A Meeting of Land and Bay

     The tide was out and hundreds of laughing gulls, scores of ring-billed gulls and several each of herring and great black-backed gulls stood on the mud flats.  One might think those gulls were on flats near an ocean, but they were not.  They were at the mouth of the North East River at North East, Maryland early in the afternoon of October 22, 2015.  And scores of fish crows and American crows were on the flats with that assortment of gulls where North East River flows into Chesapeake Bay. 
     The North East River is one of the arms of the Chesapeake Bay reaching north and inland from that largest of estuaries in North America.  It is one of the places where the bay and inland habitats come together.  Large patches of phragmites, which is a kind of tall marsh grass, and deciduous woods with sycamore trees and red and silver maple trees grow along the river's shores. 
     The mouth of the North East River is one of the sheltered places just off the bay where flocks of ring-billed gulls, many of which are inland the year around, and congregations of the coastal-breeding laughing gulls intermingle in late summer and autumn, after nesting, to feed and rest before winter.  And this is also one of the places where inland American crows, coastal fish crows and the gulls meet after their breeding seasons.  It is a meeting of birds from the land and the bay.
     The fish crows and American crows never were quiet the two and a half hours I was in North East. Always restless, they flew from the flats to trees and back.  And, interestingly, I sometimes heard the "laughing cries" of the laughing gulls. 
     There were other kinds of water birds at the mouth of the North East River, including Canada geese, a few green-winged teal, at least two great blue herons, maybe three adult bald eagles, several double-crested cormorants and a few killdeer plovers.  A couple of pairs of ospreys nest here in summer, but they were farther south at the time of this writing. 
     There was much bird activity while I was there.  A laughing gull was carrying a tidbit of food and was chased by a few gulls and crows.  The geese left the water and landed on a large, short-grass lawn to feed on grass.  Something alarmed the teal and they buzzed off in rapid flight.  The herons stalked fish in the shallows, and were successful.  A pair of adult bald eagles played in the sky.  Maybe they are a mated pair.  Every time an eagle flew over the gathering of gulls and crows, many of those birds took flight in fear for their lives.  One eagle carried a fish from the bay to a tree to it its finny victim.  The cormorants were lined up on a half-submerged tree in the bay to rest and dry their feathers.  And the plovers walked about on the exposed mud and ate invertebrates from the surface of it.  But what was really interesting to me was none of the birds seemed afraid of fishing boats going in and out of the river, or any other human activity.  They must be used to human activities.  And all these birds are around inland bodies of water, including rivers, lakes and ponds.
     The mouth of the North East River is a meeting ground between inland habitat birds and Chesapeake Bay birds.  These are adaptable creatures that make use of more than one habitat.