For the Love of Birds
Thursday 15th April 2021
“Get out of here … scram you bastards … f…off before I shoot you!” Are these the words of two people who love birds? How wonderful to hear the sound of bird song in the morning, except when it’s a bunch of grackles crapping on your boat. Just because “boat-tailed grackles” have a “boat” in their name doesn’t mean that they can use our boat as a toilet. Over the past few days in the marshes of Georgia and South Carolina we have seen these birds flying around the creeks from one bank to another and they love to land on our radar post, the bimini, the spreaders on the mast, the bow … you name it. They are quite vocal, not particularly scared of humans and they definitely make a mess, although to be fair, they are an order of magnitude better than cormorants. This morning saw both of us leaping out into the cockpit screaming obscenities and rattling halyards to try and scare them away. It worked to some extent, but also felt strangely therapeutic.
We left the New River shortly before 9 am and completed the final fifteen miles to the marina in Skull Creek on Hilton Head Island. Getting Cotinga safely into the slip was a bit of an adventure with a lot of current and a stiff wind from the stern. But we had help with our lines from one of the marina staff and with a couple of attempts to get lined up squarely we managed to pull in without incident. This afternoon we have been cleaning the boat and catching up on laundry. This is our first night on a dock since leaving Key West in February.
Tomorrow we rent a car and head back to St Augustine, Florida to stay with our friends Lynn and Lee and to get our second Covid vaccination. We will post our next blog after we get back
Mike
32 14.742 N, 80 44.856 W
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