I traveled the “Creole Nature Trail All American Road” here in SW Louisiana. The Trail starts in Sulphur, LA, Slot Terpercaya runs along the eastern edge of the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge to the Gulf of Mexico where it turns east along the shore. It crosses the outflow from Calcasieu Lake to the Gulf and then turns north to pass through the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife Refuge on its way to Lake Charles, LA. As you can imagine, this is where fresh and salt water meet and the order of the day is many bayous from the Mississippi system, brackish standing water, the many, many lush plants and the birds, lizards, alligators and turtles which love this kind of ecosystem. The area is home to 26 species of reptiles and amphibians, 132 species of fish and, almost 400 species of birds either live here or migrate through. Although the migratory birds are gone now, this is the stopping point on the southern trip for a huge number of birds traveling down the two main migratory routes in the central US and a stopover for those heading further south. In all, over 200 species migrate to and through the area.
In the Sabine Refuge, I found lots of people crabbing, something I’ve never done or even seen done. But a nice couple showed me the ropes. It seems you bait a piece of string with either the raw lower leg of a chicken or with a turkey neck by tying it securely. Then tie the other end to something solid and toss your bait into Slot Gacor Gampang Menang the water. When you get a bite (I couldn’t see how they knew they’d gotten one but they caught four crabs while we were talking), you pull the line in slowly until you can capture the crab in a net. They showed me the difference between the male and the female crabs, too (the males have a narrow abdomen and bluer claws). Through it all they say you have to watch out that an alligator doesn’t steal your crabs. You don’t need a license to catch crabs in the Refuge but there’s a hefty fine if you leave your string. I didn’t go buy a chicken leg and net but maybe another time I’ll give it a try.
Plants grow easily here, some are taller than I am, some hug the ground and fields and masses of them grow at every level in between. Thistles haven’t greened up yet but the dead remains from last year show them to be very healthy when they grow. My favorite plant of the day, and they grew by the field full, was a long, very dark green stem with a little orange flower sailing at its top. I had to like them. I could pick them out of the crowd.
Passing along the section of the route along the shore, I saw barges and what looked like 400-500 ft ships leave the outflow from the lake as I waited for the ferry to cross it. Shrimp boats dotted the Gulf. I took a side trip on the Pintail Drive in the Cameron Prairie Refuge. It travels around a small swamp. It was a great side trip. I saw three alligators and, oh, so many birds. My favorites were the ibis. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen them except maybe on a nature show. But there they were with their Slot Gacor crazy bent beaks sticking out about four inches and a rusty cape on their shoulders. At first I thought the rest of their feathers were black but there really is a lot of green so, when they fly, their color is like the sheen of oil on water.
All in all, an interesting day.
Copyright Dawn W Leigh. All rights reserved