A Good Day

I'm putting in at Pilgrim Landing, the easiest start for Lord Cove. D, who lives right across the street, is out mowing his lawn. He's an interesting guy - we've talked many times before, and he publishes a nice magazine about the Connecticut River, "Estuary". And yes, I am a subscriber. We have a good talk, a little about Lacrosse, which he coaches, and a little about the good spring migration in the Wheeler Marsh.

The morning fog has risen to become a low overcast which will not, for very long, hold its own against the sun. It will soon be sunny and about 75F with a moderate wind out of the south. The tide is almost at its peak, so the return trip will have some current behind me. 

It is a good day.

Before I pass the first point, no more than a couple hundred yards, an Osprey and a mature Bald Eagle come into the scene, in full territorial squabble. The Eagle, obviously the aggressor, retreats to a tall evergreen. The defending Osprey makes several noisy swoops to get the message across, and then returns to its nest on nearby Goose Island. Halfway through Goose Bay, I spot a pair of mature Baldies sharing a perch. They split up, but eventually both head up to the next bedrock finger. (The cove has a distinctive series of narrow tapering bedrock ridges that descend off of the hillside into the water, with a few hundred yards between each ridge). When I catch up, they are once again sharing a branch.

 It is a good day.

This marsh was overgrown with phragmites and a few years ago the government came in and eradicated over most of the marsh. Now, there are 2 to 3 foot high cattail spears filling in the whole area, as it should be. Nesting is clearly on. It seems that every time an Osprey flies by, it is being harassed by a Red Wing Blackbird. I spot several Marsh Wrens, doing the pop-up and flutter down while singing dance. They seem to have just arrived as I see no nest building from them.

It is a good day.

I follow the east shore, taking in some of the tiny bays and backwaters that push in against the hillside. In time, I get up to the big Eagle nest that stands almost in the farthest reaches of the cove. I don't see any activity in the nest, but it is still possible that there are eaglets tucked down in the cover. The adults are not in sight. I head back out following the west side of the marsh, again checking out the dead end side channels.  I pass under a very large Bald Eagle, and by the size, it should be the female that belongs to the nest. It really is obvious just how large she is. Every year that I've observed her, she has raised 3 Eaglets to fledge. I spot 3 pairs of Canada Geese with a total of 10 goslings.

The Big Female

It is a good day.

I finish with six Eagle sightings, all matures, and it is probably four individuals.

It was a good day.