I start in the south lagoon. Heading up the east channel of the burial island the smell of newly exposed mud loaded with decaying vegetation is almost visible in the calm air. The lake is down a couple feet and the stuff that makes life is exposed. It is a good smell despite what it sounds like in print. Out of the protected channel, a stiff cold breeze comes out of the east. It will make waves in the big lake, but in the bay it takes a very strong wind to make the smallest whitecap. I head to the NE corner, which turns out to be well protected from the wind. A kingfisher occupies the eagle's lunch counter perch this morning. I can paddle the edges of the cattails now that the lily pads have died off. My trash cleaning efforts have paid off more than I could have imagined. There is very little new trash at the bog edge and it is mostly cans and bottles. Most of the plastic is stuff that I couldn't reach last year, and there isn't much of it. There are, however, a lot of tennis balls. While picking some trash near one of the west islands, 200 coots start thrashing the water and I turn to watch an eagle circle low over them three times. It is not a dedicated effort at hunting and the eagle flies off after giving them all a good scare. I head through the cut and down Lake Union.
(I forgot to mention that I scare up four snipe at four different places along the cattails. Three flew off at their amazing high speed and one ran quickly into protection of the reeds.)