Deep Creek trip - 7-6

I went on a hike to Deep Creek yesterday and the weather was great and not too hot thankfully :-) The mid day air temp was around 90 and the creek temp was 84 degrees which is about perfect by my reckoning! I saw another Golden Eagle up by my parking, which has been pretty much par for the course on most trips up there I go on. Their is a pair of them living in that area. Just as I got down to the creek I spooked a big Owl out of its roost in a cliff. I got a little further up the creek and once again spooked the same Owl out of the shade of a big Oak tree. Further up the stream I came across two Grey Heron's who took flight once I got closer. Here is a website about them, showing what they look like:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Heron

Had my lunch in a shady spot along the stream, then explored around the rest of the day. I came across a differant looking stream plant, one that I don't ever recall seeing at Deep Creek before. There were three of the plants growing by a small pool. I took a picture of it and will put it up at Wizard's pictures later when I get the chance. I'll post to this thread when I get it up and maybe someone will be able to identify the plant. It looks like something you would see in a tropical forest, a more lush environment. Also in that same area I noticed a dark looking trout with white marks on it swimming around, one that clearly was not doing well. When the creek gets that warm the trout begin to die. I saw some more down deep that looked ok but a bit later I found one dead in the water by shore, it had just died. One year there were lots of them in the bigger pools and I would check them out with my dive mask. But then there was a very prolonged hot spell and it killed pretty much all the trout within a couple of weeks. The trout further up the creek in the higher elevations still survive because of the cooler water there.

On the hike back down the creek I saw another Grey Heron fishing from a rock. Then I suddenly noticed there was a Beaver swimming across the pool right in front of the Heron. The Beaver had some sort of reed in its mouth and may have been dam building or eating. I got a good look at it with my binoculars as it was parusing around the long pool in the creek it was in.

Another great day spent at Deep Creek :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/07/2012 01:56PM by Wizard.