From Bear House Hill Road

I set out from Bear House Hill Road. I especially like putting the canoe in here. For one, it is is not an official launch site, just convenient river bank next to an old unused bridge. Secondly, it is a historical spot in that it is the old stage coach ford, the first shallow and narrow place to easily cross the East River. It's four miles from here to Long Island Sound and until a combination of landfill and bridges was doable, this was the way across. I can't begin to imagine who might have crossed here.

The morning is cloudy with a ceiling of no more than a couple hundred feet. It is clearly a marine layer and it should burn off as the day goes on. Although it messes with any photography, it is ideal for canoeing - cool and comfortable. There is hardly any wind. The tide is almost peaking.

I've been paddling here less than in the past, taking almost a whole year off as I explored other areas. Place names official and self-created run through my head as I descend - Pocket Knife Bend (mine), the Gravel Flats (mine), the Goff house (not mine), the smallpox cemetery (not mine), the Parmalee sawmill dam (that belongs to Parmalee). At the farm, someone is putting a new roof on the silo that is attached to the old barn. A Great Egret takes off, a Redwing Blackbird harasses it for about 15 yards. I can almost hear the Blackbird, "and stay away!" By the Parmalee dam, a Red Tail Hawk comes in chased by a Blackbird. The Hawk flushes an Osprey, which flushes a second Osprey. This is what counts for pandemonium today. Then, under Clapboard Hill Road (not mine), into the upper marsh (logical) and the Big Bends (mine). Five Snowy Egrets are working a panne that lies inside the lowest of the Big Bends. This is also where I start to hear Willets.

Black Bellied Plovers

Once beneath the railroad bridge, I take the side route into Bailey Creek, and ascend the creek to where it suddenly disappears. I turn around and descend the creek. Near where the Neck River comes in, I spot a half dozen Black Bellied Plovers - they're the only ones that I see. The Osprey in this area are quite active right now. The sun has burned through the clouds and it is now a sunny day.

There are several docks along the Neck River just before it joins the East River. Osprey have commandeered two of the docks as nesting spots. The first nest is a pile of branches about 3 feet tall.

I turn up the East River. The big oyster boat that has the allotment on the East River is just finishing. It comes in here once or twice a year. It's leaving with a small dump truck worth of oysters on the deck.