Contentment

May 7, 2019
It is a fine day, warm and fairly calm with a golden tinge to the sky that perhaps comes from a light film of clouds.

We put in at the bottom of the river while the tide is at its peak and head up our preferred route, the Neck River, Bailey Creek, through the Sneak and then the East River.  The spartina expanse is still brown and dominated by last year's growth, but when I look closely I can see the new green starting to come up. 

Willet

But, the most noticeable sense in the marsh is the sound of birds.  The Willets have all arrived at this point and their piercing calls come from all directions without puase.  They are seen most often in pairs and when flushed fly off together, so while mated, they have not yet nested.  They seem to be in the last of the nesting territory squabbles, still more concerned about other Willets than about the intruding canoeists.  In between the calls of the Willets are the whistles of the Osprey.  They were the first to arrive and it is clear that they have eggs in the nests as each nest has one Osprey that stays put as we pass by.

Willet

At the Big Bends we find a condensed flock of Yellow Legs, smaller than the Willets with a different call.  At a distance, flying is when they are most easy to identify as only the Willet has the beautiful black and white barred wings.  Also in attendance were a few Snowy Egrets and a couple of Great Egrets.  We had a possible juvenile Little Blue Heron sighting as well.  They are white in the first year and similar in size to the Snowy Egrets.  But, they lack the bright yellow feet of the Snowy.

We turned at the arch bridge, mostly because the warm calm air made the two of us feel quite content and we did not see any good reason to leave that disposition.  The Sneak was still passable on our descent, so we retraced our outward route.