From my kayak 9/24-10/12

We have had a lovely fall. Plenty of sun, reasonable temperatures, not much wind. We saw some of the standbys: cormorants, loons, mergansers, eagles, ospreys and mallards.

Cormorant Squam Lake 10/12/2020
Common loon getting winter plumage. Squam Lake, 10/12/2020
Common merganser. Ompompanoosuc River 10/11/2020
Mallard drake. Connecticut River. 10/5/2020
Osprey. Connecticut River 9/24/20

This time of year, we see some more unusual birds, many passing through.

Pied bill grebe. Connecticut River 10/5/2020
Black ducks. Connecticut River. 10/5/2020
White throated sparrow. Connecticut River, 10/14/2020
Yellow rumped warbler. Ompompanoosuc River, 10/1/2020
Red tailed hawk with a snake wrapped around its leg. Hartford, VT, 10/1/2020

The foliage has been lovely.

Leaf. Connecticut River, 10/1/2020
Jane on Mink Brook. 9/24/2020
Lower Baker Pond, 10/3/2020
Railroad bridge. Ompompanoosuc River 9/28/2020
Great Island. Squam Lake, 10/12/2020
River bend. Ompompanoosuc River 10/11/2020

From my kayak 8/13-8/24

We saw some unusual wildlife (for us) recently. At North Hartland Lake we came upon a bear swimming across the lake.

Black bear crossing the river. North Hartland Lake, 8/15/2020

The next time we were there, we saw a couple of coyotes.

Coyote. North Hartland Lake. 8/22/2020
Coyote digging. North Hartland Lake. 8/22/2020

They looked and acted so much like my dog Freya, it was uncanny.

Freya.

We have been watching green herons, both on the Connecticut and the Pompy.

Green heron. Connecticut River, Wilder, VT 8/24
Green heron yawning. Connecticut River 8/17/2020

We also saw some of the more usual wildlife: cormorants, ducks, geese, a merlin and of course, painted turtles.

Cormorants. North Hartland Lake, 9/15/2020
Wood duck. Connecticut River, Hanover, NH 8/17/2020
Mallard beginning to get breeding colors. Connecticut River, Hanover, NH 8/13/2020
Mallards preening. Connecticut River, Wilder, VT 8/23/2020
“Sentry” Canada goose. Ompompanoosuc River, Norwich, VT 8/20/2020
Merlin. North Hartland Lake, 8/22/2020
Painted turtles on a log. North Hartland Lake, 8/15/2020

From my kayak 7/25-8/11

We have been to our usual rivers in the last few weeks and have seen some changes. We found a kingbird and its nest on 7/19 and have seen the nestlings grow and leave the nest.

Kingbird and nest. Connecticut River, Lebanon, NH 7/19/2020
Kingbird with nestlings. Connecticut River 7/25/2020
Kingbird fledglings. Connecticut River, Hanover, NH 8/2/2020

We’ve seen cormorants.

Cormorant on the boom. North Hartland Lake, VT 8/1/2020
Cormorant taking off. Connecticut River, Lebanon, NH 7/25/2020

The red-winged blackbirds are out of their nests.

Young red-winged blackbird. North Hartland Lake, VT 8/1/2020
Wood duck with 3 mergansers Connecticut River, Hanover, NH 8/10/2020

The herons are always fun to watch. On the Pompy the other day we came across what looked like a log, but wasn’t. We stopped paddling and drifted about the same speed as the green heron was walking. At first it was a little annoyed with us, but soon relaxed and continued fishing. By this time I had drifted into shore and it walked within just a few feet of me.

Green Heron disguised as a log. Ompompanoosuc River, Norwich, VT 8/11/2020
Green heron with a snack. Ompompanoosuc River, Norwich, VT 8/11/2020
Green heron. Ompompanoosuc River, Norwich, VT 8/11/2020
Green heron. Mink Brook, Hanover, NH 8/10/2020
Great blue heron North Hartland Lake, VT 8/1/2020
Egret taking off. North Hartland Lake, VT 8/1/2020

From my kayak 8/31-9/4

This has been a week for fog, green herons, falcons, turtles, and a cormorant.

Goose and duck in the fog. Connecticut River 9/4/2018
Annoyed green heron. Connecticut River, Wilder, VT 8/31/2018
Green heron. Mink Brook, 9/4/2018
Green heron sticking out his tongue. Mink Brook, 9/4/2018
Peregrin with kingbird. Ompompanousuc, Norwich, VT 9/2/2018
Merlin. North Hartland Lake 9/1/2018
American kestrel. North Hartland Lake 9/1/2018
Painted turtle North Hartland Lake 9/1/2018
Wood turtle. Ompompanousuc River 9/2/2018
Cormorant. Connecticut River 8/31/2018

From my kayak 8/19-28

We’ve paddled the usual places the past 10 days.  The mornings are getting colder and more foggy. We’ve seen great blue herons, green herons, cormorants, loons, ducks and other creatures.  Loons do fly, they just take a long runway to take off.

Jane paddles in the fog. North Hartland Lake, VT 8/25/18
Great blue heron Grafton Pond, NH 8/28/18
Great blue heron taking off. Connecticut River 8/24/18
Green heron. Connecticut River, Wilder, VT 8/27/18
Cormorant drying his wings. Connecticut River, Lebanon, NH 8/27/18
Loon launching. Grafton Pond, NH 8/28/18
Loons flying Grafton Pond, NH 8/28/18
Wood duck. Connecticut River 8/20/18
Mallards on a log Connecticut River 8/20/18
Troll. North Hartland Lake, VT 8/25/18
Birch bark reflection. Connecticut River 8/20/18