Three Rivers

The morning fog cleared by the time I set the canoe into the Lieutenant River. The tide was still rising and the sun would soon remove what was left of the early coolness.  I headed down river.

Just beyond the first bridge, the railroad bridge, three waterways join.  Two of them are the Connecticut River.  One is the back channel while the other is a straight shot of 600 yards out to the main channel.  The main channel is never interesting, especially when compared to the intimacy of the marshy option.

Other than the wrens, most of the birds have settled down from their spring antics.  Osprey are doing what Osprey do and the few Willets that I spot are rather sedate.  Other than that, there's a few cormorants, the occasional Egret, and some Gulls.  The wind swirls and comes from different directions as I paddle.  There are not enough meanders at this point to explain away those variations.

I did not notice the red toy shovel until later

About an hour out I turn and head up the Black River.  The island where the Black and Connecticut meet has two Oyster Catchers and a few Egrets...plus the usual several Osprey that are either in the air or on one of the many nearby nests.

The Black River

I haven't been up the Black in awhile.  It is best with a reasonably high tide and as it is near the sound, it also needs a day with light wind.  It is a pleasant trip up, an hour of my time to get to a decent turn around point where the river narrows to a narrow gash in the cattails.  As I sit at that spot, for just a minute or two, the tide changes.  I time a piece of grass counting seconds for a foot or two.  I do the math in my head, seconds to minute to hours, feet to miles.  It is traveling at 8 hours per mile.  I head back.