Way Down Upon the Suwannee River...

On our final stop of our trip across the Florida Panhandle we tried a different campground than we had used before and we are glad we did!  The name of the place is somewhat off-putting, Yellow-Jacket Campground, but it is a piece of old Florida situated adjacent to the Lower Suwannee Wildlife Preserve and the Suwannee River.  The river rises in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia and flows south west into Florida being joined by other drainages along the way.  In summer months the river is visited by Manatees, but at this time they are usually in one of the fresh water springs which also feed the river.  Temperatures in the springs range from 70 to 74 degrees year round and that attracts them in winter. So we did not see manatees this time.

However we were lucky enough to see some beautiful birds rather up close from our vantage point at river's edge.  I'll mention each below with the photos I took. 

First is the view of the River looking downstream from our site.

And from the boat dock in front of us, here is our parking spot.

On the chilly morning as were getting ready to leave this Blue Heron was huddled on the dock trying to keep warm.

And he eventually flew to the edge of the water exactly in front of our windshield.

 This turtle sunned itself every day on this same log.

I had walked out to the dock one morning and was treated to quite a show, first by a Blue Heron and later by a Great Egret.

 The following sequence of 3 pictures shows the arrival of the Egret to a quiet place along the river bank.

Adjusting the flaps for deceleration...

and braking hard for touchdown.

I had seen this on TV about jumping fish on some southern rivers.  This warning sign is at the public boat launch site on the campground.

Another camper saw me taking pictures and told me he had seen a Pine Warbler and that would be a new sighting for us so I was on the lookout and finally saw it working in the Spanish Moss hanging in the trees.  When I went outside the Pine Warbler was nowhere to be seen. But this Yellow-Rumped  Warbler was flitting around the bases of the cypress trees.  It was getting toward evening and the light was failing so his record is a bit dark.

While I was watching the warbler I saw a large bird flash to my right and eventually I spotted the Pileated Woodpecker you see below.

And once again, as at Falling Waters State Park, the Red Cockaded Woodpecker was a regular afternoon visitor the to trees in front of our rig.  The red topper appears almost brown in reality as in the photo.