M and I put in at the Feral Cat Park for a trip up the river. My memory was correct that she had never gone upriver from here although we had headed in the other direction to visit the big marsh. It is a spectacular warm and sunny autumn day and at least when we begin it is calm. We turn the point out of the tiny cove and begin upriver on a flood tide current.
At the first island we begin spotting Great Blue Herons. By the mid point of the trip we will have spotted something between 15 and 20. Before we get to the dragonfly factory we have spotted three Bald Eagles, two adults and one immature. To that add some Kingfishers and a Sharp Shin Hawk.
Figuring the wind and tidal current I decide to take a turn around Wooster Island and head back. By this time we have solved all of the world's problems, so there is no need to paddle farther.
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| An almost excellent photo of a Kingfisher |
The wind does not disappoint and the return trip is a power paddle grind and I try to steer us into the wind shadow whenever one exists. We follow the west shore for that reason. When we get down to the first island I notice a very large school of menhaden (also known as poghaden or pogies). It is a sardine type fish that filter feeds in large schools. They have a forked tail and often hang out right near the surface. I usually spot them in groups of 30 to 50, guessing by the tail fins sticking up out of the water. But, this school is as long as the island and half as wide as the river. We head across and paddle through the school. As the canoe approaches they dive or move out of the way splashing the surface. It looks a bit like a piranha scene in a B-movie. We both agree that it is exciting to be surrounded by so much life.
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| Menhaden tail fins |
Anyway, as we paddle down the east shore we can see that the school is much longer than the island. In fact, it runs almost to our take out point, which means this school of menhaden was over 1-1/3 miles long!
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