Old Territory

This place will always be special to me. After moving to this part of the country, this is the first area that I found that was beaver developed - not just a place where beaver live, but rather an environment reconfigured by many colonies of beaver. What had clearly been a narrow forested river, was now mature beaver habitat with numerous colonies and the dams that they build. Some time before I arrived, the forest floor had been flooded by beaver dams creating marsh and swamp. Many of the lowest trees died as their roots were flooded, but this brought in a wide variety of birds that prefer standing dead wood and/or open marsh land. And the forest survived, just a bit farther back from the river.

I put in from Old Doansburg Lane as the better Green Chimneys landing is open only on weekends. The water seemed to be normal height, seemed midway between high and low. There is a current against me, but it should lay off when I get up to Green Chimneys. In a straight line, the distance is just over a half mile. But, it takes a full half hour to get there as this section of the river doubles back on itself at every turn, and it has a good many turns.

Beaver scent mounds

But, the current doesn't let up as expected. Once I am on more familiar turf, I realize that the water is high and just lapping at the top of its normal banks. This is spring time water level and I can only guess that the all day long rain from yesterday is making the difference. There isn't much river above here, in fact about 10 miles up is a marsh where this river drains south and another river drains north. 

Pickerelweed (purple with big leaves) and the mystery white flower (with the small leaves)

The first beaver dam - at least the first one from my last visit in June, is nowhere to be seen. I'd expect it to be submerged, but it should still be visible as I pass over. If someone removed it, they made substantial work out of it. The associated lodge looks abandoned, so it my have been a state trapping job.

I see a few Great Blue Herons as I go, but the main bird today is the Wood Duck. It is good Woody terrain, and I spot about 30. I hit this area one time during migration and counted over 600 Wood Ducks in one day. There are also quite a few medium sized Hawks, but they never come close enough for me to identify any better than, "Hawk".

Bladderwort flowers

Pickerelweed is still in bloom, but only out in open sunny areas of the marsh. The white flowering plant that I cannot find a name for is everywhere. And, there is a beautiful little yellow flower growing out of an aquatic. It is rather orchid like and turns out to be bladderwort - a carnivorous plant. The underwater part of this plant has a somewhat bottle brush appearance. Little bulbs - the bladders, on the "brush" trap tiny aquatic organisms. So there, I learned something.