As part of the rarities round-up organized by Kurt Gaskill, I took a
kayak out from the "put-in" on Ramp Road at the Eastern Shore NWR. You
all saw the gorgeous weather today (Saturday Nov. 11th). I kayaked
around the high tide, with little or no waves and wind, from 11:40 to
1:30 PM. I covered the "Virginia Inside Passage" (shown on the NWR
brochure) from the put-in out to the northeast end, and out to the near
shore of Skidmore Island. Round-trip about 3 miles.
Not much was happening at mid-day. I saw several of the same species
that Jan Beavers and Bill Keith and I had seen earlier, at Fisherman's
Island. The only species I could add to those were 16 OYSTERCATCHERS
and 2 LAUGHING GULLS on Skidmore Island.
The two best bird sights were a COMMON LOON which I was able to paddle
right by in the open water near Skidmore, and a NORTHERN HARRIER
crossing over that same water (about 1/4 mile). I had never seen a land
raptor over open water before. Unlike the normal low flight of a
harrier, this one was a good 60-ish or more feet above the water.
I also got incredibly close to several GREATER YELLOWLEGS in the reeds
which constitute most of what you see from the kayak. I believe the
kayaking there at ESV NWR may yield some great birding opportunities
near dusk and dawn - wrens, rails, etc. You can get very close to birds
that way.
The main non-avian highlight was paddling past many huge medusa-type
jellyfish, all swimming "sideways" compared to how I'd always imagined
them. I.e. the "axis" of rotational symmetry is horizontal in the
water. Makes sense if you consider that they swim along that axis by
pushing the water with their outer circumference.
Nice place for kayaking. Surprisingly little boat traffic for a
Saturday with great weather. I checked with a ranger and with the
visitor center "greeter", and they both said the only concern with
kayaking there is the tide. They said the Ramp Road "put-in" gets
completely dry at low tide. Sounds like Catch-22, if you want to
observe birds at low or medium tide on the mud flats etc.
Much thanks to Kurt for organizing this, and Bill Keith and Jan Beavers
for leading me on a wonderful walk on Fisherman's Island. Bill Sain, I
hope we can go kayaking and/or birding together some time.
- Steve Johnson
Fairfax, VA
