Wattensaw

Today we decided to go to Wattensaw WMA, instead of Bayou DeView. The WMA is directly west of Bayou DeView and there have been some sightings there. We drove into the middle of the WMA and stopped in a parking area next to a bayou. We ate lunch and then headed into the swamp.

As we floated down the bayou we looked for scaled trees. We didn't see any for a while, but then we spotted one. It was about 30 feet from the bayou on dry land, we got out of the kayak and checked it out. The scaling was very fresh. There were chips of bark on the ground below the tree, some of which were the size of your hand. We wanted to place a camera trap facing it, but first we decided to look for other scaling.

After that we didn't see any scaling, so we were turning around to go back to the scaled tree when we heard a loud double-knock. BAM-bam! It was the clearest, loudest double-knock we have ever heard. My dad handed me our new Edirol R-o9HR recorder and I started recording. We pulled the boat near the bank of the bayou and waited. The double-knock did not repeat.

After sitting there for a minute we decided to go toward the sound and get out of the boat. So, we got onto dry land and we hiked into the forest to look for what made the double-knock. We walked far in one direction, and didn't see or hear anything, so we headed back in the kayak's direction. We then hiked in a different direction from the kayak, but again didn't see anything. So we headed back for the scaled tree.

We got to the scaled tree and then placed a camera trap on a tripod facing it. After that we headed out of the swamp.

We heard a double-knock today, i'm 99% sure it was from an IBWO. If we had the recorder on we would have had a great recording! So, from now on, we will have it recording at all times. We're ordering a special tripod for it so we can have it up in the front of the kayak. And, maybe we will get a picture from our camera trap of an IBWO next week!