Kayak Outing at Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge

Last Friday was a gorgeous, gorgeous day for a leisurely kayak trip on the Missisquoi River!! The temperature was perfect, there was sun and blue sky and a slight breeze, and birds welcomed us at many places along our route. 

We started at Louie's Landing off Route 78 in Swanton and headed for the mouth of the river. 

Spotted Sandpipers flitted along the shore, and this Solitary Sandpiper thoroughly enjoyed the mud and the tasty invertebrates hidden in it.

Two or three Osprey followed us for a while, giving their high chirps from trees and air. 

Great Egrets graced the shores.

We lost track of how many Great Blue Herons we saw! With the Shad Island rookery not far away, many of the herons were first-year birds.

Smaller birds also drew our attention, luring us close to shore to lay down our paddles and lift our binoculars. A family of young Eastern Phoebes, with their lemon yellow bellies, caught insects over the water. 





A pair of young Swamp Sparrows kept bright, wary eyes on us.
























At the mouth of the river, we were hoping that we might find a few migrating shorebirds among all the egrets, gulls and ducks.

Finally, right in front of us, were four Short-billed Dowitchers and six yellowlegs.








What happened next would have made a thrilling video but we can't imagine anyone being fast enough to capture the action! Both of us were frozen, open-mouthed and wide-eyed. Here's what Maeve posted on the birders' listserv after we got home:

Great day for a paddle on the Missisquoi - and great excitement at the bay. We were sitting in our kayaks watching a few yellowlegs, a few dowitchers, and many ducks and Great Egrets, when suddenly a Peregrine Falcon appeared out of nowhere, right in front of us. It dived on the shorebirds and chased one yellowlegs away from the group. We both thought the yellowlegs was a goner but it swerved and ducked and maneuvered away. The falcon chased it, going right over my head less than two feet above me. It was so intent on its prey that my boat and I were just irrelevant stationary objects not much different from a fallen tree or stump, but I got to look right in the bird’s eye as it zipped over me. The shorebird hit the water, with the falcon a split second behind. The yellowlegs actually went under for a few seconds, just long enough for the falcon to miss again. Then the frustrated hunter flew back in forth in front of our kayaks twice more, only a few feet above the water, giving us both close-up views of a truly magnificent bird! 

A highlight of the paddle back to the cars was this unidentified creature, rearing up, sniffing the air, its ears upright and alert. Was it trying to make sense of us as we were trying to make sense of it?

Bernie was able to get very close to a Lesser Yellowlegs as it fished and then neatened its wet feathers.

Bernie recalled "When you can hear the clouds drifting slowly above, look at them simultaneously in the sky and dappled undisturbed on the water you float upon, when you feel like part of nature instead of a disturbance or intruder, when the slow eddy behind you is your only trail and the drips from your paddle your only alteration of the environment - then you are welcomed into the world of shorebirds and ducks, geese, turtles, eagles, and more. 


A world of dippers and dabblers, and divers, and waders, yellow legs, black beaks, yellow beaks, black legs, bobbers, and sprinters, Sandpipers, thin legged Stilts and long beaked Dowitchers. Wetlands - an escape for us,  a refuge and home for them."