Charlestown Mudflats

One of the channels in Ninigret Pond

The last three times I went to the Cape Cod Canal, I blanked. Worse than that, I saw very few fish caught. Right now, the Canal is the only show in town for big stripers. Since I haven't had any luck there the last two weeks, I decided not to go fishing on my day off. If you have wondered when the hiking posts will come, they won't be coming for a while. I've been nursing a bum heel for a month. I decided to make an adult decision and not hike until it feels better.

So with two of my favorite summertime hobbies off the board, I decided to do Plan C. I went to one of my favorite late summer hangouts, Charlestown Breachway to do a little birding. These mudflats are one of my favorite places to be in August and early September, second only to New Hampshire. Behind Charlestown Beach and Breachway is Ninigret Pond. In the pond are acres of mudflats. These mudflats are a resting place for shorebirds returning south after breeding in the Arctic. Yes, believe it or not, shorebirds are already "going south for the winter"

Besides birding, Ninigret Pond is a great place for many activities. Today alone, I saw people doing ALL of the following:

Great Egret

Kayaking
Paddleboarding,
Crabbing
Quahogging
Cruising in boats
Setting up lawn chairs away from crowds
Fishing (doubt they caught much, but I know there are fluke in the pond)

Birding is best around low tide when more of the flats are exposed. I got there at mid-tide and stayed an hour past low. After I walked around for a couple hours I sat on my beached kayak and let the birds come to me. Nothing rare came close, but the little peeps are not afraid of a quiet sitting human at all. This made for some easy photography.

The weather was perfect today. It was 82 degrees with a slight breeze. There wasn't any humidity. Just a picture perfect summer day. I couldn't believe it when I got back to my car and it was almost 2 pm. I certainly made the right choice today.

 Pictures of birds below.

Willet

Red Knot transitioning to grey winter plumage 

Snowy Egret coming in hot

These little peeps were not cropped. They came within five
feet of me

Pectoral Sandpiper

Brown/Black/White bird is a Ruddy Turnstone

Not a great picture but a Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs.
The Greater is in the back. Huge size difference in real life

Ruddy Turnstone