Low Tide in the Wheeler

I put in under the highway for a short trip into the Wheeler marsh.  The tide is very low still, even though the it has been rising for almost 2 hours.  It is a sunny day, about 60F and warming.  The wind is 10mph out of the south, which is a quartering headwind.  He feels stronger than it actually is. Of course, I am also paddling against the flood current, so it is a crawl down to the marsh.

I head into Nell's Channel, which always has enough water to paddle no matter the tide.  I find a brown glass beer bottle protruding from the bank and collect it - specimen 26. It is 15 inches deep. 

Specimen 26 - brown glass Owens-Illinois beer bottle 15 inches deep

Nell's Island does a fine job of blanking out the wind and it is an easy paddle down the channel.  Osprey are up in the air fishing and there are some Yellow Legs along the shore.  Halfway down Nell's Island, I start hearing and seeing Willets.  There is a good number of them around given the noise that they are making.  There are a dozen or so Brants, and I get overflown by a flock of Cormorants who have a couple Canada Geese joining them, just to put confusing bird calls with the wrong birds. 

Brants

I collect another bottle from the bank - an Owens-Illinois condiment? bottle.  It is 18 inches deep and right next to a strip of rubber seal.  I collect some of the seal as well.

Specimen 27 Owens-Illinois condiment bottle

I try to go east through the marsh, but the water level is still too low and I backtrack to Nell's Channel. From there, I head back out following the river-left bank.

Salmon River Lodge Check

I have a brief talk with a bird watcher who is eyeing the nearest Osprey nest, which is not much more than a 150 yards away, on the tip of Haddam Neck. He thinks that the hatchlings will be showing their heads in the next couple of days.  I don't say anything, but I figure they won't hatch for another week, and they rarely show their heads for a few more weeks. The Osprey started returning to their nests early this month, and it usually takes about 4 weeks for hatching. Of course, Eagles, Osprey, Hawks and other such birds start nesting early as the young birds have a lot of growing to get near adult size and be able to fly before they can leave the nest. 

It is a sunny and warm day with a fairly stiff wind out of the north. I head across the channel to the tip of Haddam Neck and follow the shoreline closely. The Neck has very little in the way of dry land.  It is mostly swamp, which is defined as marshland with trees. There are two very large beaver lodges, both of which can be seen from water. These lodges are particularly interesting as the colonies have built dams around the lodges with the purpose of capturing water from very high tides or high river levels - there are not any streams running through the Neck.

The Big Lodge Dam with the new second lodge in the background. 
The Big Lodge is out of the photo to the left

 
The Big Lodge is in good condition and the associated dam is looking very solid, better than I've ever seen it.  The water level behind the dam is 20 inches higher than cove level.  There is a new second lodge just 15 yards from the Big Lodge.  I don't know how this works as beaver are normally territorial and lodges usually have more space between them.  

The "haystack" pile is the abandoned 2nd Big Lodge.
Broken Dam in the foreground

The second big lodge, which is in the outside corner of the cove, is abandoned.  Although still standing at full height, it is a mess and the dam is broken.

The Dibble Creek Lodge

I head next to the Dibble Creek Dam, about another 200 yards in.  Dibble Creek drains out of a ravine in the no trespassing National Wildlife Refuge. There is an archaeological site in there that was a hunting camp from a few thousand years ago - atlatl people.  The dam is in a little bay below where the creek tumbles down in a short waterfall.  I think it is an old and well built dam as it has saplings growing from the actual dam. Today, all of the saplings have been gnawed off, but I have been here when it looks more like a growing fence.  I find a lodge on the west end of the dam, upstream of the dam, of course.  I wondered before where the lodge was and I'm surprised how close it is, but maybe it was hidden by cattails and shrubs when I was last here.

I head up the cove against the wind.  I flush a few Wood Ducks and spot a Green Heron a few yards in from the water.  When I get to the top of the cove I head direct up the Salmon River.  Spot a mature Bald Eagle and a couple of Osprey that are busy fishing. Up in the river, there are a dozen or so Common Mergansers well scattered.  

I turn back from the Leesville Dam, which has a good flow of water coming over it.  The water is high enough that all of the boulders below the dam are submerged. I head back following the main channel. Back at the cove, I head over to the Moodus and ascend up to Johnsonville without any trouble. I find one lodge as I head out plus the expected beaver sign.

