GBH

Today did not go as planned. It was our intention to kayak up Big River near Mendocino,CA on the the coast.When we arrived at the river access was blocked with traffic cones and a large orange and black sign that read "Exam in Progress". What in the world is that? I haven't got a clue. Because we couldn't launch the kayaks there we headed down the coast to the Albion River. We paid our five bucks per kayak to launch and headed upstream against the outgoing tide. We were pushed along by and onshore breeze so it wasn't too bad. Just a little past the harbor I came across a great Blue Heron GBH feeding in the Eel Grass on one of the river flats. Much to my great surprise it didn't fly off at my slow approach like they usually do.I felt like I was in Florida where the birds don't fly away from you! I watched and photographed it for about ten minutes or so. The lighting was terrible but I felt excited to just be able to photograph a GBH.I moved on upriver and photographed some seals. I kept paddling upriver and was amazed at how many GB Herons were feeding along the river. But none of them would allow me to get close to them at all. The return trip down he river back to the harbor was pretty unpleasant and I'm going to be sore tomorrow. The onshore breeze combined with an incoming tide were pretty hard to deal with. Somehow I must have pulled up the wrong tide table.Next time I'm going to double check the times and location. Still it was a great trip. God's love and blessings to all, chris