Basketball Jones

It is a great day with a light southeast wind and clear skies. I put in under the highway bridge. It is just after low tide and there is a down river current, which my very well be the natural river flow. It is not much of a current.

I pass a mix of Egrets as I get to the top of the marsh, and then I head through Nell's channel and out into the mouth of the river, deciding to paddle to the end of the breakwater. This will be enough time for the marsh to begin filling. Heading out, only the main channels of the marsh will have enough water to float a canoe, and except for Nell's channel, most of those will dead end. I retrieve two basketballs as I paddle out.

At Milford Point, there are twenty Swans. One pair has a cygnet. They are staying off to the edge of the flock. Swans with cygnets stay isolated until the young ones are about adult sized. It looks like this is time for the parental units to introduce their young to the flock. There is also a flock of Canada Geese - maybe thirty. They flush and head out to the breakwater. On the bar before the main breakwater, I spot eight Oyster Catchers, and a lot of Gulls.

Plovers

The breakwater smells like a dirty latrine. I'm trying to figure the reason for this, when a 75 strong flock of Cormorants take off from the breakwater.  Like, duh.  I spot five Plovers in a group on top of the breakwater.

Oyster Catcher

At the end of the breakwater, I find a half dozen fishing boats. I suppose they're going for striped bass, but I just turn and leave them to it. The tide is coming back in and a little current coasts me over a large bar coated with oysters. This river is the source for 40% of all oyster seed in Long Island Sound. I try to keep a foot or two of water under me when I'm out here - oysters beat the heck out of paddles and canoe bottoms.

Back in the marsh, I have just enough water to take the main channels counter clockwise around the perimeter. I flush about two dozen Night Herons - almost all juveniles. They are well spaced out, still feeding from the silt as the tide comes in. I spot a Harrier working the area near the top of Nell's Island, and flush a Great Blue Heron. 

With that, I reenter the river and ride a mild upstream flood current back to my put-in.