The Moodus Lodge, mostly hidden by brush on the right

The wind has mellowed, but it is still out of the north. It is an easy paddle down the cove.

Great Swamp Rendevous

I meet Cl and Ch at the Old Doansburg put-in.  It's not my favorite place to start, but it makes sense as we can meet up with another paddler at Green Chimneys, which is about an hour upstream.  This lower section of the Great Swamp is true swamp - swamps have trees, and this section definitely has trees. The river meanders tightly and we have three dead falls to get over or around.

It i a warm day with a steady sprinkle that barely pauses.  There is a light inconsequential wind out of the south and the predicted gusty weather never arrives. 

We meet J at Green Chimneys and continue upstream.  This is the best part of the swamp in my opinion. It is a perfect example of a beaver built marsh.  Cl has to head out to coach a soccer game, and Ch goes with her.  It's best to be paired up in that lower section with the log crossings.  J and I continue on.

Beaver sign comes often and regular, and I point out the scent mounds, and feed stick piles, collecting a handful of the bare sticks for J to take to his kids.  We spot a pair of immature Bald Eagles, several Great Blue Herons and dozens of Red Wing Blackbirds. The Blackbirds are really active today and there are more than I remember seeing.  Just short of the big deadfalls, J spots three muskrats. 

On the way out J spots what he thinks is a beaver.  But, it has weirdly swum into a bunch of flooded shrubs, so I go take a closer look.  It's a snapping turtle.

We part ways at Green Chimneys and I continue down.  Deciding to do a very short portage across a meander to avoid a deadfall, I read the bank wrong and take a swim off of a cut bank.  It's always surprising when your floating against the shore  to put a foot down and not find bottom.  

It's not much a photo day however, preferring to leave the camera in its box while it rains.

Duck Day

It is a fine day with a 10 mph wind out of the east.  I put in under the highway bridge about 2 hours past high tide and already the current is zipping downstream.  It is a fast paddle down to the marsh, the shoreline passing by at a rate that I am not used to.

Surf Scoter

I spot a male Surf Scoter in mid-river about halfway down to the marsh.  This is an unusual sighting even though they winter in the salt water in this area. I don't remember ever seeing one in the river.

I head into the Nell's Island maze, but somewhere in there miss a key turn.  The tide has just dropped enough that I can't cheat by pushing through spartina, and I get ejected out into the main river via the western entrance.  I pass about a 150 Brants as I head down the edge of the island, and I spot one Willet. I flush one Yellow Crowned Night Heron, the only Night Heron that I will see.

A large flock of Cormorants flies over.  From a distance, they look like Canada Geese that can't quite hold there V-formation. I will see a second flock of Cormorants before I head out.

At the bottom of Nell's Island, I head back into the center of the marsh, fighting a surprisingly strong current as the marsh drains. There are a lot of Yellow Legs. 

I get lost on the way to the Central Phragmites Patch and come out on the east channel. I head back in, but the tide is too low to get to the Patch.

But, this is for sure, Duck day.  There are hundreds of them and most of the ones that I see are in the air.  It is a good many more than winter here.  But, the only duck photo that I manage to get is the Surf Scoter.  All of the others are twitchy - flushing from 75 or 100 yards away, often before I spot them, and always before I can get my camera ready.  Other than some Mallards and Black Ducks, I don't get a close enough look at any of them to identify.  

It is most heartening to see so much activity.

Terrapin Station

S wanted to see some Willets in the East River, but with a late start, the return would be against the current and predicted wind, and we would probably have to wade the Gravel Flats.  And that sounded like a lot for her first trip in five months.  

We put in on the Menunketusuck. It is a perfect river for a 2 hour trip and aside fro the usual birds seen in the salt marshes, there is always a good chance of seeing Little Blue Herons and Glossy Ibises. But, we start by seeing a pair of fox at the first bend. They were walking the river bank and took cover in some shrubs as we approached.  

In no time, we spot start spotting Yellow Legs - both Lesser and Greater.  They are scattered throughout the marsh and it will be a rare moment when we cannot look around and see one.  

