Bird Check

I put in on the Munketusuck to search for the elusive Little Blue Herons and Glossy Ibises. Actually, they're not that elusive, but I figured out over the last few years that they must have nesting colonies near the Menunketusuck River. Occasionally, I have spotted the Glossy Ibises in the Wheeler Marsh and the East River, during the spring when they are migrating in. They would disappear once nesting began. As to the Little Blue Herons, this is area is the only place that I've seen them. The last couple years, I figured out that tthey were fairly plentiful in this area once their young had left the nest. I can't be sure, but I figure that they might be nesting on nearby Duck Island - about a mile distant. 

It is a calm day. The temperature is already about 60F, the sky overcast but looking like it won't stay that way. The tide peaked about a 1/2 hour before I set out, and it is a higher than average tide. The spartina is just barely awash throughout the marsh. This is a high salt marsh, so it has the short spartina variety, and only floods a few times each month. 

Little Blue Heron

Just before getting to Opera Singer Point, I spot a mature Little Blue Heron and four Snowy Egrets. The trip has paid off.  With the Snowys, I have to see the feet as a first year Little Blue Heron is a lookalike. The Snowy has very obvious bright yellow feet, which is a "for sure" identifier. 

 

Glossy Ibises

This marsh has the river running through with two branches, one on either side. To make this a worthwhile outing, I always paddle both branches, which takes in the full scope of the marsh. Near the outer end of the west branch, I spot four Glossy Ibises a bit over a hundred yards distant. Now, the trip has really paid off. The Ibises are head down working the mud with their long curved bills - kind of a slow sewing machine motion. There are also some Willets and a couple small flocks of Yellow Legs. 

I head back, finish of the bottom of the river as far as the railroad bridge, then head into the east branch. There is a mature Bald Eagle perched over the abandoned opera singer's house (I think it is now wildlife refuge land, and they will remove it when budget allows, as they have done to a couple nearby cabins). Considering that it is pretty good feeding, there aren't as many birds as normal by the point, which I imagine has something to do with the predator in the tree. Past that though, I spot several more Snowy's, and a few Great Egrets. 

With that, I head back out, pushing against a moderate ebb current until back to the put-in.

A Clever Ruse

It is a far too nice day to not be out. I put in under the highway bridge It is about 60F with a light wind out of the East and the tide has just started to fall. It is an easy and quick paddle down to the marsh.

I'm greeted at the top of the marsh by a Yellow Crowned Night Heron, my first sighting of this bird this spring. It is clever ruse.

Yellow Legs

The marsh is still very much flooded as the passing high tide was a higher than usual one. The shoreline feeders, like Willets, Yellow Legs and Sandpipers are standing on the small patches of marsh that remain above water. Before I am even fifty yards up the inner channel, I've spotted 30 Yellow Legs, in groups of 6 to 20 individuals. There are also some Willets, but the Yellow Legs are much more numerous. 

The Central Phragmites Patch

I head up the east side, then out into the center of the marsh and paddle up towards the central phragmites patch. I flush a dozen or so Green Wing teal, a few Mallards, and a couple of Black Ducks. There is a Goose Nest well hidden in the phrgamites patch and a Swan nest out in the open on the east edge.

Perhaps Semipalmated Sandpipers

Next, I head along the upriver side of Cat Island. The water has already dropped enough that I can make it all the way around the island. So, I come back out and head up into Beaver Creek, which I haven't visited for a couple weeks.

The clever ruse is revealed right away. 4 Yellow Crowned Night Herons, then 2 more, then 2 more, then a few more. Before I turn and head back out, I've spotted at least 20 of them hiding back here. They will all nest on Charles Island, which is a mile distant.

Yellow Crowned Night Herons

I hug the shore on the way back up river against the ebb current. It's counterintuitive, but the stronger the current is, the longer the eddies and slack water sections are, at least in this part of the river. It goes pretty easy.

Looking In, Looking Out

I put in just down from the only bridge that crosses this stretch of the Housatonic. My plan for the day was to get in some distance by heading upriver to Lover's Leap, a narrow opening between hundred foot high cliffs. It is under 60F and overcast and while the forecast was for light wind shifting from SE to NE during the day, it felt windier than that at the put-in. 

Almost all of my trips are out-and-back day trips, and I am in the habit of paddling into the wind or against the current on my way out. There isn't any current in this stretch, but my plan, if the wind held, would require a long headwind return. So, today seemed more like a good day to go down to the Shephaug Dam instead. It's just a tad shorter. 

Looking in

As expected at this time of the year, I am alone except for a few bass boats. I follow the shore closely, the overhanging forest and steep valley sides making the water feel smaller than it actually is. And, once I'm in the water and about a 1/4 mile from the put-in, the wind dies down to something not worth mentioning - go figure. 

Looking out

The sun comes out as I pass the halfway point.

