Dragonfly Summer

I keep hearing people whine about mosquitoes in their yard. Would you believe that we don't see any mosquitoes on our trips through the Delta? Perfect reason to come on a trip. At the bottom of this post, there are details about upcoming trips. As for the mosquitoes, there are some at the boat ramp in Meaher Park in the morning, but once we set sail and we enter the swamp, away from all the people, there just aren't any. Like no mosquitoes. There are simply too many hungry mouths gobbling them up, both in the air and in the water. It is one of the most remarkable things I've encountered in the natural world. I leave my house in Fairhope every morning, the air swarming with mosquitoes. Then I spend the day out in one of the nation's largest swamps, and I won't see a mosquito until I get home that night. I would never have imagined that would be the case, but tetween the swallows, bats, and dragonflies in the air and then all the tiny minnows and even plants gobbling up the larvae in the water, the mosquitoes don't stand a chance.

I mentioned plants eating the mosquitoes. We actually have a fully carnivorous plant

underwater in the Delta, the bladderwort. Imagine that, a carnivorous plant that lives underwater. So cool. Come on a summer trip and I'll show it to you. I won't have to show you the dragonflies because we'll never be out of sight of one the entire day. This time of year belongs to the dragonflies. Look closely at the image of all the cane in the photos. There's a dragonfly sitting on top of every cane.

The lotus bloom is just kicking off. I've found a few spectacular spots this year, well off the beaten path but just huge blooming meadows of butter yellow lotus. Sure, it is hot, but the whole boat is under a canopy, so we are all in the shade all day. Meanwhile, the air throbs with the sounds of the birds, the bugs, and thousands of frogs talking at the same time. This is the Delta is at its most tropical, most jungly. Yes, jungly is a word. And it is a perfect description for the lower Delta in summer. A jungle is a dense, impenetrable forest, a place where the understory is choked with vines and shrubs and walking through it requires a machete. That's exactly what's out there right now. But we don't have to walk through it. Traveling through the tiny creeks we visit in the boat gives us a window into the jungle without actually having to work our way through it. We glide silently down the creeks powered by the electric trolling motor. Leather flower vines hang down over the boat. The lubber grasshoppers climb aboard as we brush past the reeds they're feeding on. We creep up on wild hogs, bobcats, birds with young in nests hanging over our heads. Something I hear more often this time of year than any other is, "I can't believe we are in Alabama."

I'm adding a group trip for this Friday, July 3, and one for Saturday July 11. You can buy a spot on the trip for $160. There are six spots for each date. We will leave the dock at 8 am and get back at 2 p.m., with a bathroom break at a landing halfway through. You can book seats on my website benraines.org. If you'd like to book the whole boat for your family or a group you put together for a different day, we can do that too. Shoot me a message or email me at rainesorama@gmail.com.