The tiny Terrapin

We head back into the west arm because on my last trip there was a flock of Ibises in there.  We see two Glossy Ibises, but only from a distance as they fly in and land.  The tide is too low for us to see across the surface of the marsh, so there may be more out there.  What there is, on the river banks, is a lot of terrapins. This is brackish water and terrapins are the only turtle species found in the salt marshes of Connecticut.  We did, however, pass a pair of Willets.  This time of year, the first of the Willets are coming in from the south.  As we head out, we find a tiny little terrapin on the bank.  I thought it might be dead, and it wasn't overly joyed when I touched it the tip of my paddle.  

The slightly upturned bill identifies this as a Greater Yellow Legs

We dropped down to the railroad bridge.  A pair of Osprey circled high overhead for awhile as we headed back.  Then we went halfway up the east arm.  Added a couple Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets.

With that, we head out.

Chipuxet

I set out from the bottom of Worden Pond.  The pond is a shallow and almost circular lake, with it's most noticeable feature, as far as I can tell, is its ability to make a 5 mph wind feel like a 10 mph wind, and a 10 mph wind feel like a 20 mph wind. The pond is just a bit over 4 miles from the ocean, and it is a very flat 4 miles, so the wind comes in directly. On a windy day I avoid this put-in like the plague, but today there is a 8 mph south wind predicted.

It is 1-1/2 miles to the mouth of the Chipuxet.  The mouth is a 30 foot wide opening in a half mile wide wall of shrubs and stunted trees.  It is not as hard to locate as one might think as once you get up close there isn't anything that looks like an opening other than the river. A Great Blue Heron is standing guard near the entrance.

The Chipuxet is actually the source of the Pawcatuck River, but by the oddity of colonial place names it has a different name.

I haven't been here since last fall, and even in that short time, I have forgotten how spectacular this marsh is.   Grasses are starting to come out and some of the trees and shrubs have buds on them. The lower section is narrow and twisty, often less than a canoe length in width.  The first beaver dam comes in just a hundred yards. It is low and I cross it without getting out of the canoe.  The second dam is about a 1/4 mile in.  It is a foot high and I do have to get out and stand on the dam while pulling the canoe over. Not far away is the associated lodge. The advantage of that dam is that the river is now a foot deeper and several feet wider.  I will cross 3 more dams, but they are all low and can be crossed easily.

I flush a Harrier. On the way out, I will flush it again from this same spot, so it stands to reason that it might have a kill.  I will aslo count about 2 dozen Wood Ducks, 3 Great Blue Herons, several Mallards, and several Canada Geese. Turtles are everywhere, especially painted turtles, but i do spot 3 snapping turtles, one of which is manhole cover sized.

Snapping Turtle

I continue all the way up to the beaver dam that holds back 100 Acre Pond. It's 24-30 inches high.  I turn back from here. The wind has been coming up, and I know that it will be in my face while crossing Worden Pond. 

 True to reputation, the pond feels windier than it should.  I skirt the east shore where there is some protection from the headwind.

Total of about 11 miles.

 

Waiting for Willets

The tide is still quite low and the way down from Foote Bridge to the bottom of the Gravel Flats is a lot of drifting with only an occasional and subtle use of the paddle to keep the canoe in the deepest water, all 5 or 6 inches of it. If I was a left-lane kind of guy, you know, the dudes driving in the left lane who always think that someone else is in their way, I'd probably just get out and wade it, which would be faster. But, I am not a left-lane guy, stating the obvious as I spend so much time paddling a 3 mile per hour boat. It is entertaining to fit 16 feet of canoe through a series of boulders with just an inch to spare, without touching rock.

It is in the 60's and sunny.

1 Great Egret, 1 Snowy Egret, 2 circling Osprey, several Yellow Legs, a Kingfisher, and a few Ducks before reaching the Clapboard Hill Bridge.

In the middle marsh, more Yellow Legs, some non-migratory Canada Geese, and, at the lowest of the Big Bends, 2 adolescent Bald Eagles, their heads and tails starting to turn white, but still with lots of buff blotches on their bodies. 

