Wrapping Up Eastbank

Sunday, 2 June
Eastbank COE Campground — Bainbridge, Georgia
Temps: Lo 72F / Hi 95F (22C / 35C)

Routine or not, our days here at Eastbank have passed by rapidly.  Not only that … Friday marked the completion of six months on the road.  Where have the days gone?  To us, it feels like we just started this gypsy lifestyle yesterday.

As we began our second week here, we said goodbye to the cool morning temps that were in the high 50F range (14-15C).  This week, our mornings started out at 72F (22C) or above.  Normally a comfortable temperature, but the relatively high humidex made for sticky conditions.  Undeterred, we walked over to the dam and back every day.  Hopefully, the terrain at our next campground will be more conducive to riding our trikes and will introduce some variety into our daily exercise regimen.

Left: I guess no one told this Snowy Egret about the fishing restrictions.
Right: this Great Egret prefers the railing of the walking path for a more comfortable perch.

The small patio we created for ourselves in the shadow of the Phaeton has allowed us to spend our mornings outside.  Reading and watching small birds flitting about provided all the entertainment we needed.  As the sun replaced shade, we found ourselves taking refuge in the A/C comfort of our home.  The 95-98F (35-36C) temps that welcomed us to Eastbank did not repeat themselves … until today — something to be grateful for.

Rebuffing the attentions of the male, this female common grackle went about feeding in our yard.

With the bird feeder that our neighbor had put up no longer in place, the cardinals and house finches have taken off for parts unknown.  The usual cadre of Eastern bluebirds, Eastern kingbirds, mockingbirds, red-shouldered blackbirds and grackles, however, continue to abound.  We’ve been witness to courtship rituals and territorial disputes that have livened up our days.  The chirps emanating from the tree canopy have increased significantly, making me wonder if there are chicks in nests hidden from view.

Consulting with my friend MBZ, we settled on this being a Bell’s Vireo.
I had fun watching it play with the feathers on the ground before it flew off.

The Canada geese family has been noticeably absent this week.  They came by the morning after the campground emptied.  On that visit, they were accompanied by two more families — one with two goslings; another with five goslings.  I caught a glimpse of them one afternoon jumping off the wall at the boat channel instead of walking into the water like they used to do, so perhaps mom and dad have started to teach their young to use their wings.

When the family briefly showed up yesterday morning, there was a noticeable lack of downy cover on the goslings, and the adult coloring on the neck and face was visible as well.  I’m hoping they’ll come by before we leave so I can photograph them in this stage of their young lives.

It didn’t take long for this Eastern Bluebird to devour a tasty tidbit it caught for breakfast.

Eastern Bluebird (juvenile)

A newcomer to our immediate part of the lake are the alligators.  There is one big gator and several that are much smaller in size.  Unless they are swimming, they are often difficult to see amidst the lotus pads that dot the small cove next to our site, but we are becoming proficient in spotting them.  Our closest sighting of the big guy (or gal) was at the dam this morning.

Our first sighting of the biggest of the several alligators swimming in Lake Seminole.

The sunset shots are from the cove near our site; the two in the bottom right photo
spent the night in the cove before swimming off the next morning.

Surprisingly, there is no signage anywhere in the area to warn about the alligators that patrol these waters.  I wonder if the chunks of broken cinderblock that line the shore at the campground deter them from coming ashore; I imagine jagged edges could do considerable damage to the soft bellies of the gators.

This morning’s close encounter near the Woodruff Dam.
the second, smaller gator (bottom left photo) gave the big guy a wide berth.

The campground remained relatively empty this weekend.  All in all, about 50 of the 65 sites were empty — certainly nowhere near the full occupancy of the Memorial Day long weekend.  All of the waterfront sites were occupied until a few hours ago, but the Sunday departure ritual has started and soon there will be just a few of us remaining.

hard to tell from the silhouette, but that’s a great blue heron in an odd posture.

Earlier this week, our neighbor two sites over mentioned he saw a turtle laying eggs near the volleyball net.  He said “I thought you might want to take pictures, but you were inside and I didn’t want to interrupt whatever you were doing ;-)”  I wish he had; I was at my desk processing photos.  I can’t help but wonder if the nest belongs to the turtle I photographed earlier this week; it was in that immediate area.  Since then, I’ve found what I think is another turtle nest; this one at the edge of the lake near our site.

