Bird Watching

I set out on the big river from a state launch under the highway bridge.  It is sunny and it will be warm, but I am on the water before 8.

Great Egret

The mile down to the top of the marsh is pleasant enough with the flood tide not posing too much of a current.  I head in to circle the broad Wheeler Marsh in the clockwise direction passing two groups of Swans - an adult with three cygnets and one with four.

 

Wheeler Marsh is on the edge of my town.  The marsh itself is quite large.  It is a low salt marsh which means that the dominant spartina grass is the 3 ft tall spartina alternaflora, also known as cord grass.  This type of spartina grows in marshes where the grass is flooded daily by the tides.  

I spot several Snowy Egrets with a single Great Egret to keep them in line. 

Up in the east corner I started flushing Night Herons.  Most were immature and on the wing I find it pretty hard to tell whether they are Black Crowned Night Herons or Yellow Crowned Night Herons.  While the adults are quite different, as fledglings they both have nondescript camouflage feathers.  In fact, they blend in so well that I don't see the first six or eight until they are airborne.  They are the main purpose of canoeing here today.  A substantial rookery of Night Herons and Egrets is about 2 miles away on Charles Island and this is one of the best places around to see these birds. 

Juvenile Yellow Crowned Night Heron

 I end up seeing enough of the Night Herons that I don't bother counting.

From Milford Point I head into the middle of the marsh.  Finding my way through here is always a bit of chance, but with a rising tide I have plenty of time.  With a few backtracks I find a minor channel that leads up river and finally recognize a spot that I've been at before.  From there it is an easy paddle on the flood current back to tthe put in.