Well, with the longer days and warmer temps, we couldn’t stand it so we loaded up and headed back down to the Ichetucknee Springs State Park in north Florida for some paddling. And once again we saw some awesome stuff. No rattlesnakes this time, but the recent rainfall has the river up high enough for the manatee to make it over the shoals at the mouth of the Itch, so we got to paddle with them one day. Osprey, eagles, otters and bats added to the excitement for the four days we were there. Hope you enjoy!
Last October, we spent a week in North Florida kayaking the Ichetucknee River filming the amazing wildlife there (see video at right). And while we were there, we took a day and kayaked about 10 miles of the Santa Fe River. The Santa Fe is longer and wider than the Itch so you see some different wildlife, most notably, alligators! We only saw two on this trip. The Santa Fe has a unique characteristic in that it disappears at the O’Leno State Park and flows underground about three miles before it re-emerges. We launched downstream of the River Rise Park where it comes back above ground. Although O’leno is something you should visit at least once, we did not visit there this trip. The area where the river flows underground looks like a large pond and is filled with all the trash that ignorant litterbugs throw into the river, which is sad to see. There were about a dozen springs along the stretch that we kayaked. It started out as a cool fall day, but warmed up during the trip which took about 6 hours (lots of wildlife viewing slowed us down!). I hope you will enjoy this video of our adventures. Special thanks to Lauri Shubert, our best kayaking buddy, for the still photographs used in this vid. She does an amazing job of getting great stills of the flora and fauna on our trips.
We were notified that the Rattlesnake Rescue Video was selected to be posted on NPR’s Talk of the Nation/Science Friday website! For those of you who are fans of the show (Friday’s at 2pm EST on WFAE 90.7 in Charlotte), you know that they often request “science related” videos from listeners for their website. We weren’t sure the Rattlesnake Video qualified as a science vid, but we submitted it anyway and were thrilled when we were contacted by the show’s producer for permission to post the video. Of course, in this day and age, nothing is that easy, so we had to contact Loye and Sam, the stars of the video to see if they would be willing to sign a release allowing NPR to use their images and names on their site. Neither one of them hesitated and we all sent our releases in promptly! Not only is it totally cool to have our video posted on a national, dare I say “international” site, but more importantly, we are hoping that the exposure will educate others on how important snakes are to the eco-system and will make people think twice before they kill one. You may have already seen the original video (at right in VodPod), but check out the video on the SciFri website. Its been edited for length and also has a “never before seen” shot of the snake for a different vantage point that wasn’t included in the first video.
My hometown newspaper, The Lake City Reporter, ran a great article on the snake rescue. Todd Wilson, Editor, spoke with Loye Barnard, one of the rescuers and an avid conservationist in North Florida, and wrote a great piece on how everything—plants and animals—has a purpose in nature. We were delighted that Todd mentioned Smell Like Dirt and I hope if anyone from Lake City visits this site, they will post a comment. If you haven’t seen the the Rattlesnake Rescue Video, check it out on the VodPod listing on this blog. And for you Lake Citians, there is also a great video of the Ichetucknee River in case you haven’t visited it recently. Hopefully you will be inspired to go kayaking!
We recently spent a week kayaking the Ichetucknee River in North Florida and although we’ve already posted a couple of great videos from our trip (see the Rattlesnake Rescue and Pileated Woodpeckers on the VodPod on the far right of your screen), we are posting this overview of the State Park and all of the wildlife we saw. Its a great place to see a lot of amazing wildlife and if you can’t get to Florida soon, we hope it will inspire you to visit a park near you to see wildlife in their natural habitat.
Another video from our recent Smell Like Dirt Takes a Road Trip to the Ichetucknee Springs State Park in North Florida. We got lucky and stumbled upon a pair of Pileated Woodpeckers who were too focused on looking for food to care about us filming them. Pileated Woodpeckers can be found across the Eastern United States so most of us have a great chance to see them. Find a large forested area near you and see if you can find some for yourself. They are very loud so chances are you will hear them before you see them.
Special thanks to Lauri Shubert of Lake City, Florida, for letting us use the still photos of a male pileated working on a tree in her own backyard. Lauri definitely Smells Like Dirt!
We are back from a week of wonderful kayaking at the Ichetucknee Springs State Park in North Florida. We had a great time and saw some wonderful wildlife. We will be posting a lot of new videos in the coming weeks about our trip and some of the interesting things we saw. We had not anticipated the encounter with the Diamondback Rattlesnake in this video, but that’s what makes getting out into nature so much fun. You never know what to expect. Most of this was shot on our last day of vacation, so we’re beginning with the end, but I think you will enjoy it. Its the largest rattlesnake I’ve ever seen and to have a part in its rescue from being trapped in a fence was a great experience. Special thanks to Sam Cole and Loye Barnard for their assistance in freeing the snake. We did not get the name of the 3rd person in the video, but he was a nature lover, so our thanks go out to him as well.
Stay tuned for more videos, but in the meantime, enjoy this snake encounter!
"In Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt." --Margaret Atwood.
I believe we are losing our relationship with nature and with it, the understanding that how we live impacts the world around us. This blog will explore ways to reconnect to nature: Gardening with native plants, creating a haven for wildlife in your backyard, tips on living green and fun ways to experience our abundant natural resources. Its time to get outside! I smell like dirt, do you?
Smell Like Dirt 