Camping at the Okefenokee swamp

Finally, we're camping at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. We chose the Stephen Foster State Park because it's better situated in the middle of the swamp.

You can get some good information on the Okefenokee at http://www.fws.gov/okefenokee/.
Connie has been wanting to visit this park for a while...so there we are. Debbie and I, with Connie and Duane, camping.  The park is nice with good facilities i.e. electricity and water at the camp site, and bathrooms with hot water.

You can find a blog post of our trip with a little different in formation on the swamp at okefenokee camping trip. 
As always, we enjoyed the serenity and peace of camping, but the Okefenokee Swamp offers something extra. Sure, excellent variety of wildlife including great birding, but also the opportunity to rent canoes or boats and explore the swamp.

We took a motorized boat one day and two canoes another day to enjoy the Okefenokee. Oh yes, the alligators were all over, keeping a safe distance. This is also a great birding place. We've identified a handful of new birds (to us) such as the Swallow-tailed Kite, the Northern Parula, ..., and we enjoyed birds coming to our campsite. The Pileated Woodpeckers and the Red-shouldered Hawks were regular visitors, not to forget the Catbirds, various woodpeckers, and warblers.  All together, we've seen over 40 different birds on this trip. 

If you're not already enjoying the pleasures of tent camping, you probably need to check this tent camping  site out.

The Okefenokee is unique in many ways. You have a dark colored water that reflects the vegetation and the sky like a mirror. (The dark color comes from tannin which actually keeps the water clean). 
You'll also find some rare plants here such as the carnivorous sundews. The cypresses, tupelos, water lilies and pines always give a unique feel to the canoe rides through the swamp...

...And as always the great peaceful feel of camping amid a rich wildlife.

Before we knew it, time has passed and we needed to head back after a four-day three-night camping trip.  We want to come back to the "land of the trembling earth" as the Indians used to call this place.

Esther's 40th birthday

The big 4 0 for Esther was celebrated at her house on the 2nd of April. All the Coquerels were invited but only those in the U.S. made it to the invitation for obvious reasons.

How nice! It's been a while since we all got together like this. It always seems that we like to see each other when we meet. The children of the children of Papa Coquerel are teenagers and young adults now. How At 40, Esther is looking great. Young and beautiful, not to forget smart and dedicated.

Taking turns, Jacques and I (I'm Andre) shared encouraging words and memories about their sister. Jean-Luc gave the blessing. Emanuel, Esther, and their children prepared some delicious dishes for all to enjoy.time quickly time passes by!

The drink? They also had drinks but then it seemed that everyone had the same idea. "I'm been invited...let me bring...a bottle of wine!". So, we ended up with more bottles of wine then they were wine drinkers in the group. We all forget to think about who actually drinks in the family. They will be...well, I won't say. Not too many.

Phoebe's Mom was there as you can see in one of the pictures. That was nice. She is always good company. I'm guessing she doesn't want to miss Chloe's arrival. Chloe is going to be the new addition in the Coquerel family, to Phoebe and Jean-Luc. We can't wait to meet her.


 It was nice to get together. Let's do it more often.

Camping doesn't always go as planned.

It's good to be prepared when camping.  You just never know. 

Things usually go as planned while we camp.  Sure, there are glitches sometimes.  Such as on our first primitive camping when we got caught up in strong winds in the middle of the night and ran for cover to the truck.  Big mistake, stay in the tent.  You actually anchor it that way.  That was at Big Lazar Wildlife Management Area.  We've learnt a lot since then.

Well, nothing really happened on that trip..except a little excitement in the night...the wind, an animal walking around the tent while we were trying to sleep, and earlier that night, me trying to scare off an animal. I couldn't see it but he growled at me.  Of course, I growled back as best as a "half scared human" could.  I couldn't run, he would chase me, so I ran him off.  ... It was all fun, and we considered it our graduating camping test. 

Check this site out if you need to be prepared too tent camping.

We went camping this past weekend in the Oconee National Forest.  And for the first time we had to abort and come home earlier.  Yes, camping doesn't always go right. 

We've never come home earlier.  Instead, I remember when we were enjoying the peace and quiet so much that we stayed another day.  And that has happened more than once.  Now, we prepare to stay one extra night/day, just in case.  So what happened, you might ask?

Everything was going fine.  The Whip-poor-wills are singing their heart out in the night.  These are night birds that eat insects and they have a unique call.  It goes like this "whipowill, whipowill, whipowill...".  And they can carry on, especially when they've just migrated back and are looking for a mate.  Here is a picture for you, courtesy of Lloyd Spitalnik.



by Dmitry Benbau

 Did I say everything was going fine? We saw the most beautiful moon I've ever seen in my life!  It was big, stunning, all white and bright.  I pointed my binoculars toward it and ...wow! I saw things I've never seen before such as holes, long crater lines, shadows of hills or whatever they were.  I knew this was unusual so I checked it out when we got home and sure enough, the super "perigee moon", not seen since March of 1993.  You needed to be at a place without all the lights of the city to really appreciate it. 