The First Willet

Below the railroad bridge, in the lower marsh, I spot a pair of Willets not long after the river turns away from the rail line.  These are my first Willets of the spring. By the confluence with the Neck Rvier, I have a total of 8 Willets.  These are the vangaurd and many more will arrive in the next week. It will get quite active as the Willets pick out nesting sites and start mating. Their mating dance is one of the easiest to observe as they perform it right at the water's edge. It is just a matter of being here during that week or so. 

Mosquito control drainage trench - before 1934

Willets nest on the ground here in the marsh.  Most Willets nest in the great plains - Nebraska, Wyoming and eastern Montana.  But, to a Willet, a high salt marsh is not too different than prairie grassland.  Ground nesters, they need open views and a safe distance from trees and shrubs that would be cover for predators.  They are sentinel birds, in that they will fly up and hassle predatory birds and animals all the while calling out an alarm.  Ocean rise due to climate change will probably make this are unusable for nesting in the not too distant future.  By 2050, the ocean level is expected to rise a foot and a half, and while the nesting surfaces of the marsh currently flood a couple times each month, an extra six inches of water will probably making nesting impossible. I don't think that the marsh will accumulate soil fast enough to keep up with the ocean rise.

Not the first Willet

I turn up the Neck and then Bailey Creek.  Spot 8 more Willets.  The water is still low enough to see some of the old corduroy road.  

Corduroy Road 

I head into the Sneak, even though the water is still pretty low.  I run out of water about a hundred yards in.The Sneak floods from top and bottom as the tide comes in, I sit for awhile, procrastinating over my three options. I could turn back, but the wind has come up and I don't feel like paddling against the wind and the current to get back to the East River. I could wait for the tide, but as I sit and watch water slowly, slowly come in, I figure an hour before I can float through. Option three - portage - wins. The hardest part is getting up onto the flat and fairly firm spartina - the banks are goo.  I grab the bow line and carefully step the hummocks up to the spartina level.  It is as firm as a wet lawn, having a dense matrix of several seasons of roots knitting it together.  Since there are no rocks, I don't have to shoulder the canoe.  I simply drag it across the six inch tall grass.  It's about a hundred yards to get back to the channel.  

The Sneak at lower than mid-tide

The return is easy with current and wind behind me.

Mattebasset Beaver Check

I head up to the Salmon River, but the wind is up by the time I arrive.  It is not so bad that I could not canoe it, but it would be a lot of work, particularly on the way out.  The bottom of the Salmon River is a mile of open cove connected to a fairly wide section of the Connecticut River. So, I divert to the Mattebasset River, which is often my go-to on windy days.

My last trip in here was three weeks ago, when the Connecticut River was a little over 10 feet (Hartford USGS gauge) on it's way down from a peak of 18 feet just a few days earlier.  The Mattebasset backs up when the Connecticut is high. Today, the gauge is at about 6-1/2 feet, which is the high end of normal.

This is a good day to check on the beaver, which were flooded out of their lodges by that last flood. 10 feet on the gauge is just about where the living space of the lodges flood.  18 feet means that the water level is 5 to 6 feet over the top of the lodges.   

I start by heading upstream.  I spot a few Mallards and one Great Blue Heron.  It is a quiet bird day.  I turn back just short of the railroad trestle.  The water here is fast and shallow and I would have to wade to make headway.  The upstream trestle requires a short portage, and then a short span, it goes shallow and fast again.  I pass outrigger-guy as I head back.  He's probably doing laps, so it might not be a good wildlife day.

Point Lodge - one of the entrance tunnels is directly below the canoe

The old bank burrow is looking dilapidated.  I slow down at this point to watch for beaver sign.  Before the flood, the quarter mile from here to the Point Lodge was non-stop beaver sign; scent mounds, recent gnaws and peals every few yards. Superficially, Point Lodge looks okay.  But, only on the surface.  There is not a single scent mound, no leftover peal sticks, no recent drags, and no new tree gnawings anywhere in the area.  While the lodge is still conical, no new branches or mud have been added.  I find the back door entry tunnel, and it too looks unused with loose silt partially filling the submerged trench. I think the colony has moved on.  I wrote about this in my entry for my last trip, that this river appears to be ideal beaver habitat, but it is not.  With one or two big floods each year, and one of them happening in the spring when newborn kits are in the lodge, this is at best a temporary stop for beaver.

