The Big River

It is overcast and damp from overnight rain. But, it is in the mid-40's and calm, and a calm winter day is not to be sneezed at. 

I put in, again, from under the highway bridge on the far side of town.  Short winter days and being cautious about the weather, plus the ice conditions on rivers away from the Sound, keep me from ranging as far as I normally do in the warmer seasons. The tide is halfway out by the time I start, and there is a good, strong downriver current.

Male Long Tail Duck

I cross the river and follow the Stratford side.  I do this only a couple times each year as this side of the river is usually less interesting as well as being occupied by a few large marinas. It is also closer to the main boat channel.  Today it is quiet and I am impressed by the number of Loons and Ducks - a good many more than I would expect.  This side of the river is the outside of a very long bend, adding some distance to Milford Point.  I count at least 10 Common Loons and perhaps 20 Long Tail Ducks, along with a coupe dozen Buffleheads, and some Common Mergansers. The Loons are majestic, but the Long Tails make me happy - a quirky deep diving duck with a delightful call.  The Duck was once called an 'Old Squaw', which I imagine referred to the constant calling... which turned out to be coming only from the male Ducks! They disappear from the surface, and then pop up to the surface many seconds later. They are capable of diving to 200 feet. 

I cross the river at Milford Point, crabbing at a healthy angle to account for the ebb current.  Already the marsh is getting shallow.  I decide to make speed to the east shore.  It is not quite a mile in a straight line, although the marsh is never a straight line. By this time in the tide cycle, there is only one, or maybe two routes, and the trick is to not waste time in a look-alike dead end.  Once at the far shore, I have to continue a 1/4 mile upriver before resting.  This 1/4 mile point is where the tidal currents meet from either end of the marsh and it becomes mudflat at most any low tide.

Getting past the high ground, I pause for coffee and drift in an upriver direction, towards the marsh exit.  

When the Weather Smiles in Winter

It is a another calm day, this one a few degrees warmer than yesterday.  I wait for the tide to get favorable, putting in an hour or so before high tide.  Any current in the river for an hour or so on either side of the high (or low) tide is negligible.  I put in under the highway bridge, cross the river and head upstream. 

I use the channel between Carting and Peacock Islands, flushing about 2 dozen Black Ducks and Mallards as I go - 2 to 4 Ducks at a time.  A Harrier is busy working the four islands, crossing back and forth on the lookout for a meal. A Common Loon is fishing at the channel exit.

The current is slack and it is easy paddling.  I cross over to Great Flat and round it following the edge closely.  I spot a Mature Bald Eagle near the mouth of Garbage Lagoon. Then, back over to the west bank and head back.  

Flush 2 dozen Mallards and Blacks from the west side of Peacock Island. 2 Hawks have joined the Harrier, which is still working the islands.

Winter in the Marsh

Very windy and cold weather has finally relented.  For the most part, fresh water routes, aside from the big rivers, are frozen over or have enough ice on them to make them impassable. The town harbor, which is salt water, with a freezing temperature of 28F, is iced over enough to prevent an exit. The harbor is well sheltered and has almost no current aside from that caused by the tides, so it is some of the first salt water to freeze in these parts.

I put in on the big river, under the highway bridge. It is 31F and there is a very light wind out of the east.  The water is not glassy smooth, but almost. The tide is coming in for the next hour and a half, so the current is slacking off. As I head down to the marsh, I note eddies on the pilings - sometimes showing upstream flow with the tide, and sometimes showing that I am in one of the long near shore eddies that I use to paddle against the current. Below the drawbridge are 3 Common Loons, 10 Buffleheads, and 1 male Long Tail Duck.  The Long Tail is a surprise as I most often see them out in the Sound. A Harrier flies over, heading upriver. 

We've had 3 recent snowfalls.  About 6 inches fell in one of those, the others being less than an inch.  The snow has knocked down some of the spartina, but the effect is that of a "thinning" of the grasses.  Heavy snowfalls will knock it all down and leave the marsh looking like a harvested soy bean field. 

