Science Day

Eventually, I end up at the Salmon River.  I made an effort to get into a middle section of the Hammonasset but the only possible access required rock climbing with a canoe on my shoulders. Then, the main road to the Salmon was being cleared of a landslide from the recent storm.  As they say, opportunity is just a problem in disguise.

Pickerelweed close up

It's quiet and calm...really calm, like abandoned calm.  The Connecticut River is high, freshet is the term used around here. It's about 2 feet above normal, an opportunity to go into the swamps that boarder the cove.

I spot six Osprey.  They are all adults and anything resembling a nest is rather ramshackle.  I windstorm came through about three years ago and blew most of the Opsrey nests out of the trees, a fatal event for the chicks.  The adults built new nests right away but in different locations.  I expected them to enlarge them the next year and to start breeding.  Their efforts were somewhat half-ass.  This year, none of the nests are in any condition to hold eggs.  It's hard to say exactly what's going on other than that storm event had more effect than I would imagine.  

Beaver dam

My first stop is to check on a beaver dam that I spotted not long ago.  This dam is unique in my experience.  All other dams that I've seen are on flowage - they hold back a small creek or river to flood nearby land and form a pond.  This one is in the swamp (true swamps have trees) that forms a long spit separating the Connecticut from the bottom of Salmon Cove.  There is no defined waterway or current.  This dam was built to catch and hold high water events.  It's particularly interesting because they didn't have running water to direct their efforts, they just built a dam - long term thinking, especially if you think about how long this dam has to be to do any good.  I paddle up the obvious beaver swim channel, the top of the dam is just an inch or two above the current high water level. It's an easy crossing into the "pond".  I crunch through some dead brush that looks suspiciously like a winter food stash.  I get about a hundred feet before having to turn back.  Great beaver habitat, poor canoe habitat.  As I paddle back I see the well camouflaged lodge right next to the winter food stash and about 25 feet in from the dam.  I follow the dam south about a hundred feet kind of admiring the muddy manufactured shoreline.  I go back and cross the dam and paddle out through a rich bloom of arrow arum - an large arrow shaped leaf with a purple bottle brush flower...the bumble bees are happy.  Then it occurs to me that the muddy top of that dam was brand new - no plants growing in it.  The beaver raised the dam to match the most recent freshet levels.

Well camouflaged lodge

The mud is the raised top of the dam

I paddle a quarter mile along shore and tuck into the next swim channel.  There is a dam and lodge here as well and I suspect that this section of the dam connects with the previous.  Confirming that has to wait for autumn when the brush dies back.

The science done, I turn up the river.  There is almost no wind.  The clouds are almost dramatic - overcast with lots of different shades of gray, nothing that is too threatening.  I set my goal for the Leesville Dam.  I flush a Great Blue Heron now and then, but even the wildlife is calm.

It's a big word for me, but this is tranquil. 

The water is backed up to the dam and there is just a little current to contend with before eating my lunch and paddling back out.

As I paddle the south shore of the cove, I get surprised by an immature Bald Eagle.  It is 20 feet straight overhead when it leaves its perch...big bird.  There is a second immature on the last stretch to the take out.