Marsh Deer

 I put in about two hours after low tide at the old stage ford on the East River. The rising tide has not yet reached this point, and for the first mile I head downriver with the current behind me.  I flush 3 dozen Mallards - a flock of all mallards, just as I reach the Gravel Flats. I meet the incoming tide just about the time I get to the Clapboard Hill bridge. On a side note here, an 1850 map of this area shows that there was a bridge here at that time and I imagine that this bridge took much of the traffic that the ford saw.

I spot a few Plover in the section above the Big Bends.

The Side Sneak

Coming out from under the railroad bridge, I find a Harrier gliding slowly into the wind. Then, I head into the Side Sneak, which connects to Bailey Creek about a 1/3 mile higher than does the Sneak. I spot five deer near the small treed island where the young Osprey like to perch. The deer spot me, although they can only see me from the shoulders up.  I'm able to drift by on the current and wind, so I can be still.  We observe each other for several minutes.  I lose sight of them when I turn the bend to head into Bailey Creek, but find them downstream a quarter mile. I'm in the open now, and they retreat with not much haste back to where I first saw them.

I head down, flushing scattered Black Ducks and Canada Geese, and spooking a pair of Hooded Mergansers that were underwater feeding when I rounded a bend.

At the confluence, I turn up the East River on a flood current