In the Big River

 I set out at high tide with a slack current.  It was calm and sunny with temperatures in the forties.  The water surface was old glass.

I managed to find the passage between Carting and Peacock Island, having missed it the last few times.  

Between Peacock and Carting Islands

It doesn't look like much on the downstream end, but it opens up into clear twenty five foot wide channel. By the time I've reached the top of the islands, I've flushed about forty Black Ducks with a few Mallards mixed in.  I also saw a few Kingfishers and in one of the tributary streams, a half dozen Common Mergansers, and a Hawk that I am too lazy to look up in the bird book - I'm not really a birdwatcher.

I'm impressed that the autumn colors have lasted so long.  We didn't get the exploding crayon box colors this year, but seem to have traded it for a long lasting show.

I turn back at the unnamed island just above the dragonfly factory.  The current is still slack and I don't sense any flow until I get back to Fowler Island.  A light headwind starts up, but as the current increases it more than balances the effect.