In the Wheat

Yesterdays wind and rain start to abate as morning progresses.  I put in at the peak of high tide, about 1:00, and head across the bottom of the marsh, which at this tide level is open water with sparse patches of spartina scattered about.  The water is high enough that I can easily paddle through the grass if need be. Flooded as it is, there are almost no birds in sight for the distance, a bit short of a mile. I see just 2 Cormorants on that leg. The water is too deep for any of the wading birds.

I head into the Maze, a more intimate spot and a more likely place to spot birds. I find and take a narrow side passage that I haven't used in a few months. Up ahead, a good number of Egrets and Great Blue Herons take flight.  I'm too far off to have caused that and I wonder if there is someone else in here.  They've taken off from the usual hang out near the big drift log.  As I near, I spot a bunch of Snowy Egrets that were better hidden in the tall grass.  I figure the count to be about 50-60 Egrets, of which maybe 40% were Snowys, and about 10 Great Blue Herons.  It's a lot of large birds in a small area.

By this time, the predicted diminishing wind has undiminished into a steady 15mph gusting into the 20's.  I'll cut the trip short as I am starting to get pushed around.  I head in to the Central Phragmites Patch where I flush three mature Black Crowned Night Herons.  Note that I have not seen a single Yellow Crowned Night Heron today or in the last week or so.

I sit and write my notes at the Phragmites Patch.  

Listen to the wind blowing through the grass.

The marsh looks like a wheat field with the spartina gold and waving in the wind.