Bird Bonanza

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I awoke early.  Dawn had not broken, and the river was quiet.  As the sun rose, the birds descended on our stretch of the river.

It was a great day to watch the birds.  We had a frequent visitors - the Canadian geese, mallards and seagulls.  We also had a few unexpected visitors.

Near the shore was a medium sized bird that was dark and setting low in the water.  It was an American coot.  Though not a rare bird, I've never seen one on this part of the river.  They migrate through here.  I would have expected it to be long gone from these parts, but the warm weather must be delaying its travels.

I noted a few rings in the water where something had submerged.  I first thought it may be a merganser.  Moments later it surfaced.  I originally thought it was a bufflehead, but on closer inspection I realized it was a male hooded merganser.

I then noticed that several female hooded mergansers were about.  I frequently see common mergansers during the summer, but I have seen a lot of hooded merganser females lately.

There were dozens of geese about.  They seemed oblivious to the coot and mergansers.

As I watched the birds dive, dabble and paddle about, a solitary blue heron flew upstream just a few meters from the surface of the river.  This was quite unexpected.

About 30 minutes later, the geese decided to go ashore and browse the grass in our yard.  There were dozens milling around.  The wife and I are always excited to see the birds in the yard.

I am so very lucky to have a place to watch the waterfowl right from my living room and porch.

Contrast

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Work brought me to Qatar this past week.  It was warm (60 degF), sunny, sandy and blessed with blue Persian Gulf waters.

It was a long trip home.  Uncomfortable aircraft seats, long days, lack of sleep.  It was great to get home to the river house and sleep in my own bed.  I enjoy travel, but always look forward to getting back home.  The contrast of place and culture seems to give me reason to ponder what I value.

For me, the quite places by the river are where I find my energy.

It has been surprisingly warm.  Last year the river was frozen solid.  It was over  40 degF yesterday.  After a week of meetings. hotels, and long flights, I needed to get on the water.

It was very windy and grey.  Paddling was hard as the winds were out of the west at over 20 knots.  I have left blue Persian waters for the grey-brown river.

I headed away from the main channel and around The Crescent Islands.  There were Canadian geese and mallards about.  I came across a few mallards that seemed to stay near the shore.  But something caught my eye.

The ducks were seemingly nonchalant . . .

. . . but I noticed a black cat watching them.

I was expecting a normal paddle, but saw something unexpected.

Moments later a large splash occurred in the tiny channel between the Crescent Islands.  I'll never know what it was.

Though it has warmed, the turtle marsh was still iced-in.

A large tree had fallen in the river near the aspen stand.  I don't know if the current or the coming ice will remove the tree.  It is in the main channel, so I know the canal-way folks will need to clear it in the Spring.

The birds seemed resigned to stay in the water out of the wind.

I turned around.  I hardly needed to paddle as I had a strong steady wind to my back.  Overhead I saw a few seagulls cruising through the sky.  They fly about sensing tiny differences in wind and automatically finding the optimum way through the air.

I held my paddle aloft.  I keep my paddle blade feathered, so I can increase the relative surface area on each side by rotating the paddle handle.  I would feel the wind against the paddle and be able to slightly change which side I wanted to be pushed from by rotating the paddle shaft.  Not as graceful as the gulls, but I was able to get a free ride.

I came back by white birch island and paddled in the shallow channel between it and the crescent islands.

The wind was strong and steady.  I could feel the cold soak into my back.

I was expecting a predictable paddle, but even to the end I was surprised.  Just across the river from our dock was a white domesticated duck.  I wasn't expecting to see one on this stretch of the river.  I watched it for some time.  It would paddle around, go ashore, go back in the river, go back ashore.  For some reason a part of me felt like it was lonely . . .

I dragged the kayak back to the garage.  Not sure when I will get a chance to paddle again.

Inevitable

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The bitterly cold weather at the start of the week resulted in the river finally having its first freeze.  I walked down to the dock and noted there was a good 2 inches of ice.  A slight warm spell was coming, and a light rain had coated the ice with a thin layer of water.

The light rain and warming temperatures had left a few inches of water over the ice.  It was enough for the mergansers, geese and ducks to paddle about.  Unfortunately, it was not enough for me to paddle in.

I decided to go to Seneca Meadows to see what I might find.  The rain had let up and the temperatures were well above freezing.

The ponds were still mostly frozen.

Though the plants are all mostly brown and withered, there are a few snatches of color.  The berries of the horse-nettle stand out (note that they are poisonous).

The redstem dogwood also add a splash of color to the other drab meadow,

The cattails are now mostly great stalks of fluff.

I followed the train to the creek and went upstream a short bit to check the beaver lodge.  It was not obvious that the lodge was active.

The creek is well frozen.  With the warming weather, I expect it will become ice-free very soon.

I came across a large freshwater mussel about 2 meters from the creek in an exposed muddy area.  Muskrat?  Raccoon?

It is a dreary day.

A few of the muskrat lodges at the pond near the ADA trail looked fairly new.  It was midday and I was not expecting to see any muskrat lurking about.

The world is all brown.  Now is a time of texture, not of color.

I went home to the river house.  The geese were walking about the ice near the shore, but it was now so thin they would break through.

It continued to rain overnight.  The ice is now gone.  The mergansers are still about.

Though the first few weeks of winter have been quite warm, it is inevitable that the river will freeze again, maybe for many weeks as we head into the heart of winter.

Brown, Grey, Black and White

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It was unseasonably warm on New Yer's Eve.  I decided to go on a short paddle to try out a new camera and to enjoy the water while I could.  It was quite windy, and I did not see a lot of waterfowl.  There were a few Canadian geese about . . .

. . . as well as a few mallards.

Up in the distance a saw a disturbance in the water.  The extreme zoom of the new camera (60x) allowed me to grab a few photos of a muskrat.  I see them occasionally on this stretch of the river, but they are not too common.

The geese were flying overhead.  Big flocks seem to head to the lakes.

The world is now painted in brown, grey, black and white.  The stand of aspens up the river bring a little bit of brightness on this gloomy day.

Besides the heads of the male mallards, the only green was the moss on the logs by the river.

The osprey nest has been empty for some time.  I look forward to the return of the osprey.

With the cattail and rush knocked back by the winter storms, I could see a muskrat lodge.  The lodge will lose its water access once the river level drops.

A few more mallards were about, but the amount of birds was low.

New Year's Day found me inside rowing (half marathon distance) and shoveling a little snow.  The next day I went out.  Though it was below freezing, there was little wind.  Many more geese were about.

The islands were coated in a few inches of snow.  Everything was quiet.

Sucker Brook is starting to ice in.  The slow, shallow water is the first on this stretch of the river to freeze.

The bare trees reveal all their secrets.  I noticed many bird nests on the islands.

The stumps and snags stand silent.  In the summer I will cast a line around these features, but no fish are to be found now.

There were many more mallards about.

Even a few black ducks were about.

There was no need to go out on the river to see the waterfowl.  A dozen or more came ashore and searched for grass in the yard.  I could have just sat in the living room and watched them . . .

. . . but what fun is that?