I returned to the East River, this time with S in tow. She hasn't been canoeing in several months and she was eager to visit the East River. We put in at the old stage crossing. It is sunny with temperatures heading to about 60F. There is a light upriver breeze and the tide will peak in about an hour and a half.
The forest section has less large birds than on my trip 6 days ago, when I saw 2 Eagles and several Osprey. However, we spot an immature Bald Eagle in the trees a few hundred yards up from the Clapboard Hill Road bridge. We find our first Osprey in a tree just downstream of that bridge.
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| The sneakier side channel off of the Sneak |
Below the Post Road bridge, we start spotting Willets. This is a signal that more Willets have come in during the last few days. On the 20th, my first Willet sighting was about a mile downriver. Below the railroad bridge, we head into the Sneak, then take the smaller sneakier channel to the upper end of Bailey Creek. We spot quite a few Willets. They seem to be in pairs, and they are definitely more perky than the ones I saw the other day. As we join back into Bailey Creek, we find another bunch of Yellow Legs, again feeding in a small panne.
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| Willet |
We head down the creek and up the Sneak. S hasn't paddled recently, and this is long enough for her. The Willet count is probably five times what I saw just 6 days ago. The behavior is different as well. Some of them are engaging in territorial pre-mating activity - chasing and dogfights. The aerial dogfights are particularly fun to watch as the Willets are large enough to see at a distance as well as being fast and maneuverable.
In the Big Bends, we spot eight Great Egrets and two Snowy Egrets all feeding from a panne on the inside of the uppermost bend.
The rest of the trip is easy with the wind at our back. It has been an excellent trip during a spectacular day.
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