Night Action Feb. 17, 2010

For various reasons my internal clocks have been reset, my sleep is off and I find the nights quiet and shorter. At 1:19A this morning I just got up as though it had been 9:00A. Made some Green Tea. Guess gray cat scratching in the litter box woke me......Outside it was a bit cool for there to be much at the banana bait stations, but the skunk that had so well plastered the back deck yesterday evening was still in the yard and I could just barely make it out as it waddled off to the salt cedars in Joe's yard as soon as it was aware I was out there. The place still reeks of it from last night.
Too cold to be really comfortable but I did put on a couple of shirts and walked down to the fishing pier where some Latino fellows were trying to pull anything they could from a baitless water that was slicker than glass....I did not walk down to the end to ask about any luck they may or may not have had. But not even the glasspacs or anchovies were moving the water's surface....I bet the guys could not have pulled in even a Sheepshead this morning, especially as the tide was slack and the water is so fresh from all the rains.....You could tell they were pot lickers anyway as they were using big chunks frozen squid from what I could tell through my bins......Maybe they were going for Blackfin... Thought about visiting Punch to see who had come to pay respects didn't bring a lamp to walk the beach.
Everything at this time of night is about sound. Mostly none....Not a car heard or seen in over an hour but the surf out in the gulf still sounds exactly like interstate traffic at rush hour.... While it is to cold for frogs or insects, there is plenty of bird movement. A startling squall of a Great Blue Heron, taking off from the little rock berm....I just know it left an unseen but significant "rope",... Black Skimmers working the still waters invisibly, a pair of Horned Owls dueting back and forth well back in town, likely with chicks in the nest somewhere......For sure there is no shortage of Roof Rats in the palms to feed them. A single Barn Owl was heard over across the ICWW and a couple of Short-billed Dowitchers on the flats....Other than that, just the blinking green and red channel markers with their attendant Brown Pelicans and a single noisy early morning crew boat heading out to a rig in the gulf leaving behind the only wake the bay has seen this morning as it was passing through the jetties. Neighbor Suzy and Steve are heading out 19 miles today to load up on snapper and if we are lucky maybe they will give us one or two if their luck is good. We will head out later in the morning to catch one of the rare nice days we have seen this winter. Too bad the Laddman can't make it, but he'd likely rather be in a boat anyway. I think it will be too nice of a day for that today for me. Spring is coming fast....The ash and mulberry trees are budding and the water roaches are showing up eveywhere. More later.