After the Storm

July 9
Yesterday, the remnants of a hurricane twirled through the area dropping five inches of rain in 24 hours. But today the forecast was for light north winds, moderate temperatures and sun.

We put in near the bottom of the big river with a plan to explore some of the tributaries in the area.  M had requested that I take us to someplace with birds and it just happens that right across the channel from the launch is Great Island, which has about 30 Osprey nest platforms.  Great Island is pretty much, Osprey City. At this time of nesting season, the chicks are big enough to poke their heads up about of the nest and look around.  And at any time there are always several adults airborne within sight. Soon the chicks will be standing on the nest in clear sight and eventually starting to work their wings in preparation for first flight.

With a rising tide I steered us up the Blackhall River.  It's a small river with several shallows that keep all but the smallest motorboats out.  We spot a few Willets.  A Great Egret with a couple Snowy Egrets standing close together helps us to spot an adult Little Blue Heron that is mixed in with them. Adult Little Blue Herons are Egret-sized and blueish gray.  The first year Little Blues are white and you have to check bill and leg colors to differentiate them from the Egrets.

We paddle the full length of the Blackhall.  As we go it closes in on us and becomes more intimate, a bit more wilder, a lot less visited.  We push into the end of the marsh at its head until we are in sight of an impassable culvert.  It is the first time that I've seen a noticable current up this high, a product of yesterday's rainfall.  The extra effort to maneuver and push through some brush is driven by a lot of flowering plants - wild rose, pickerel weed and honeysuckle.  The cattails and arrow arum are also doing well.  The stillness of the high cattail marsh is holding the scent of all these flowers.
Unlike much of the country, we've been having a good growing season.  As we head back out we explore a few side channels.  It's a fine day to be poking around.

Back at the big river we turn upstream.  I expected to have a slack tide when we got back to the big river, which would help us make good distance and then, as the tide turns, carry us back to our put-in with the north wind at our back.  Instead we find a pretty stiff current coming at us.  I have to do some figuring on this phenomena, but it can only be the runoff from yesterday.  I check the river gauge later and confirm that upstream the river is running five feet higher than normal.  It's not a flood, but it is a lot of water and it just overpowered the usual reversal of current that the tide produces.   We work our way up to the Watch Rocks by hugging the shore and tucking into eddies.  Then we head into the short Duck River. It looks familiar to M, but I know she hasn't been here before because I've only paddled up here 2 or 3 times myself.  With that, we head back out and ride the current down to the put-in.