This majestic red shouldered hawk was perched over the entrance of Blue Spring this afternoon keeping a close watch for tasty bites of fish. I took a short trip to try out my new camera on the Wacissa and though I tried to get there in time to kayak with Peggy and her new kayak, I only just ran into her as she was about to leave. She raved about her very cool new kayak and we chatted a while and off I went.

I practiced my songlines on the river...mistletoe tree, little river, big cypress, medium cypress, little cypress, reedy things, silver maples, many footed cypress and bluesprings!

I saw a number of different birds having afternoon kippers. I heard knocks and finally spotted a pileated woodpecker on the west side of the river but I couldn't get a photo fast enough. He appeared to have white edged wings when he flew away but perching I knew he was pileated.

Alligators don't feed from November to March so I didn't see any and they wouldn't have frightened me anyway this time of year!

I'm getting very good photos from this new camera, some as good as Peggy's but not being able to put them up in a larger size seems to reduce the quality a great deal.