Messing About in Boats (thanks, Ratty)

Post date: Jan 19, 2015 3:58:10 AM

We took the Delta Wildlife Boat Eco Tour, near Mobile (pronounced "Mo-Bill") today.  Although it's winter in the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, we saw egrets, herons, a spoonbill, pelicans, ibises, and even a bald eagle!  The guide was a fountain of information.  He drove the flat-bottomed boat and never ran out of facts and figures, most of which went right out of my head.  He told us about the early native Americans, Muscogees, Choctaws and Chickasaws and the "Mobilians," aboriginal inhabitants of the area. He pointed out various plants, some medicinal, some good to eat (you can eat the cattail from top to bottom at certain times of the year), some incredibly toxic (water hemlock also known as Queen Anne's lace is the most poisonous plant in North America). We saw the damage that a rodent called Nutria has done. Whole sections of islands are flat and without any vegetation.  They look bulldozed.  2 nutria were introduced into Louisiana and there are now millions of them.  This place is home to a vast variety of plants, animals and insects and drains most of the water in the eastern U.S.  I wish I could remember more of what he said!  It was a beautiful day on the water and we had a great time - check out the photos in the Orange Beach album (Photo Gallery (3)).