The next day, we heard a helicopter and an airplane sounds in the distance close to our camping site.  We saw smoke, and then ashes falling from the sky.  A forest fire, not one of those induced and controlled burns by foresters.  A real bad forest fire.



by Lloyd Spitalnik



We were just enjoying the birds, the peace and serenity.  Some pretty Pine Warblers were around among other cute birds.  See the picture of the Pine Warbler?  



Debbie suggested we pack up and leave.  I started taking down our station...and the sky cleared.  Pretty much.

We enjoyed the rest of the day, made a nice campfire, enjoyed the moon again.  This time it looked more like a harvest moon.  Still big, and a different color.  Go figure.  White one day, reddish the next day.

Time to go to bed around 10:00 p.m.  We doused the fire, and we couldn't believe what we saw next.  Smoke all around our area.  What a surprise. 

We went to the tent.  As I was getting ready to sleep, Debbie suggested we go home.  Go home, in the middle of the night? How can we take down all these tents in semi-darkness, tired...  Well, are you married? Then you know about not arguing with your wife.

I was sure the smoke would clear, but I would hate to be wrong on this one.  So, I asked "you really want to go home?" "Yes", came the reply.  We took down everything in the night (remember the full moon? came in handy), packed the truck.  At 11:30 p.m. the smoke was still there, no wind to blow it away.  Now, I'm really happy I kept my mouth shut.  She was right. 

This is how our site looked before we took it down.  (This picture is not from last weekend, but all the same elements were there).

Packing everything was easy because we knew where everything was.  Be prepared, learn tent camping.  Now, we can say that we took down our whole site in the middle of the night in semi-darkness.  That's our "black belt in camping". 

Enjoying nature can be a family affair

Children learn from their parents. Usually. What's better than to go for a walk a nature. It's beckoning us to come and smell the fresh air, listen to the water running, and watch the birds.

This is just what we did this past weekend. It was nice. The trees were blooming, the butterflies were out, the migrant birds were coming back. We saw some Purple Martins.

We went to the Little Water Falls at the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge. Didn't we go there just a weekend earlier? Oh yes, it's never the same, and there are a handful of places in nature we go to regularly. And when Kelly and Leah are there, it just doubles the fun.

The water is still running, making a nice waterfall. It's cool just to sit by it and listen to the water. This is a pretty place. I'm sure you have pretty places like this near you too. Make the time to go if you can. Take the kids with you, if you have kids. It's best to start early. That way they want to keep going later.

We all had a good time and we can't wait till next time.

An afternoon at the Piedmont Wildlife Refuge

What do you do when you're in love with nature? You're right! You go visit her. And she puts up her prettiest colors for you. She lets her pretty birds sing for you. She shows you the trees getting ready for spring, and the little miracles she knows how to perform. Just look.

We paid nature a visit this afternoon, and she was happy we came. We saw no one else visiting at the Piedmont Wildfile Refuge. We felt she was a bit lonely. She blew us kisses through the cold breezes. At first it just felt like a cold wind to us then we realized that Nature was just caressing our faces. Ok, calm down now, Mother. Show us some pretty birds.

Have ever seen Purple Martins and Tree Swallows performing their dances over the water? Nice, very nice. They make their acrobatic dances and swoop over the surface of the water, tirelessly. We were not sure if we should be clapping or not.

Do you see the raging water in the last two pictures? Well, we were here last fall and we could walk all over the place. Now, a beautiful waterfall. The background made us look like we belong...so we took some pictures. Have you noticed the natural green carpet of moss being laid in the 1st picture? Sure, I'll sleep there. But no, thanks, I'll bring my own tent. I'm not sleeping on the carpet. Just kidding, no camping allowed there actually.

All in all, it was a pleasant afternoon. We saw flocks of birds, some may be migrating back north (the ducks). We drove through the Refuge (sort of protected forest) and stopped whenever there was something interesting. We walk also, of course. That's part of birding, taking a walk in nature, isn't it?

Nature is beautiful. Go pay a visit sometimes.

A weekend of gardening and birding

This weekend went by quickly.  It was nice and we took full advantage of it.

Saturday was the day for gardening.  We did more preparation work in our small backyard.  We're expanding our garden this year.  It's amazing how much a person can plant in a small space if done correctly.  What do you prefer to have? A lawn to mow every weekend or a vegetable garden for fresh produce?

This basket of vegetables is from our garden, but from a previous year.  We'd like to enjoy the same fresh and tasty vegetables this year too.

If seems like we got a head start this year.  The secret? We follow our own advice from our gardening blog.  Here is the post for you too gardening activities in winter.  It felt good to see the fruit tree nicely pruned, the tools ready and clean, vegetables already germinating from early seeding inside the house... you just need to read the article to see what I'm talking about.  Debbie came up with a new design idea for the enlarged garden.

