Extra Credit

Menunketesuck - It is almost like I get extra credit just for paddling in a river with such a name.

It is the last day of a holiday weekend and the roads are busy with unhappy people who insist on hurrying from one place to another and back again.  I keep my travels short.

It is still cool when I set out from the usual place. The tide is high, although not so high as to flood the salt hay - the short version of spartina that grows in high salt marshes.  Turning the first bend, a Little Blue Heron comes flying straight up the river and lands in the shade on the right bank. At the next bend, there is a Great Egret out in the spartina 30 yards to the left.  A moment later, a Snowy Egret followed by a Glossy Ibis flies up the river and past me.  If I was a bird list check-off person, I would have done quite well in just a quarter mile.

There is a pleasant wind, which will be appreciated as the day warms. Except for the first four birds, it is rather bird quiet.

As I near Opera Singer Point, I hear the raspy whistle of a Bald Eagle.  Eagles often perch in a tree over the opera singer's abandoned house.  The Eagle comes out from the trees and crosses the marsh.  It is an immature without any white feathers. A few Blackbirds and an Osprey fly up to harass it - all have chicks in their nests at this time of year.

I head up the east fork and return seeing only one Great Egret, but enjoying the meandering trip.  On the way out, several Glossy Ibises fly past heading up the main branch of the river. A second Eagle, this one mature, comes in and circles over the marsh before returning to the trees on the east side.

Glossy Ibis and Great Egret

 

Mature Little Blue Heron

Then, I head down to the railroad bridge, turn and head up and into the west fork. I spot two more mature Little Blue Herons, and several Willets.  With that, I head back out.