A One Osprey Day

I head downriver from the old stage ford, putting in above the small bridge and wading until I am past it.  I am tempted to move one or two of the boulders so that the canoe can squeak past on future trips, but they might have been in place for quite some time, so I let them be. It is a dodgy wade as the water is murky and I can't see more than a half inch into the water.  I am surprised that I don't have to do more wading - I expected the water to run thin over the Gravel Flats. While the water was slack at the ford, the tide is already flowing upstream at the Flats - the tidal current will be a bit zippy today.

It is a beautiful day and my first thoughts are a reflection on what a spectacular place I live in.

Pass some Yellow-Legs at the Gravel Flats - the shallows should be good feeding.  A Green Heron is spotted a bit further down, with a Snowy Egret. A Great Blue Heron flies over.  It is quiet and if there is any distant road noise, the crickets have drowned it out.

Below the Clapboard Hill bridge, a single Short Billed Dowitcher.  I did not expect to see one. It is my first photograph of the day.

Short Billed Dowitcher

Below the railroad bridge, I cut across the river and squeeze by two crab fishermen in a skiff to get into the Sneak.  Once in Bailey Creek, I head up all the way to the culvert.  The tide is coming in fast now.  I get out by the culvert and check the far side of the road and see that, at least for a couple hundred yards, the creek might be paddled.  The culvert, by the way, is submerged, even at lower tide levels. 

Entering the Sneak

I head back via the Long Cut, which connects to the Sneak not far from where it joins the East River.  

Back above the Clapboard Hill bridge, I spot my first Osprey of the day.  It seems like there should be more, but then again, I did not go all the way down to the sound, and if they haven't migrated, they might be where there is better fishing.  The Osprey leads me upriver in several short hops, all the way back to the old ford. It has been a one Osprey day... many months since that happened.