This will make the seas run in the 3 to 6 foot range (normally we see calm to 1 or 2 ft seas).
Fortunately the winds are coming from the SE so even though they are very strong they aren’t blowing along the Sound’s major axis. These storm winds will have a fetch of only 20miles or so. If they were blowing from the west or southwest…well that’s a fetch of 100-120 miles. Bigger fetch=bigger waves (all other factors being equal). Bad news is the winds will be switching to out of the SW Saturday night and out of the West on Sunday, with similar winds. Oy!

Even more fun is 2-3 inches of rain causing local flooding especially with all the leaves coming down from the winds plugging up drains…and in the midst of all the fun wind will come high tide. Today’s was at 1:54pm and was half a foot above the predicted already. Tomorrow high tide comes at 2:20 and with the winds and seas, we will be seeing local flooding with the high tide about 2 feet above normal. Perfect time for me to go out to Barn Island and get pictures of the salt marsh — completely under water. Then on Sunday hit it at the low tide which will be abnormally low by 2-3 feet and get more pictures.

What a contrast that should show. Especially since I am responsible for a report on the physics of the salt marsh in two weeks. And after getting sucked into a hidden mosquito ditch up to my thighs I really feel a burning need to ace this section of the class. Of course I can now say I have first hand experience with quicksand…and the best advice is don’t panic, and use slow and easy movements to get out. Of course avoiding the ditch in the first place is much better, but hey…at least now I have a pair of boot socks that come in a café and ivory matched set.

Edit:
Well.. I didn’t go out — the winds and rain were pretty severe and I just decided it wasn’t worth it. Good thing too there were a number of trees blown down and pretty severe flooding in local areas, especially coastal roads. One of our neighbors tried to navigate down River Road and narrowly escaped having his car in the bottom of the river. Floated it right across the road and flooded the car. Only a tree and heavy timber fence stopped the car from floating into the estuary.

Launching a Great Blue Heron
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

First one I’ve seen in Mystic in two and a half years! Didn’t get any great pictures of him, but you can bet I’ll be on the lookout for another one. Looks like I will need to do some more early morning outings as this one was out round 7am.

How much wood…
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

Yesterday Johann and I took a few hours in the afternoon to see some wildlife and visit Enders Island, or as Johann has dubbed it “Wonder Island”. We started with a few errands in town then headed out to Quambaug. Quambaug is a small hamlet just outside of Mystic towards Stonington. It is comprised of 15 or 20 quiet homes. We enjoyed spying some woodchucks (Marmota monax) on a few lawns. (I’ll have to remind Johann later of the family connection to this giant ground squirrel). Of course now for the past two days we have been practising the classic tongue twister “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck…”

After a quick pass through Quambaug we went out towards Enders Island stopping at one of my favorite spots for birdwatching, a large low tidal marsh area. This time the tide was in and we pulled up to find a whole host of birds, a very different population from when the tide is out. When the tide is out I usually find a variety of “peeps” as they are locally know — dunlin (Calidris alpina), spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularia), black-bellied plover (Pluviali squatarola), purple sandpiper (Calidris maritima), lesser and greater yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes and Tringa melanoleuca), and especially sanderlings (Calidris alba). They all run through the very shallow water and marsh flats of low tide looking for aquatic insects. There are usually a few gulls near, and occasionally one or two egrets in the distance.

Snowy Flight
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

With the tide in we saw this snowy egret (Egretta thula) along with a nearly a dozen others feeding in groups and singly. Beyond the egrets were a pair of American oyster catchers (Haematopus palliatus) on the seaward side of the marshland. Others on the marsh included several gulls, a family of ducks (a mama and at least 9 young ducklings), two great egrets (Ardea albus), a double breasted-cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), and an osprey (Pandion haliaetus).

Ten little Ducklings
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

The mother duck and her brood were interesting to watch as they made their way across the marsh. They paddled across open areas of water, then headed straight into the smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora). Periodically we could see her peek her head up in the grass, then a few minutes later her brood would cross another small channel. Eventually they all emerged into one of the larger open spaces of water where we could see and count them all. After a few minutes the mama duck made a sharp movement and all the ducklings gathered close round. The very next moment they melted back into the cordgrass and as quickly as they had emerged, they were gone. All we could see was her tail for a few brief moments more.

On the periphery of the tidal marsh there were a number of songbirds in the brush, along with a dozen or so peeps (don’t know exactly what species) waiting for the tide to go out so they could belly up to the buffet. In all we were there almost an hour mainly watching the egrets feed.

Fog Blanket
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

As a low fog began rolling inland off the sound, we headed to Enders Isalnd. There we enjoyed watching the mainland being swallowed in the fog and explored the small beach right off the causeway. Exploring as the tide began to recede, we found a few crab carapaces – three green crabs and two arrow crabs — one live European green crab (Carcinus maenas), a few dozen hermit crabs (species unknown) and at least three types of seaweed. We retired to the leeward side of the island and found many smaller mud crab carapaces along with rough periwinkles (Littorina saxatilis) and European periwinkles (Littorina littorea).

Buried Treasure
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.

There is a small protected beach there on the boat launch, so Johann decided it was the ideal time to bury himself in the sand to his waist. After a deep wade into the water (still well below 60 degrees!) to get the sand off us (Ha!), we returned to the car and headed home giggling and talking about all the creatures and plants we had seen.

Johann has decided he would like to keep a journal to record all the creatures he has spotted in the wild. We talked about what he could do with it. He decided to include a drawing on one page along with recording the name, scientific name, location of sighting, date of sighting, habitat and status of each animal. We also talked about how he could write notes about their behavior when he sighted them. This promises to be a very long term project. Hopefully one that never ends. Of course to help him create the habit, I guess Tammy and I have to model that behavior.

Hermit Crab
Originally uploaded by eclectic echoes.