1 September cruise on Riverquest's Adventure to see the swallows swarming over Goose Island in Old Lyme. The cruise left from Eagle Landing State Park, just under the bridge across from the Goodspeed Opera House.
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4 Gillette Castle and the Hadlyme Ferry
5 Bald Eagle perched on a dead tree on Nott Island
6 Bald Eagle perched on a dead tree on Nott Island
7 Cormorants perched on a channel marker
8 We arrive at the wild grass beds of Goose Island to find a mother and her gosling
9 As the sun lowers in the sky, other boaters start to gather to watch the swallow show
10 Boaters gathered at the bank of Goose Island
11 The swallows start to gather over Goose Island
12 Most of the swallows are gathering over the small fresh water inlet on the other side of the island
13 You can see the swallows on the ship's radar now. The vertical stripe to the right of the red diamond (where we are) is Goose Island. The fuzzy blob to the right of that are the swallows. The large white areas to the right of that is the Eastern shore of the Connecticut River and Old Lyme.
14 We are starting to see the murmurations of the swallows as they increase in number and start looking for their resting spots in the grass beds for the night
15 Swallow murmurations
16 With one final murmuration, the swallows descend en masse to rest for the night in the grass beds of Goose Island
17 Beautiful sunset colors as we head back north on the Connecticut River
18 We pass the lights of Essex Harbor as we head home
