Pushing a Little Ice

 As I have said already, this winter has either been wind or freeze.  Today, the wind subsides to something under 10mph. It is still below freezing when I put in, but with the sun, it is a nice day for a winter paddle.

The tide is almost out with not quite an hour to go. There is about 30 feet of broken ice to push through to get out into the river, but it is thin busted up sheets and slush - nothing to worry about.

I head down river toward the marsh.  The main channel has a winter mix - Loons, Buffleheads, Red Breasted Mergansers, Black Ducks and a few Mallards.  An immature Bald Eagle is picking at carrion on the mud flat at the top of the marsh. 

I head down Nell's channel, thinking about marsh morphology, as I usually do these days.  Four feet of bank is exposed on Nell's Island. The bottom of that bank was probably laid down before the Civil War. I never find anything that far down. 

Farther down the channel, I start flushing Canada Geese.  Hunting season closed last weekend and the birds tend to be more evenly distributed in the marsh when no one is shooting at them.  

Greater Scaup

I cross the river when I exit Nell's Channel, on some undeveloped brain fart that I might see something interesting on the west shore.  Of course, I don't.  The only good part of  this route is that I can view what birds are out in the main channel.  I find a Greater Scaup, which lets me approach within two canoe lengths.  I end up counting eight Common Loons as I make my way back up river. A female Red Breasted Merganser surfaces just three feet to my side. It dives and swims to just ahead of the canoe, resurfaces and flies off in great haste across the river.