The nest by the volleyball net (left) and the one near our site.

I missed my chance to photograph the nesting turtle, but here’s a
yellow-bellied slider (I think) swimming in the cove near the dam.

That same neighbor mentioned seeing hatchlings further down by the picnic pavilion.  They were nowhere to be seen when I walked over to check them out, but I did see something else scrounging along the fenceline that separates the campground from the Corps of Engineers’ maintenance yard …

My first raccoon — live, that is — in the wild.

My other critter-encounters include a galinule in the cove by the dam and two deer feeding in the tall grasses of the wetlands.  I’ve also seen deer droppings here at the campground, but the deer themselves have eluded my camera.  Ospreys have been plentiful as well.  Having resisted breaking out the DSLR, I’ve instead been satisfied with watching them circle over Lake Seminole in their quest for a fish … or two … or three.

No idea what kind of insects these are; if you’d like to venture an ID, please do so.
click the photos for a larger image, but I’ll warn you now that the one on the right is blurry :-(

[I’m continuing this post from inside the coach.  Not because I’ve been chased away by the sun — in fact, this is our first full-overcast day here at Eastbank.  Rather, because it is raining.  I was just thinking I should not have been scared off by a few drops when the skies opened up and it started pouring.  I guess I came in just in time to save the laptop from a good soaking!]

On with the wrap-up … which continues with a short clip of one of the anoles displaying for the gals …

As some of you know from yesterday’s “oops post,” the lotuses started to bloom this week.  It happened quite suddenly.  I was surprised by the big yellow flowers as I’ve only ever seen the pale pink blooms of the Sacred Lotus (introduced from Asia).  Checking my wildflower references, I learned that this variety is known as the American Lotus.  (For those who plan to visit the DC area during the June-July time frame, the Kenilworth Gardens is a wonderful place to see the Sacred Lotus in abundance.)

This view of the cove from the dining room window first alerted me
to the American Lotus starting to bloom.

There is one genus of lotus with two species — one Asian, and one North American.
The leaves can either be on stalks above water or floating on the surface.

From bud one day, to near-bloom the next day ...

... to full bloom in quick succession.

A lotus flower that bloomed closer to the shoreline this morning gives me
a better glimpse of the seed-bearing receptacle.

With the lotus blooms, came an increase in the number of blue dashers flitting about as well.  So far, they haven’t perched on the blooms themselves, but at least they’ve been standing still long enough for me to capture a shot or two of them.

The blue dasher is a dragonfly of the skimmer family.

There’s either a territorial stand-off going on here, or love is “in the air” for this pair.

OK, OK … I’m really wrapping it up.  And what better way to do that than with some sunset shots from this week interspersed with final thoughts.

[Ooops … not a post by mistake this time — we just lost power … ironic considering we’re in view of a hydroelectric dam.  Just spoke with the ranger, who was on her regular rounds; it looks like the outage is campground-wide.  She’s going to report it to the powers-that-be (pun intended) ;-)  In the meantime, we’re going to crank up the generator so we can run the A/C … it’s just a tad too warm to be without cooling power at the moment.]

Now to get this posted before the internet conks out on me again.  We’ve had mostly iffy internet here.  When the 3G Verizon signal is going (3-4 bars) it’s good, but it frequently drops to 1X, which is only good for phone calls.  We’ve had an improved connection since yesterday, which I think is because the dam is operating on a skeleton crew and not sucking up the bandwidth.  Oddly, even when the signal is decent, and I can read the blogs I follow, the comment section doesn’t load — hopefully that will change at our next campground.

As for posting my lengthy blog entries — no problems in that respect.  I attribute that to the fact that I upload photos to an online gallery and use links to those pictures instead of inserting photos from my computer, which then have to be uploaded along with the post.

Well, the rain is over … the sun is out … and even though it is pretty steamy out there, I’m going to go for a wander around the campground.

Next post ... from Appling, Georgia.