Early Evening East River Trip

I started up in the forest sometime around when tide had just past the low point, late in the afternoon, a time when I rarely start a trip.  I could see that I would not meet anyone else on the water for at least a mile...this was not people friendly canoeing, these conditions were what gives a canoe the edge over a kayak.  I began wading, hopping into the canoe for short stretches when there was enough water, and then hopping back out to wade when there wasn't. 

The gravel flats

Green Heron

However, shallow water does have benefits in that it brings the wading birds out.  Before reaching the first bend I had spotted four Green Herons and a Kingfisher.  The water around the canoe danced with small fish and the thin water made the hunting easy for the birds.  At the gravel flats, where I was forced to wade again, there were several Great Egrets and a Snowy Egret.  No Osprey yet, as they try not to dive into three inches of water. 

Yellow Legs, Sandpipers and Plover worked the exposed mud.

Great Egret

When I neared the old sawmill dam I began to get full depth strokes with the paddle.  The flood tide was just starting to show itself, but it still wasn't anything to slow the canoe.

Great Blue Heron that was grooming at the time

At Cedar Island there were five Great Egrets perched in the trees.  It seems to be an evening behavior and I suppose that they no longer have a need to return to their nests.  I would see this again when I returned to the gravel flats, five Greats and a Snowy perched together in a dead fall tree that lies in the river.