A Morning Paddle

Friday promised to be a pretty day so in spite of a pretty good list of tasks to do: mow lawn, split and stack wood, exercise the dog, and so on — I headed out early for a paddle on Wrightsville Reservoir with my new Hornbeck boat. (More on that in a future post.)

There was no one on the water as I headed out to the calls of a Belted Kingfisher and a host of Common Yellowthroats and Song Sparrows. I had my binoculars and instead of my camera, my iPhone 6.

I am experimenting with the zoom on the iPhone and finding that the quality degrades fairly rapidly. Coming upon a family of nearly mature Mallards, I coasted toward them, getting this low-res photo.

Moving slowly with the boat, I never startled this group, even though they certainly knew I was there.

Moving slowly with the boat, I never startled this group, even though they certainly knew I was there.

A little further up, another family, less the daddy, cruised along. These were younger.

Mallards1W

Since the reservoir is a flood control unit, the water levels vary greatly throughout the year. There are many old pine trees that died but still stand starkly along the bank.

Since the reservoir is a flood control unit, the water levels vary greatly throughout the year. There are many old pine trees that died but still stand starkly along the bank.

Heading back, I came across three River Otters out for breakfast. Mom was chirping away at them as I nosed over toward them and took a few video clips with the phone. I’m learning IMovie to edit but am still low on the learning curve. These guys were neat and again, I never disturbed them.

It was a nice way to spend an hour or so on a perfect Vermont morning, and get a bit of exercise in the bargain. Good paddling.


Discover more from Vermont Birder

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

This entry was posted in Vermont Birding. Bookmark the permalink.