lake was protected on both sides by tall reeds & grasses. They drew various ducks and Coots to the Lake & we had a great time kayaking near to them.
We rowed to the end of one side of the Lake, turned around and paddled back to the launch site, passing many decoys along the way which alerted us to the possibility of hunters in the area. We heard and saw none, though, and had a lovely, event-free time on the water.
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We drove back to the RV and had lunch, then sat outside briefly and read our books, soon leaving for the Wildlife Refuge and a drive to the Island Unit to look for a specific bird – the Vermilion Flycatcher. We’d never seen this bird before, but both the man-from-Montana and another man we met, the man-in-a-wheelchair, had seen them here. We got a few pictures from the Island Unit, but no Vermilion Flycatchers.
Click any picture below to see a slideshow.
By this time the afternoon light was fading so we headed back to the RV and briefly sat outside overlooking the River. What did we see flitting about the cottonwood trees at our campsite? The illusive Vermilion Flycatcher, which was a small, but very pretty bird. Rob was unable to get any useable pictures, but he will keep trying. That’s a guarantee. The high today was 72 degrees, breezy and a little hazy. We made a salmon & sauce over pasta for dinner, read our books, and had a good night with the kitties.