Whimbrels

I find a great egret just after the Foote Bridge and it shows no interest in leaving the area flying across the narrow river and perching in a tree and letting me pass under.  When I round Pocket Knife Bend, I spot another great egret a quarter mile off well silhouetted by the shadowy foliage of the tree it has settled in.  A whistle alerts me to the presence of an osprey, which takes a second to find, then another appears, and another, another, another, another, another and another.  I'm sure of seven sightings although that may have been more as they are flying around.  It is a pretty good first quarter mile of paddling.

It is already warm, this morning having none of the usual coolness of normal days.  It is humid to the point of sticky but an off sea breeze is just enough to keep sweat from forming on the skin.  The sky is overcast - the type that might or might not bring a thunderstorm.

It takes just under an hour to get to the post road and another hour to get through the Sneak and down Bailey Creek and the Neck River.  The Sneak is narrower right now with the tall spartina grass growing out about 3 or 4 feet from each bank.  I spot one other boat, an older oyster dredge - long narrow double-ender with the helm 3/4 back from the bow and a 3 man crew working the dredges.  They are running up and down the lower section of the East River and from the Sneak, they appear to be a ship floating through a green prairie.

whimbrels

I spot three whimbrel as I come down Bailey Creek, a much less common bird sighting here.
The osprey nest at the last bend of the Neck hatched their two chicks last and they are still in the nest still waiting to take their first flight.  They are ten days to two weeks behind all of the others.

Greats contemplating each other

I return up the East riding the last hour of flood tide and hoping for more tailwind than I am getting, if only to cool me off some.