Choctawhatchee River

I hope this map of the Choctawhatchee River wildlife managment area comes out. I have some experience canoing this river. I have been on a segment of it which runs from the bridge above 284 down to the Holmes Creek Unit. It is a swift river and very wild. The Ivory bill likes to eat beatles which feed on old sweet gums and spruce pines and hangs out in old growth cypress swamp. This area is very wild and Washington County is among my favorite counties in Florida. I won't say who I canoed the river with but he's an old river rat. His canoe leaks at the rivets and I couldn't understand why anyone would go out in a leaky boat that could be fixed. But I went. I'm glad I did.

I have some good ideas about where to look along this River and I am going to go very soon because hunting season begins with Archery on October 14th. I think if the birds are in this area they are also all along the panhandle in other old growth areas. I'm going to get a video camera for my trip because I want a record. No one has gotten a good video record yet. I know the sound very well as I have listened to it many times over. The bark around my trees is also stripped in a very interesting pattern that I want some ornithologists to see. I am very excited about this discovery...I hope you can tell! But who would believe I had Ivory bills in my little yard. Stranger things have happened, though. I'm not called the "bird magnet" for nothing. Artemis, help me!

I do think I have heard both the kant-kant and the double knock in my neighborhood but I'm almost certain the woodpeckers I have seen are pileated. I do have some pictures I have not posted and may take them to Jim Cox for a look at the next Irish session. He's the only ornithologist I know.