I continue on to check on the bank burrow near the Tepee Lodge ruins.  It, more or less, looks like the Point Lodge - it hasn't collapsed and looks okay, but there is no fresh sign in the area.

Calm Day in the East River

It is a fairly calm and mostly sunny day, and putting in at Foote Bridge and 10 AM, it is already nearly 60F. The tide is coming in with about 2-1/2 hours until peak.  

Looking upstream at Foote Bridge

The upper end, in the forest, is noticeably calm. I sight no birds until just above Clapboard Hill Bridge, where I spot a Great Egret and an Osprey. The bridge is also the first point where I notice any current.

Just a hundred yards below the bridge, a large bird is perched high in tree. It is silhouette with the bright sky behind it, but I guess Bald Eagle as it seems too large for an Osprey, and the wrong shape for a Heron.  It flushes as I near, crossing the river and confirming my guess, a mature Bald Eagle.

It is a peaceful paddle with just a small wind out of the south. I decide to follow the East River down and return through Bailey Creek and the Sneak.  In the bend above the confluence, I spot a Red Throated Loon. Usually, Loons dive and swim off, but this one flies away.  Fortunately, I get a photo to confirm my sighting. 

I turn up the Neck River. The dock Osprey nest is under renovation by the mated pair.  It looks to be about 300 lbs of nest at this point.  There are quite a few Lesser Yellow Legs on the Neck River and Bailey Creek shoreline. I pass through the Sneak with ease, as the tide is at peak.

Green Winged Teal in one of the Big Bends pannes

Coming back up to the Big Bends, the tide is high enough that I can peek over the spartina and see one f the pannes.  Besides the expected Yellow Legs, there are several Green Winged Teal.  80 or 90 years ago, the government trenched the hell out of the entire marsh in order to drain the pannes and reduce mosquito habitat. The Green Winged Teal, which I rarely see in the main river, are kind of a marker for how backwards that idea was. Eliminating mosquito habitat also eliminated some perfect bird habitat.

 

Little Blue Heron and Glossy Ibis Time

It is not yet 40F with a 10 mph wind that puts just a bit of sting on bare skin. High tide was a half hour ago. The sky is full sun.

I spot a couple of Osprey right off.  Coming down from the top of the marsh, I flush about a dozen Mallards and spot one Great Egret. As I near Opera Singer Point, I start hearing and spotting Yellow Legs at the water's edge.

The Menunketesuck marsh is shaped like an abstract plus sign with east and west arms that are meandering dead ends. It is a high salt marsh that only floods a couple times each month during the highest tides. Because of this, the dominant plant is the short spartina - spartina patens aka salt hay. If the tide is mid level or higher, one can see a long distance.

Greater Yellow Legs and a Lesser Yellow Legs

I first head up the east arm, which meanders while gradually getting closed in by the surrounding forest. I get my first ever sighting of a Lesser Yellow Legs next to a Greater Yellow Legs. Side by side, the difference is more than obvious. I find a few Black Ducks, two Great Egrets and two Snowy Egrets. Because of local nesting of Little Blue Herons, you have to get a good look at Snowys as they are similar in size and appearance to the juvenile Herons. The yellow feet of the Snowy Egrets is the for-sure tell. 

Snowy Egret

As I get back to the main river, I'm thinking about how I will write in my journal that it is a rather thin bird day. Then a flock of seven dark birds rises up way over on the far end of the west arm - a short half-mile away. Ducks maybe?  Then they wheel and circle tightly, all in formation.  That's how Glossy Ibises fly (Ducks usually look like they are going somewhere). As I enter the west arm, two Ibises fly towards me and land, but they aren't Ibises. With the bright sky, all dark birds are just dark birds.  They flush as I maneuver in the wind to get a photo - it's a pair of mature Little Blue Herons. 

Glossy Ibises

I paddle down to the end of the west arm.  If there are more Ibises or Little Blue Herons, they are down low where I can't see them.  I head back out.

Paddling back up the main river, against the stiff wind, two more Little Blue Herons overtake me.  There is a panne on river-right, maybe a hundred yards off of the river, and as the tide is dropping, once they land, I can't see them. Some Yellow Legs fly in and also disappear from view.

I get one more Great Egret sighting as I finish up.  It was a pretty good bird day.