After the gardening work on Saturday, we grilled and sat outside to enjoy the rest of the day.  Yes, we had a few well deserved drinks too...in moderation.   

Sunday.  Later on in the day, we went out to the Bond Swamp for a two-hour birdwatching. 
We love the Bond Swamp because it always so quiet out there.  As usual, we were the only people there, which is quite alright with us.  The birds were quite active.  We saw a good variety of Woodpeckers, from the Pileated to the Yellow Bellied Sapsuckers.  Also a fair amount of Song Birds.  We appreciated them all. 

Birding is such a relaxing hobby.  We love it, and we're getting better at it too.  I have an ebook on my outdoors blog to get anyone started in birdwatching.  You can check it out if you want.  It cost about the same as a 6-pack of beer (yes, I'm selling it), and here is the link: getting into birding.  Maybe we'll go out birding together one day...and you'll be prepared.

Back to the woods.  It was amazing to see how the trees started having buds, and some are having new leaves already.  We even saw a few butterflies.  I picked up a book at the book fair on butterflies this Friday for a dollar.  (There is a book fair once a year in Macon by the "friends of the library" where you can get books from 50 cents to a couple of dollars for most of the books).  Maybe I can identify these butterflies next time I see them.  They come to the gardens at the house too.  We'll see how that goes.

This is picture from the Bond Swamp, but from a previous visit.



Kelly came over in the afternoon and we set up on the back deck for some pleasant and relaxing time together.  It was simple but nice.  Debbie took some plants and flowers out of the sunroom to the deck, and we good some music going, some snacks, a card game... I wish you were closer, you could have joined us.

Did you watch the Oscars? Well, we watched most of it.  It was getting too long, as usual. 

Ok, that's it for now.  I hope your weekend was good too.

Our first camping trip of the year.

Our first camping trip of the year came earlier than expected. We're in February and it feels like we're having an early spring. Such a nice weather for a winter month. Just what we've been waiting for, the first opportunity to go camping.

Off we go...to the Oconee National Forest where you can enjoy a weekend of relaxing camping in the woods. All by yourselves.

We were totally set up within an hour and half from the time we reached our location; tent, dining/sitting tent, bathroom, chairs and tables...everything around well organized. Then we sat down to relax. And it hit us. Oh gosh! that quiet, that peace and serenity that keeps bringing us back.
All we could hear were the birds around us. As usual, some were singing, and some were just playing, chasing each other around like kids do.

We did have a visitor. We heard it (him, her?) walking loudly on the dead leaves, going through the woods around our camping site. We wondered what it was. A deer, a bear, a bobcat? Maybe a coyote?  This could be a good story to share: there we were, in the huge Oconee Forest, minding our own business, then came this big bear walking behind our camping site with his cub.  He wasn't afraid of us.  So we approached them both.  The cub was a little shy.  We made friends and they came back that evening to enjoy the camp fire with us...   Oh no, it was just an Armadillo! No interesting bear, not even a deer.  And there I was, hoping for an interesting encounter.  

At least he did his routine at daylight on our first day of camping.  Every evening since then, this armadillo will make his round shortly after dark.  Maybe he didn't want his picture taken again.  Can you see him in this picture? Not very photogenic.

Besides the armadillo, we did hear a pack of Wild Turkeys going through the woods almost every day we were there.  They came very close to our camp the first day.  We thought we could see them, but nada.

Then comes the nightfall.  Glorious night! Lift up your head and look at the starry night.  Even with a full moon, the sky was lit with bright stars.  We tried to remember the different constellations.  We need to brush up on that.  We were almost directly under the Orion Belt. 

Beautiful campfire, quiet night, full of stars...what else do you need to enjoy camping?  We even had some Earl Grey tea that first evening.  Just to warm ourselves up.  The nights were cool.  The Whip-poor-wills and Chuck-will's-widows have gone to South America for the winter (these are nightjar birds).  We did hear the Great Horned Owl hooting in the middle of the night.  Always nice to hear the owls. 

We've been at this site before and birds came to visit all the day long.  This time, we really noticed less activities.  So we went out in the forest birdwatching.  No trails.  And, of course, we were rewarded.  People draw pretty bird pictures in bird books, but birds are actually prettier in real life.  When we see them with your binoculars, you'll start to really appreciate their beauty... especially now with their bright colors.

We've identified over 36 bird species and our favorites on this trip were the White-breasted Nuthatches.  Our most frequent visitors were the Eastern Towhees.  They were the first to call out and sing first thing in the morning, and they were the last to retire for the night.  The largest group was the Red headed Woodpeckers.

We spent three nights in the woods and thoroughly enjoyed it, but we were happy to be back home too.  We thought of those you could have been here with us, and we missed them.  Hopefully, next time.