Salmon Cove

The day is sunny without the forecast for wind that has been standard for the last few days. It's definitely worth a bit of extra driving to visit a favorite.

I put in at the bottom of Salmon Cove, where it joins the Connecticut River. No one else is in the expansive gravel lot. The water is higher than I'd expected, but still in the normal range. But, I now know that when the Hartford gauge hits 7 feet, there will be some water in the lot.

I head straight across the channel to a small opening in the cedar swamp that separates the cove from the main river. I 'm hoping to get in far enough to view the big beaver lodge from the backside, but the water goes shallow about a 1/4 mile in. I'll need some water in the parking lot to pull that idea off. But, while I'm in there I flush about 50 Canada Geese and maybe a 150 Mallards. The cedar swamp is a pretty good hang out for ducks that don't need a take off run - lots of little small patches of shallow water.I turn around and head back out.

There's a light north wind. It maybe hits 10mph, but it never holds that for long. It is of no concern. There are cirrus clouds and out on the horizon, some high stratus.

Then I head up the cove following the edge of the cedar swamp so I can check out the two big beaver lodges that lie within. The Big Lodge is well fortified for winter. The water level is just an inch below the top of the dam that they built to trap high water. The lodge is a full 6 feet tall. 

I head up further, flushing maybe two hundred Mallards and fifty Canada Geese. It has been a long time since I've seen that many water fowl in the air all at one time. They do not have far to go to find a place to settle as there is marsh all around.

The Duplex Lodge

The Duplex Lodge is in good condition with the divide between the two original structures starting to fill in. I wonder if the living spaces are both in use and connected. It stands 6 feet tall.

At the top of the cove I cross over to the Moodus. There are a couple patches of skim ice the size of a baseball field - 1/4 inch thick at most, but as it is rotting, it is full of bubbles and the canoe slices through it without slowing much. I paddle around it only because the ice chews on the edge of my traditional wood paddles. I find a new beaver cut tree just inside the river mouth - maybe 8-10 inch diameter. Some of the bark has been peeled, but the beaver aren't done with it yet. I'm not sure where the lodge is, but this is farther down than I normally find activity, so there might be a new lodge nearby. I head up to the fast water just below Johnsonville, and then come back out.

I turn up the Salmon River and go as far as Pine Brook, circling the two islands that lie off of that stream. The upper island has a really cool hybrid beaver lodge, something odd that I haven't seen before. There is a well built mud and wood conical lodge on the island, about 2-1/2 feet above the water, well up on the bank. I'm sure this started out as a bank burrow, which is a tunnel dug into the bank with an enlarged living space and with a pile of loose branches covering the vent hole. Our high water events must have flooded the bank burrow, but instead of abandoning the site, the beaver added a second floor by building a conical lodge over the burrow.

Eagle #1

On the way out, I spot a mature Bald Eagle at the bend in the cove. A second Eagle comes in from over my shoulder and they whistle at each other. They cross the channel, one at a time, continue whistling, keeping 50 or 75 yards between. It looks to me more like the beginning of a mating process rather than something territorial. It's just about that time of the year for Eagles.

Eagle #2