Great Swamp Below Patterson

It is a little cool with a thin sprinkle coming down as I set out from Green Chimneys. The water is high - just a little out of the banks, and there is more current than normal, something less than a 2:1 flow.  2:1 is my own paddling ratio, which makes sense as I almost always do out and back trips, and it means that if I go against the current for 2 hours, it will take 1 hour to return.

The overcast makes this a less than ideal day for photography. 

The two lodges in the first pond look to be in use.  I find a newer and larger lodge at the top of the pond. This new lodge looks large enough to be in use by a breeding pair. 

 

The water is high enough to clear all of the beaver dams without having to step out. I spot a male Bufflehead. That species winters near Long Island Sound and this is the first time that I have seen one in the Great Swamp and I assume that it might be migrating north. I've never been in here during early April, so if my migration guess is accurate, that would explain not seeing them.

I do spot two Great Blue Herons, which were notably absent from my trip here a few days back. I also spot an Osprey.  Osprey are occasional sightings for me in this stretch of river. Otherwise, some Black Ducks, Mallards, and Wood ducks, although not as many Woodies as I saw on April 2. I spot Canada Geese several times.

With the water up, I clear a good many deadfalls that would be much more of a bother. The big deadfall at the top of the forest section is still there. It requires a short portage, which is more fun than in the past because the beaver have been eating saplings and left lots of punji sticks on the muddy path. A chubby beaver slips off the bank. I pull up waiting for it to come up and eyeball me, but it is gone. I also spot a some type of weasel and one muskrat.

I contemplate my turn-around point as after two straight hours of paddling against the current it is starting to feel like work - at least it is good work. I thought I might turn at Pine Island, but continue the rest of the way up to Patterson, just because the conditions are so good.  

Coming back I pass close to a Mute Swan.  The mate is about a 100 yards away, off in the marsh. The lack of aggression suggests that the hormones aren't flowing, yet.

The return is faster for sure, in places. It is a 13 mile round trip taking 4-1/2 hours. The return, with the current, is only a 1/2 hour quicker. I do not see a single person the entire time.

 

Great Swamp Above Patterson

I set out into the Great Swamp from the Patterson put-in. It is calm and partly sunny, maybe 40F, and the water is high enough to just barely creep out from the river channel.  It is definitely not high enough to cut any of the many meanders.

Once or twice a year, when the water is high, I will go upstream to see how far I can get. It is a beating ones head against a wall exercise, as I've never gotten to the first bridge, which is something like a half mile. The typical problem is that there are always some channel spanning deadfalls that are too problematic to bother with, especially when a return trip is part of the plan. 

Upstream of the 311 Bridge

So, I head upstream into the usual twists and turns, and wonder of wonders, I make it to the first bridge. The river opens up some at that point, but only for  a short stretch. It is nice to be in new water that I've never seen before.  I am regularly flushing Mallards, Black Ducks and Wood Ducks....and more Wood Ducks.  This beaver built environment is ideal for Wood Ducks, and by the end of the trip, I will have seen about a hundred of them.This reach of the river is much more of a tangle than any place in the river below Patterson.  The river often splits into two or three narrow channels and I have a few easy step-overs and one well built beaver dam that is about 18 inches high.
 

After that, is a good beaver pond.  I squeeze under a railroad bridge and continue a short distance.  At the top of the pond, the river resembles a flooded meadow with a handful of shallow channels With a few more inches of water, I'd keep going, but what I see is a mix of wading and log crawling.  I turn back.

New Lodge

The distance was not much, if one looked at a map. As the crow flies, it was barely a half mile, but that half mile was a hundred tight turns and narrow gaps to slip through.  The round trip took over two hours.  I continue on past the put-in into river that I know well.  I usually think of this first mile as one of tight meanders, but after that first two hours, I feel like I am paddling the Mississippi. All of the deadfalls and beaver dams are submerged and it is an easy paddle. I continue to flush Wood Ducks and an occasional few Mallards or Black Ducks. One thing I note is that I do not see a single Great Blue Heron. This freezes over in most winters, so they migrate out, and haven't returned, yet. 

I paddle down as far as the hunter's canoe stash, just a bit downriver from Cult Tower Hill. Then, I turn and head back, taking out after just under four hours of paddling.