Quiet now, I see a Great Blue heron at the grassy shallow spot along the river's edge just beyond the fast water of the narrow rock gorge choke point of the International Rift. The large, yet graceful blue grey bird with long slender legs and a delicate swooping crown piece feather trailing off her snake-like head is carefully stalking her breakfast. Her leg lifts, arcs forward, and carefully dips back into the water without making a noise or a riffle and then her body weight shifts and she moves a step forward, her eyes locked on some prize just beneath the surface that we cannot see. We hand signal to each other, Diane and I, and carefully stow our paddles crosswise on the deck to keep from making a sound in the water. We let the river's current draw us closer as we observe the breakfast dance. Her bright yellow eye is peircing as it sweeps left and right following some prey. A quick glance at us, and we are as if invisible, just as irrelevant as the reflection of the early morning sun off the shimmering water. Then, an eddy begins to slew my bow around, and the breeze catches my boat's slender stern, and I am spinning away from the scene. By the time my paddle is in the water for a correction, the bird makes three great flaps of its 7 foot wingspan, releases a spasm of white guano, squaks loudly and is swooping off around a bend in the narrow stream.
A Turkey Vulture sits patiently on a picnic table on Bingham Island, overlooking the river's eddy in which I am resting, looking for what might wash in.
One of a pair of Osprey's in a tall tree overlooking the International Rift calls out and asks us to leave his fishing area.
Diane floating in the pond beyond the fast moving water of the rift:
Free dockside lending library on Honey Bee Island, Ontario. The colorful flowers and California State flag call our attention to this pocket sized island in the middle of the Internaitonal Rift. On a pole by the edge of the dock hangs a fairy tale glass fronted mailbox clearly labeled as a free lending library. The only way to "check out" a book was by reaching over to the box from a boat, but with the low water right now, and our perch in kayaks, the best I could borrow was this photograph.
Another side of Honey Bee Island, this dock garden sits below the bench made from a surf board.
The night temperatures are beginning to drop, and the Geese have begun the process of forming up into large flocks for thier pending migration. The family groups are coalessing, sorting each other out, and a pecking order is getting established. Here a newly forming flock of Canadian Geese is taking flight.
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