Wheeler - Very High Tide

The tide is nearing high as I set out, with maybe an hour of flood to go. It is sunny and 75F with a 5mph wind out of the east.

I head down river to the maze.  At the entrance, I take a quick look around before going in - The first rule of maze club is don't tell anyone about the maze.

Red Wing Blackbirds and Willets are very actively bitching.  It takes a minute to figure out that I am not the problem, but rather they are chewing at each other.  And, I think it is the Blackbirds that are being the most defensive as they are also chasing Ospreys.

The tide is so high that the maze is pure beginner stuff - I can short cut between the usual channels. In fact, the most interesting thing about the island at this tide level is that there is no island - just submerged marsh with spartina managing to stick up above the water surface, in places.  

The gnats have hatched and they are a nuisance whenever I am paddling with the wind. A couple times, I paddle a circle to get the wind to carry them away.

I head east out and across the marsh, zigzagging through open water that would normally be land.  There are a good number of Yellow Crowned Night Herons, Great Egrets, Osprey, Mallards and Willets.  The Willets are probably concerned about the water level flooding their nests.

Baby Willets

From the East Side, I head back and through the maze once more before heading up river.  About a 1/4 mile above the marsh I hear some Willets - wrong place for Willets to be.  Up against one of the floating docks is a mass of floating marsh reeds.  A pair of adult Willets are watching over two small Willets.  They have drifted out of the marsh on the high tide.  The current will change soon, and hopefully the Willets will drift back to the marsh. If they get that far, they should have no trouble finding a safe spot as the tide drops and gives them more land to walk on.  Note that in all the time I've been in salt marshes with Willets nesting, this is the first time that I've seen baby Willets.