Northern Copperhead

It is a very pleasant trip. There's not much for birds, which is expected - this is water where big forest meets open water, so other than what I can see in back in the forest, it's a place for birds of prey, vultures and Ducks. I a single Osprey and one vulture. But, as I am paddling close to shore, I spot what looks like a snake skin in an low overhanging branch. No, it is the whole snake, no doubt sunning itself. Better yet, it is a Northern Copperhead, one of our two venomous snakes. It is quite inert, and I give it a gentle poke just to verify that it is alive. After rounding the point to head back, I spot a mink scurrying along the shoreline, obviously upset by my presence. After fifty yards, it tucks into a hiding hole in some boulders.

Neither the mink or Osprey cooperate, so the Copperhead is the only wildlife photo.

I finish up with about 11 miles of paddling, and maybe 10-1/2 miles of meditation.

The Lieutenant, Connecticut and Blackhall

I put in on the Lieutenant River, a favorite for almost as long as I have lived here. I remember coming here for the first time and finding far more than I ever expected. That is what a good river does, and it does it over and over.

It is a fine day with mostly sun, a temperature in the lower 60's, and just a little wind coming up from the sea. The tide has bottomed out, so I head downriver, planning ahead for the return.

Coming out of the Lieutenant I take the left hand turn at the fork. This is the inside channel, a sometimes meandering, sometimes narrow route through the salt marsh that lies on the east side of the Connecticut River. The big boats are out in the main channel, which is quite wide and open.

The Phragmites Corridor

The first 1/3 of a mile is a corridor through a phragmites marsh. Phragmites is a non-native invasive reed that isn't all that bad to look at, but unfortunately is poor habitat for marsh birds and mammals. That ends not too far upstream from Watch Rocks, a small island in a narrows between  Marvin Island and the mainland. This is where the action begins.

Below Watch Rocks

Aside from the full contingent of Osprey, which probably numbers at 40 pairs, I start spotting Yellow Legs and Willets, a few Mergansers, and lots of Gulls. There is a small flock of Green Wing Teal, which, as usual, flushes before I can get close enough to ID them... but I managed to get a telephoto shot before they got wise to me. With the low tide, I paddle all the way down to the Sound before turning up the Blackhall River. I can add about a half dozen Snowy Egrets and a few more than that of Great Egrets, and couple Oystercatchers. There are four Willets engaged in a mating or territorial beef, and they are making enough noise that one could easily imagine there to be two dozen birds. It is that time of the year for them, after all. The bird life today is quite diverse.

Green Wing Teal

I go up the Blackhall as far as the second bridge. I just don't feel like paddling against the tide on the way back.When I turn up the inner channel, I now have the current at my back. 

Oystercatcher

I take the Back River, which as I have said before, is not a river, but just the channel between Great and Marvin Islands. I suppose it may have gotten that name long ago, Back River meaning the back channel of the river. Many of the marshes here are also labeled, "meadow", which seems to be a carryover from British use of the word. I explore one of the side channels in the Back. It dead ends, but it does take me directly past a couple of Osprey nests. Then, it is out into the main river.

As usual, the main river is choppy, and surprisingly few critters show up on the shoreline - they know where the good stuff is. Then, I head up the Lieutenant and past my put-in as I decide to head up and see how the Eagle nest at Boulder Swamp is faring. The homeowners under the nest are doing an extensive remodel. This nest is always a bit hard to see through the trees, but I think that I see some motion up there, so hopefully the construction hasn't disturbed them.

With that, I head back.

Time Travel - Wheeler Marsh

I put in under the highway bridge for a low tide trip through the marsh. Bird migration is at peak these days along the east coast and the Wheeler is a particularly good place to see a variety of birds as they come to stay, or come to feed before continuing north. It is already 75F by mid-morning and when I put in, the tide is a 1/2 hour past low and there is a light breeze coming upriver. I thought it might feel hot, but the 50F water is keeping it pretty comfortable.  

Right away, when I get to the top of the marsh, I start hearing and seeing Willets. When I was here four days ago, I didn't sight any. There are quite a few as I head down Nell's channel, although I can't see many of them. With the low tide, I am four feet below the top of the banks. One of the reasons to come here at low tide is because some of the shore birds will be feeding on the exposed silt shoreline.

I have been collecting old bottles from the cut banks in this marsh as a method of determining a rate of build up of the marsh soil. I've, so far, figured that it takes about 50 years for 1 foot of soil to build up. While I am paddling along the exposed bank, I reflect on the idea that my location is about 200 years ago.

Near the bottom of Nell's channel, just before it bends right into the main river, I spot a brown glass screw top beer bottle in the bank. It is 8 inches below the surface, and I carefully collect it. This is Wheeler Specimen 8.

