Birds and Nature in Clarendon Co. SC

          I had a family member ask me to take them along on one of these trips and they wish to not be in the blog, so my photos for this post are going to be limited. We set out early and got to the launch around 7:30. There we found a nice couple with their truck with boat in tow stuck on the ramp. I talked to them for a short time, but with only a car, there wasn't anything I could do to help. If you do go to put a boat in a Hickory Top currently, know that the concrete ramp is broken at least on the right side when you are facing the ramp. The water is low now and I think typically you wouldn't have to back that far down. Out on the water I set out with the goal of finding some neat birds to show to my family member and stop and remove one bag of trash.          Like the previous trip a White Ibis was the first bird on the water and right around the same spot as last time too.        As soon as we got out onto th...

       Headed out on a Sunday morning for my second clean-up by canoe at Hickory Top. The goal was to paddle to the up-river end where I had just done a clean-up by foot on the 15th. There were items there that were too big or heavy to carry out on foot. This trip definitely didn't go to plan, but by the end I did remove a good bit of trash.        As I paddled from the launch out to the lake this White Ibis was feeding along the edge. When I got closer in the channel it flew up and joined another perched in an overhanging tree and they both watched as I paddled by.         The first item picked up was this popcorn bag that was just drifting in the water. In the past I did a lot of river clean-ups and for those it was more typical that these items would be on the bottom and filled with sediment. I think because there isn't much current in the lake these aren't forced to the bottom and stay bobbing in the water column befor...