With the very high tide and the thinned spartina, finding and following my usual shortcuts though the marsh is a bit of a challenge. On the other hand, I can see Ducks and Geese out in the marsh in places that I cannot paddle to and cannot normally see.

I head into the Nell's Island Maze, curious if it will be open.  I have to push through 30 feet of rotten sea ice not too far in, but otherwise it is open, although I lose the route as I near the downstream end of the so-called island, The tide is high enough that I can just go anywhere, paddling easily through the thinned out and flooded spartina.

Crossing over to the east shore, I flush a "maybe" Snipe, not spotting it until it flew off.  I spot a second one over near the east shore, sitting motionless.  I take a few photos to confirm my guesswork.

Snipe - overexposing the photo brought out the markings of the bird

I spot a Bufflehead sitting in a clump of floating weed debris... it is a decoy. I retrieve the decoy and head back into one of my inside passages, where I find 3 Coot decoys, which are added to my collection. (Decoys cannot legally be left out unattended by hunters - these were probably left behind, or got blown here by our recent windstorms). 

Cold is Good, Numb is Bad

Yesterday it rained and last night it blew like the dickens, so a calm and sunny morning was nice to wake up to.  I thought about heading over to the East River, but with last weeks cold snap, there is still a chance of ice jammed up in the upper section.  Even after the ice starts breaking up, it tends to get caught in the tighter bends below the Gravel Flats, and that makes for a very short trip.

I put in, again, under the highway bridge.  The shoreline is piled with reeds and drift wood from last night's windstorm.  High tide peaks in 15 minutes, so the current is slack. I'll head upriver today and ride the ebb current on my return.  My fingertips hurt from the cold, but I know they will be warm by the time I get to the top of the islands. The winter outdoor guy adage is, "cold is normal, sweating is bad, and numb is bad."

I cross the river right away and follow the west shore, heading into the four islands, passing under a perched immature Bald Eagle, and spotting a second one soaring high overhead.  The sky becomes overcast. I use the channel between Peacock and Carting Islands, flushing a half dozen Black Ducks while I am in there.

A bigass H-53 helicopter flies by heading downriver.  It is a huge helicopter.  

I hear a boat coming from behind. It'll be the first I see today. The motor noise becomes helicopter noise as it nears.  It gets very loud coming up behind me and I wonder if I'll get any rotor wash from it.  But, it passes over about 250 feet up, politely clearing the electrical powerlines. The overcast has passed and the sun returns.

I cross the river at the dragonfly factory and follow the east shore back, flushing a mature Bald Eagle near Great Flat.  Then recross the river and continue down behind Peacock Island before returning to my start point, flushing 2 dozen Buffleheads along the way.

   

A Pocketful of Sun

 It is the finest day in so many that I can't remember the last day like this.  It is not a day to waste.

I put in under the high bridge on the far side of town, not wanting to spend time on the road as well as the fact that most of my favorite inland locations will be iced over. The temperature is still under 40F, but with calm air and a clear sky of nothing but sun, it feels fifty-ish. The high tide just peaked about a half hour ago and the downstream current is barely perceptible. I think about things that I might include in my journal for this day.  None of those ideas are relevant by the end of the trip.

It is an easy paddle down to the marsh and whether it is true or not, with a glass smooth surface, the canoe seems to move faster. 

The Maze enterance

I hear a few distant shotgun blasts. They sound far enough away that they might not be in the marsh.  I head into the Maze via the upstream entrance.  I flush a dozen Black Ducks and a couple dozen Canada Geese, that flush before we see each other - not an unusual action.  There are at least two Harriers hunting the marsh.  There might be four or more, but I do see two at one time.  Harriers cruise back and forth across the marsh, so seeing the same one several times is normal. I find the alternate route through the Maze on my second try.

With the water still high, I take the long roundabout around the marsh, following the shore.  This will keep me out of the way of any hunters. Soon enough, I figure out that no one else is in the marsh and the hunters are somewhere out on the Sound.

The Maze exit, unless you're going the other way.

