"...the ornithologists still had serious doubts. Sutton finally put it directly: 'Mr. Spencer, you're sure the bird you're telling us about isn't the big pileated woodpecker?'

"Spencer exploded. 'Man alive! These birds I'm tellin' you all about is kints!' he shouted in their faces. 'Why, the pileated woodpecker's just a little bird about as big as that.' He held his fingers a few inches apart. 'A kint's as big as that!' he said, holding his arms wide... 'Why, man, I've known kints all my life. My pappy showed 'em to me when I was just a kid. I see 'em every fall when I go deer huntin' down aroun' my place on the Tinsaw. They're big birds, I tell you, big and black and white; and they fly through the woods like pintail ducks!'

"After Spencer's outburst, the members of the team were all believers -- not just because of his vehemence, but because his description was so accurate. Ivory-bills do not have the typical bounding flight of the pileated woodpecker. They generally fly away high and straight, with stiff flight feathers, looking very much like a pintail, and their call is a distinctive nasal kent, kent, kent -- very similar to the local name Spencer used, kint. Sutton and the others couldn't wait to get to the bayou and start searching.

"As it turned out, that was not an easy proposition..." --Gallagher, Tim. The Grail Bird: Hot on the Trail of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, pp. 10-11: "Of People and Peckerwoods."

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Along the Dragon's Belly: Fafnir's Lake, 18 June 2019

Brian and I returned to Horseshoe Lake on 18 June.  Some weeks before, I'd noticed on Google Earth a small, heavily wooded lake to the north of Horseshoe; its shape suggested to me a somewhat stylized dragon.  With no name appearing on Google Earth, I decided after consulting with Brian to call it Fafnir's Lake.  It was a short trip, heavy from the beginning with the promise of rain, and the heat and biting flies were nearly unbearable.  We only just made it to the "underbelly" of the dragon; and as the forest there seemed very young, we cut our trip short, having just enough time to scavenge some driftwood from the other end of Horseshoe Lake before a heavy downpour that would not abate for several hours.

All photos in this post, unless otherwise noted, are by Brian Carlisle.

 It's a bit of a stretch, admittedly.

The humidity was ridiculous.  (My photo.)





 


Sigurd, a very large baldcypress we encountered on the trail in the vicinity of the Dragon. 

 There were numerous box turtles on the high ground between Horseshoe and Fafnir.


 Brian has an eye for the small things I often miss.






Horseshoe has some of the best forest views along its shores of any of the lakes in the Pascagoula River Swamp.  Just my opinion.

Thick muck on the southwestern end of Horseshoe Lake.




 We found some nice pieces of baldcypress driftwood.

On the bluff overlooking the River.

 Upstream.

 Sandbar directly across the River.

 Looking downstream as the rain began.
 
I took this photo of a sweet gum as we were pulling away from Horseshoe Lake.  I could not get a good shot because of the downpour.  I suspect it is damage from a tree that fell, though I did not see the remains of one.

Brian and I would like to thank all who continue to visit this blog, and all past support and kindnesses that help inform this blog's perspective.  Our relationship with the remarkable Pascagoula River Swamp -- now in its fifth year -- is changing in some ways, though we continue to explore it with cameras in our hands, mindful of the messages reaching our eyes and ears.  My goal is to continue to share our journey here with all the clarity, humility, and reverence I can.

-- Chris

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