Buddy waiting on a mid-lake island created by the drought.
I pushed off from the ramp at 0950 and returned at 1300, so it was a short but nice paddle that gave me time for lunch on the water and a chance to see a few migrating birds. In spite of a couple stops, I managed 6.5 miles. I took the WindPaddle sail. For the second such trip, I paddled up wind in hopes of being rewarded with a nice sail back. For the second time, as soon as I came about to paddle back, the wind failed me. On the previous trip the wind turned 180-deg. and caused me to paddle against the wind both ways. This time the wind just died to a plate-glass-smooth calm.
Male avocet with its curved beak. Unlike birds that peck or
target prey, avocets feed by sweeping their bill back and forth to
stir up seeds, aquatic insects, and small crustaceans. The female
has an even more curved bill, and its head, neck, and chest are
copper-colored.
There were spiders having much better luck sailing than I was, but scientists refer to it as flying or ballooning. The spider will spew out a long silk that will get caught on the breezes, and when it is long enough to drift with the breeze and provide transport, they hang onto the end and go for a ride. I saw four such spiders sailing up the lake in the light air today. Three were entirely airborne, and one, apparently not engineering its transport system correctly, was on the water surface being dragged along by the silk thread. Scientists say spiders have traveled hundreds of miles this way, even landing on islands in mid-ocean.
Sandhill cranes with their distinctive red cap.
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