Weather

Note: there is a photo upload problem as I write this. I'll come back and add later.

A hurricane a thousand miles south of here has made for a week of grim weather (although not as grim as being in the hurricane, of course) with the wind blowing between 20 and 30 mph along with frequent heavy rain storms. Several days, we had bowling alley thunder. Mom used to tell us that thunder was caused by dwarfs bowling in the clouds, although I remember midwestern thunder as sounding only like the ball striking the pins. Here in the northeast, we get true bowling alley thunder. You can hear it start miles off and over to one side. It'll go on for ten seconds, traveling across the sky and finishing miles away from where it started. It wasn't weather to be outdoors in for any length of time.

Morning came with sun and predicted calm air and warm temperatures.

I put in at the North Cove in Essex. High tide, head out through the gap and turn upriver following the shore closely. I push a Great Egret in short hops for the next half hour. Across from Brockway Island, the Egret flushes a Great Blue Heron before circling back. I spot one Kingfisher, and a Harrier that was chasing a songbird. The wind is coming downriver stronger than I expected, but the west shore gives some shelter. Three flocks of Canada Geese fly over - 30 to 50 in each flock. I never get tired of hearing their calls. Flush some more Great Blue Herons, spot one Eagle and a late-to-migrate Osprey (there's usually  one of those around). 

 

I pass over many schools of menhaden. The come-back of that herring type fish has been remarkable. Ten years ago it would be only a few times each year that I would see a school. Now, it is a rare day in the rivers near the sound when I don't see any. They are a big part of the food chain, feeding predatory fish as well as Osprey, Herons, and Egrets. There have been a few minor sand shark attacks on people's feet over in nearby ocean beaches - one theory is that the sharks are mistaking feet for menhaden.

 

Menhaden

The bend in the river at the bottom of Selden Island puts me head on into the wind and a fairly strong current. Rather than buck that, I cross over to the smaller and more protected water behind the island. I explore one the dead ends, one that used to have a beaver population in it. I pause to write at the top of the channel surrounded by wild rice and cattails. There is a flush of small birds behind me. I lookup and scan around, and find a Harrier settling into a nearby tree. Unfortunately, it doesn't stay long enough for a photo. 

 

Question: Do wild rice grains float or sink?  Answer: both 
The unhusked grain has a long thread on one end that probably acts like a streamer. When I drop one from a few feet, it goes straight into the water and sinks to the bottom. I drop some grains from a few inches off the water - these tend to float.  Anyway, traditional wild rice harvesting (from a canoe) allows for some of the  grains to land in the water thus reseeding the crop. And since some of the grains float, the plant can colonize new area.

I head back following the east shore. Big schools of menhaden below Selden. Five more Bald Eagles - all juveniles. The Great Blue Heron count (I'm not actually counting) goes over twenty. More Kingfishers. One of those Bald Eagles takes a half-hearted run at a Cormorant... Cormorant dives and evades.