Alabama

         Well I have to say this waterway section of the Great Loop is very pretty.  And we are starting to see more and more birds.  The other day Dan spotted a woodpecker.  “It had a lot of white on its back and it was big!”  He said to me.  He is very good at spotting details quickly, whereas I have to look for several seconds with a pair of binoculars to notice the color of the legs or the presence of an eye mask. I didn’t see this particular bird but took his word that it was a woodpecker, and jokingly said “Was it an ivory-billed?”  He frowned at me.  “The extinct one?”  He said.  “It might not be extinct.”  I shrugged, and pointed to the habitat.  “This is where it supposedly has been sighted.”

Lots of research and some very granulated internet pictures and videos later, and Dan thinks it just might have been an ivory-billed woodpecker.  It flew like a woodpecker, it had lots of white on its back and wings but had black wingtips, and it was large and fast.  We may never know - it was the only sighting and it didn’t stay around long enough for us to get even a grainy photo.  But it could have been, and wouldn’t that be something to be able to claim?

We are traveling pretty much alone these days, taking our time.  The river system snakes back and forth, heads into a lock, and then continues on.  There have been many options for anchoring, all of them rustic and quiet, with turtles or egrets lining the shores.  We’ve passed a few houses, but much of the scenery is hardwoods and spruce, sitting atop eroding sand or clay banks.  Occasionally we come through a cypress swamp area that is reminiscent of South Carolina.  We crossed into Alabama yesterday (Monday Nov 20).  These last several days have been very peaceful, and just the thing we needed as we recover from COVID.  (We’re getting better, but it seems like a slow process.)

Tommie is basking in the sunlight.