Autumn Comes to Dam Pond Maritime Reserve

Dam Pond Maritime Reserve, an area of 36 acres in East Marion, is best known for birders during early spring, mid fall, and winter migration as a place to see over-wintering land birds and water fowl. There is salt scrub and grass, hardwoods and now a grassland restoration project. It is a wonderful shallow tide pond that exits into Orient Harbor. A very narrow sandbar is all that separates the pond from Long Island Sound, yet it has been there through storms and tides as long as anyone can remember. It's a unique spot... well worth a visit.

Lights Enroute to Gardener's Island and the Race

Recently we put the boat in at Greenport Harbor and headed due east to do some fly casting on and beyond the Plum and Gardiners Islands flats. The day was a bit hazy and the air had a little bite to it. We were hoping to catch blue fish, striped bass and false albacore (little tunny) but the weather from the northeast two days earlier had put them down and only the "albies" were spotted under a flock of gulls hitting the water to eat the scraps left by the marauding fish. I fought one briefly before it managed to get unhooked, a risk I take by using only barbless hooks which do almost no damage to the fish I want to release. Only their egos are hurt. The day was not a total loss however. I had my camera and squeezed off a few shots of the light houses we passed along the way and enjoyed the companionship of my boat mates and an excellent packed lunch to be eaten at slack tide waiting for the change to incoming.


Long Beach Bar Light (Bug Light)




Little Gull Light




Plum Island Light




Orient Point Light (the Coffee Pot)




Plum Gut at slack tide with the Coffee Pot to the extreme left and Plum Light on the right. The water goes through this two mile wide gut with depths from 60 to 200 - 300 feet. My brother Bruce would remember a white knuckle passage we made several years ago. Click here for a video made from a powered sailboat fighting the current.



For more photos and commentary about this area and north to Connecticut see Matthew Housekeepers excellent blog "Soundbounder".

Sky Watch Friday - A Goodbye to Summer

It is so very, very difficult for me to say goodbye to summer. I'm at my happiest and feeling my best during the days of blazing sun and warm waters, early dawns and late sunsets, the natural progression of crops ripening each to be enjoyed in it's own turn. I preserve as much of it as I can for the months of cold when I need a reminder that this will pass. I cling to summer for days after the autumnal equinox has come and gone and rime frost has twinkled on the grass. At last my cold fingers just can't hang on anymore and I have to let go.

For more Skywatch Friday photos click here.

Sky Watch Friday Photos 9/30

I went down to the inlet as soon as I could the other morning with 2 fly rods. I had a 9', 9 weight with floating line and an 8', 6 weight with an intermediate sinking tip. The purpose was not to catch fish but to practice my fly casting to avoid embarrassing myself badly when casting with my father-in-law who was to arrive very shortly for two weeks of fishing the migrating striped bass on the flats near Gardiner's Island, around the Ruins and in The Race just east of Plum Island. As light gradually came into the sky I was struck by how ominous it first appeared. Fortunately I had my camera. Unfortunately I'd been too loaded down to bring a tripod, hence, a second series of grainy shots (where's my quality control!) that seemed too dramatic to pass up for a Sky Watch Friday. Please bear with me...

For more Sky Watch Friday photos, please click here.

North Fork Herons

These birds were all photographed in the early to midmorning and at considerable distance and with out a tripod which could explain why the shots are so grainy. Still, I wanted to share them. The Night Heron below was my first sighting of the species.

The Black-crowned Night Heron, sometimes referred to as Black Capped Night Heron. Click to enlarge, note the beautiful orange eye.

The Great Blue Heron.

The Green Heron.

The Great White Egret sometimes referred to as Great White Heron.