SCROLL DOWN TO THE NEXT POST FOR INFORMATION ABOUT MAEVE'S NEW BOOK!! Birds and birders, familiar Vermont birding locations, and spicy romance - It's got it all!
BUT NOW - Paddling the LaPlatte
words by Maeve, photos by Bernie and Maeve
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Put your kayak or canoe in at the Shelburne Bay State Fishing Access and paddle up the LaPlatte River.
It's best to go fairly early in the summer, when water levels are usually high and you can explore the marshy areas to the sides of the main current and maybe float over or around any fallen trees.
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| Great Blue Heron |
But any time during late spring, summer and fall, the river and marshes are full of life!
Herons love the marshes! |
| Green Heron |
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| immature Green Heron, preening |
This is a first-year Great Blue Heron. At first glance, all that mottling in front puzzled us!
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| Black-crowned Night Heron |
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| Great Egret |
Other water-loving birds also love this place!
Marsh Wrens rattle from all sides, although only the fortunate get to actually see one. (This photo was taken at a different paddling location; we don't have any from the LaPlatte.)
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| Double-crested Cormorant |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Osprey - female and chick |
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| Caspian Tern |
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| Mallards |
And LOTS of other birds! I have seen a total of 93 species along the LaPlatte, including a Common Gallinule (2024), a Snowy Egret ('23), seven species of ducks, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, a Solitary Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, six members of the woodpecker family, six kinds of flycatchers (Eastern Kingbirds regularly nest on a fallen willow tree not far from Shelburne Bay), and almost fifty species of song birds. One of my favorite memories is paddling on an overcast day, surrounded by quiet, and suddenly the clouds parted and a ray of sunlight highlighted a male Scarlet Tanager on a branch close to the water!
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| Ring-billed Gull |
Paddling the LaPlatte is also a great opportunity to observe other wildlife.
Painted Turtles were sunning on logs and swimming right by our boats. Bernie photographed several, and Maeve reached out and petted one.
At least two dozen tiny green frogs were leaping up the muddy bank alongside the river. Bernie looked them up when we got home, and they were young Northern Leopard Frogs, Vermont's state amphibian.
The Nature Conservancy has a trail that runs along part of the LaPlatte. Here are information and photos about that!
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