Specimen 8 in situ

I take the inner exit for Nell's channel. At some low tides, this channel runs out of water, but today I have 8 inches to a foot of water. This route takes me right to Milford Point, where I find a good 200 Brants. Brants winter here, although not in these numbers. They are migrating north. I let the wind drift me past them, and only stir a couple dozen, and they only fly a hundred yards. Quite a bit different than how Canada Geese would respond. I find three Oystercatchers near the halfway point as I head over to the east edge.

Oystercatcher

I spot a small duck decoy up against a mound of spartina. When the canoe is about 3 feet from the decoy, it flushes, but settle down about 20 feet away.  Surprise me, or what.  It's not readily familiar to me so I have to look it up when I get home. (it is a male Ruddy Duck in winter colors. It is not migrating north, but west instead. They winter here, but we are at the northern wintering limit and I have only seen a few)

Ruddy Duck - male in winter colors

On the east side of the marsh, I find a large number of Yellow Legs. I've been seeing them in ones and twos most of the way through the marsh, but over here, they are constant sight.

Brants

At the top of the marsh, near the mouth of Beaver Creek, I spot another bottle. It is 22 inches below the surface with the old embossed federal law notification. -Wheeler Specimen 9.

Specimen 9

 I head out and upriver, spotting a small flock of ten Least Sandpipers just before leaving the marsh.

 

The Willet Count Increases

I returned to the East River, this time with S in tow. She hasn't been canoeing in several months and she was eager to visit the East River. We put in at the old stage crossing. It is sunny with temperatures heading to about 60F. There is a light upriver breeze and the tide will peak in about an hour and a half.

The forest section has less large birds than on my trip 6 days ago, when I saw 2 Eagles and several Osprey. However, we spot an immature Bald Eagle in the trees a few hundred yards up from the Clapboard Hill Road bridge. We find our first Osprey in a tree just downstream of that bridge.

The sneakier side channel off of the Sneak

In the middle of the Big Bends, we spot several Yellow Legs. There are a couple of large pannes in this area that the birds like to feed from. 

Below the Post Road bridge, we start spotting Willets. This is a signal that more Willets have come in during the last few days. On the 20th, my first Willet sighting was about a mile downriver. Below the railroad bridge, we head into the Sneak, then take the smaller sneakier channel to the upper end of Bailey Creek. We spot quite a few Willets. They seem to be in pairs, and they are definitely more perky than the ones I saw the other day. As we join back into Bailey Creek, we find another bunch of Yellow Legs, again feeding in a small panne.

Willet

We head down the creek and up the Sneak. S hasn't paddled recently, and this is long enough for her. The Willet count is probably five times what I saw just 6 days ago. The behavior is different as well. Some of them are engaging in territorial pre-mating activity - chasing and dogfights. The aerial dogfights are particularly fun to watch as the Willets are large enough to see at a distance as well as being fast and maneuverable. 

In the Big Bends, we spot eight Great Egrets and two Snowy Egrets all feeding from a panne on the inside of the uppermost bend. 

The rest of the trip is easy with the wind at our back. It has been an excellent trip during a spectacular day.

Migration

I head over to my local salt marsh at the mouth of the Housatonic River. I put in under the highwya bridge, as usual, and head downriver. The tide is almost high, so the current is almost not there. The day is sunny with temperatures around 50F and a chilly 10mph wind supposedly out of the east, more or less coming upriver.

Pass three Osprey on the way down. At the top of the marsh, I flush several Yellow Legs and a couple ducks. I spot a mature Bald Eagle about a half mile away, over by Cat Island. The white tail, dark body and wing flap make it an easy ID, even at that distance. There's a couple Great Egrets over there as well, another easy call.

I head down my usual inner channel. I flush quite a few Yellow Legs, mostly in small groups of 6 to 15. It is a common bird here, but this is more than I usually see. They nest in Canada, so it is safe to assume they are migrating. 

Yellow Legs

With the high tide, the bottom of the marsh is fully flooded. When the wind in out of my ears, I can hear Brandt calls. As I paddle across the marsh, I spot a large flock of Brandts over by Milford Point. It might be a hundred birds, but it's tough to see them all at this distance. 

Because of the wind, and the high tide, I decide to head up through the center of the marsh. I start flushing ducks, and they quickly outnumber anything else that I've seen. It is a mix of Black Ducks and Mallards, with large numbers of small ducks. I never get close enough to ID the little ducks, but I suspect that they are Teal based on the coloring and size. I probably see a 150 of them, total. Some teal might nest here, but mostly they are going into Canada or the uupper midwest I spot two Swan nests - one not far from the refuge launch and the other near the central phragmites patch.

I cut across and go round the back of Cat Island. There is a new Canada Goose nest near the island's tip. I push a Swan out of the channel on the upstream side, but even better, that whole sunny and sheltered side of the island is loaded with singing Red Wing Blackbirds. With that, I head back upriver.