Foggy Day Walk

One day last week (in fact, it was the 3rd... my granddaughter Rachel's 6th birthday), I woke up to find all the screens covered with dew. Looking outside toward the Sea I could see that it was a soggy morning with dew on the boardwalk and lots of moisture on the sand. And amazingly, when I looked out the front door toward the East - there was a layer of fog over South Creek! If you look closely at the picture you can see it hovering over the whole area.

Fog is just not something seen on Salt Cay! Inspired by this strange sight, I stuffed my camera and a bottle of water in a bag and set off for South Creek. By the time I got there, the fog had lifted and a calm hung over the Creek, setting us up for a hot day to come!

Even the Sea off the East side of the island was calm and as I walked past some clam beds, I spotted one of the young osprey perched on the top of the north osprey nesting platform.

As I walked closer to the platform, I could hear the young osprey calling to its mother. "Maaaaaama"... it really does almost sound that way! And loud! When the osprey used to nest in front of our house we were often awaken (at all times of the day and night) by the young osprey after they were kicked out of the nest. It's a relief to see them enjoying the other nesting platform instead of the roof of our house or the railing of our neighbor's house.

The osprey are not intimated by people walking close to their perchs... they turn their heads to get a good look at you as you're getting a good look at them. Unless of course they have young, just hatched babies - then they might just dive bomb you to keep you away.

But this osprey was perfectly happy to sit on top of the pole making noise. Notice the ropes draped over the nesting platform? Apparently, the osprey started to build there and for reasons known only to themselves, changed their minds and built their nest on the southern-most osprey nesting platform instead. I've also seen the osprey by the nest in town sitting there looking around... maybe one day we'll have three osprey families! At 2.5 square miles, that's about the maximum number of osprey Salt Cay can expect.

As I walked home, the mangrove area of South Creek was not without a few strange and wonderful treasures. The metal float has obviously been here for some time... it had to make it's way from the mouth of the Creek, turn right and eventually get lodged pretty close to shore. It looks like it's been here for a long time! I have no idea how long. With the sun just coming up, it turned the colors of the float brilliant orange, rich brown with some wonder rusty flakes covering it. A beachcomber's delight - and I'm sure Mike is very happy it's too heavy for me to roll home for our back yard.

The mangroves are a little difficult to navigate on foot... it's very mucky and slippery... but well worth it to catch some interesting photos of South Creek through the mangroves.

Hey! don't forget that you can click on any of these photos to view them larger. :0)