To Nowhere

The heat will come on this afternoon, but right now the day is a humid haze with just a little coolness left behind by yesterday evening's rain. I put in under the high bridge with the flood tide pushing a good current upriver.

I cross the river beneath the drawbridge and head up to the four islands, Peacock, Carting, Long and Pope's. A Black Crowned Night Heron overtakes me on my left flying low enough that I can see its back and identify it. Before I can get into the narrow channel between Peacock and Carting, I have spot five Yellow Crowned Night Herons. By the sound of things, there are a good number of Marsh Wrens in here.

I come out of that narrow channel and paddle down the east side of Long Island spotting four Willets along the way.

I cross the river again at the draw bridge, then head down to the Wheeler. I go in using one of the inner channels. Most of the way in the channel, I am escorted by one or more Willets. They call out letting all the birds in this area know that I am there - that is one of their jobs. I flush a total of 50 Mallards in this area, and my daily quota of Green Winged Teal, a pair.  

I take one of the eastern inner channels back up. There are no Willets over here, but I see a half dozen Yellow Crowned Night Herons and a few Great Egrets. My daily quota of Green Winged Teal gets doubled as another pair flushes and heads off into Beaver Creek.