Wrack and Ruin

This morning's high high tide flooded the main trail around the marsh and forced me to push my way through a much rougher trail at the very edge where marsh meets upland. There was a lot of hurricane debris which was pushed or floated in by the Irene storm tide but was stopped by the dense bushes and tree trunks at this intersection of land and water. The old dock that used to sit out in the middle of the main trail was in here along with piles of wrack and all sorts of ruin. The wind was from the northeast and the sound of surf came from the east rather than from the south.

There was quite a bit of evidence of bird movement, mostly somewhat away from the immediate edge. Robins were on the move in their usual fall pattern -- from south to north! A few of them seem to have located a Tupelo tree whose berries were not entirely blown off by Irene. Berries of this Tupelo plus the newly ripened Chinaberries and Bittersweet berries were being eaten by small flocks of Catbirds along with the Robins.

Black-capped Chickadees and Tufted Titmice, both also in flocks, were joined by a Rose-breasted Grosbeak and a number of warblers including American Redstart, Black-and-white, Yellow, and a handsome fall-plumaged Chestnut-sided Warbler. The fall plumage of this last bird -- green-backed, white eye-ring, yellow wing bars -- may be the most handsome 'off' plumage of any of the warblers. There was a big flock of Common Grackles mixed with some Starlings spread out through the woods and also around the house; they were even helping to clear our gutters of debris by tossing out the leaves that had accumulated there! A few Royal Terns still calling and flying up the creek.

Eric Salzman