PADDLING THE LAPLATTE FOR BIRDS AND CRITTERS

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

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. 

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

immature Green Heron, preening

This is a first-year Great Blue Heron. At first glance, all that mottling in front puzzled us!

Black-crowned Night Heron

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.)

Double-crested Cormorant

Canada Goose

Osprey - female and chick

Caspian Tern

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!

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!

I THINK I CAN, I THINK I CAN - Young Green Heron at LaPlatte

Adolescence is HARD! There are so many life skills to learn. If you're a young bird, you'd better learn them fast, or you'll starve!

I'm getting mighty hungry. 

No prob.

I know what to do!

I watched Mom and Dad fishing lots of times.

The yummy little fishies are down there, in the water.

First you find a nice stick to stand on.

Then you flatten yourself out and creep along the stick, real sneaky-like.

Ah, this is good. That funny-looking leaf will disguise me. 

YES! A tasty little fish! 

Hmmm. Farther away than I thought. 

No problem. Just lean forward a bit more!

And a little more.

SPLASH!

Was anyone watching?!? 

No one to the left ...

 No one to the right...

Whew! That could have been embarrassing!

This time I'll hold on even tighter.

When we walked the trail at the LaPlatte River Marsh Nature Area, we were riveted by the sight of a young Green Heron figuring out how to catch a fish. 

The poor youngster started out on a limb a full yard  above the water - and fell in twice. Then it tried hopping to another branch, overcorrected, and almost fell in again. 

Finally, the bird went to a much lower branch and successfully caught two fish in a few minutes. 

It's a steep learning curve when your very life depends on it!

We heard a train, an airplane, and distant cars and lawnmowers - but there's still a sense of remoteness as this trail winds through woods, along the river and beside an extensive wetland. 




















In addition to the Green Heron, we saw Great Blue Herons and a Black-crowned Night-Heron along with nesting Eastern Kingbirds and fishing Belted Kingfishers. Other birds included  Song Sparrows, a Wood Duck, phoebes, Common Yellowthroats, Eastern Wood-Pewee and Great Crested Flycatcher.

Ospreys are raising young on the platform near the entrance to the trail. 


















The feisty youngster did its best to look and sound dangerous. 


Another critter with a raptor name caught our attention: a Common Pondhawk.

There were also delicate blue dragonflies.




Every time we walk in an area like this, we're grateful for organizations such as The Nature Conservancy and all of the state's various land trusts for conserving such beauty!

More photos from this peaceful ramble:

photos by Bernie, words by Maeve