I'm back

It's been a long stretch out of the canoe. The annual covid dose was followed by a good solid week of winter weather that would have been imprudent to deal with. Paddling alone always means carrying a pocketful of chickenshit, but when paddling alone in the winter I fill up both pockets.

It is high tide with a light east wind and a temperature of 38F. Although there is a threat of rain, right now it wouldn't be more than a few drips. That might change later this afternoon.

I put in at the Wheeler launch, right on the east side of the marsh. Today, I skip the mile of river paddling from the high bridge access. The spartina is still standing tall. The inch of snow with freezing rain wasn't enough to knock the grass down. I head out across, weaving through the thinner stands of spartina, heading for Nell's channel. There is some ice, but it is small patches in protected nooks. The wind and warming has broken up the rest of it.

Canada Geese are going to be the dominant bird today. It is that clear right away. At first, it is flocks of 15 or 20, taking flight while I am two hundred yards or more away. I'm guessing that Goose hunting season is over, because there are never any Geese in here when the hunters are about. I also flush some Mallard and Black Duck flocks - dozen or two at a time, usually.

I get to Nell's and head upriver bucking a 2:1 current. Flush a Great Blue Heron, which flies only far enough to be comfortable with me, then a Harrier, which flies a line just 10 feet fro the water and no more than a dozen feet high until it gets to the top of the marsh, where my eyes can no longer detect it.

I head over to Beaver Creek. I flush more than 200 Canada Geese from the marsh between the creek and Cat Island. They are so much more skittish than Black Ducks, that I decide these must be migratory Geese. Canada Geese are grouped into migratories and residentials, as many of them have learned to live year around grazing lawns, parks and golf courses. The recent cold weather snap has pushed these down to the coast, which is more where they belong anyway. Quite a few Mallards and Black Ducks up in Beaver Creek.

I come out of Beaver Creek, take my sneak up past the central phragmites patch, and call it a day.