Nothing Better

We set out from near the bridge over the Lieutenant River.  S had not been here before. 
It was near low tide and where the back channel that we were paddling (behind the island from the main Connecticut River) opens up into a broad pond, we found a very large and low mudflat island teaming with small shore birds picking at exposed critters.

But something more interesting crossed our path and settled in a tree on a small and nearby rocky island.

Egrets, great blue herons and more osprey than one could bother to count were birds d'jour.  Most of the young osprey seemed to have left the nest. Swallows were beginning to gather in flocks and cloud-swirl in the distance...preparation for a new coming season.

The overcast damped down the visitors.  So, we paddled all the way to the sea and walked the sandy beach on the farthest island.

snowy egret

 And then we returned, repeating what we had done on the way out, only facing the other direction.

Landmark

I thought about how there is nothing better than paddling with S.