There are a good many wintering birds in the marsh and by the time I get over to the east shore, I have seen a couple hundred Canada Geese and probably as many Ducks - mostly Black Ducks with some Buffleheads thrown in for good measure.  I stop at the Central Phragmites Patch.  Nothing there except a large sheet of rotten ice.

At this point, I am thinking up ways to make this canoe trip last longer.  I head into Beaver Brook, which always holds wintering Ducks. But, at the first sharp bend to the north, I spot a Bittern standing still with its head tipped up.  I stop to photograph this rare sighting.  It is only the fourth Bittern that I have seen although it is within fifty yards of where I spotted one a couple years back.  I'd rather not disturb the Bittern, so I turn back and head out.  

American Bittern

I pass my put-in, still needing more time on the water, and cut across the river to Cating Island.  If I hurry, I should have enough water to round Carting and Peacock Island.  

I have more than a foot of water at the shallow spot behind Peacock Island.  I flush another 75 Canada Geese.  I suspect that there are more by the sound of the honking, but the tall phragmites reeds block the view.

I recross the river and take out, a 3 hour cruise. 

Dark Day

It is a gray day, for sure. But unlike all too many recent days, there is little wind and it would be a shame to not make use of the conditions.  

I set from under the highway bridge on the far side of town, not wanting to submit myself to the mad-dash-looming-holiday drivers.  It is about 35F with a 5 to 7 mph west wind.  Without a speck of sunlight, that light wind brings on a chill to any bare skin, although not to any bear skin. The tide is still going out, but it does not have long to go to reach bottom.  

It's an easy paddle down to the marsh, and I am warmed up by the time I get there.  There are few route choices at this low tide level. All of my favorite shortcuts and inner channels are empty of water and will be so for a few hours. I head up Beaver Brook, flush a dozen Black Ducks near the first northward bend, and decide at that point to leave the rest of the brook to the Ducks.  It is a preferred hiding spot in the winter. On the way back I spook a Great Blue Heron as it comes in low over the marsh to land at the edge of the water.  The Heron circles back and disappears.  

I head down as far as Cat Island.  The main channel becomes mud flat at that point, as expected. Spot a flock of 15 Dunlin and a Killdeer, and 3 more Great Blue Herons.  The Herons are probably here as inland waters freezes over.

I hear several shotgun blasts as I head over to Nell's Channel.  I have a pretty good idea of where the hunters are, down where the tall spartina thins out and opens up into mudflat, or open water at high tide.  

Rather than extend the trip towards the hunters, I opt to call it a day.  Spot a single Dunlin that does not seem the least bit scared of me. On the way up river, I spot a Harrier up higher than normal.  It uses a couple of S-turns to drop to the marsh without gaining speed and begins a hunt by skimming the marsh.

Go When the Weather Eases

It is going to stay in the 30's, but the horrid 40 degree rain of yesterday has gone and left clear skies with a NW wind hanging in at 10 mph or less. Still getting used to the colder weather, I let the day come on some and put in at half past eleven.  The higher than normal tide has been dropping for two hours, so the current has built up a full head of steam.  It is an easy paddle down to the marsh.

I pass a pair of Common Loons fishing in the river about a hundred yards below the drawbridge.

I head into the Maze through the uppermost entrance, and flush 8 Black Ducks at the first wide spot.  The water is already lower than I expected, but I find the alternate route that I used on my last visit.  I don't remember it being as shallow as it is, but after getting 20 yards into it, I pick up a good strong current heading the way I am.  Because the tide is dropping, the current shows that there is an exit ahead.

A pair of duck hunters in a boat-blind motor past shortly after I exit the maze.  They're the only people I see in the marsh. 

Spot a pair of Harriers that seem to be hunting as a team. 

I make my way over to the east shore, although I have to backtrack once when my route goes to mudflat, again earlier than I expected. I flush the two Harriers from the spartina.  Their dark feathers and white butt patch are sharp in the day's bright sunlight.

It is a crawl back upriver against a still stiff tidal ebb and a quartering headwind.