By David Harry

Staff Writer

What visitors to the Scarborough Marsh may see as grassy, wet and pungent, Pete Hayes sees as a matter of economics.

Hayes, who guides tours through the 3,100-acre saltwater marsh as a staffer with the Friends of Scarborough Marsh, calls himself an “ecological economist.”

Hayes said he delights in spending his days at the marsh, and the public is invited to join him and friends of the marsh at the annual Snowy Egret Day on Saturday, Aug. 8, beginning at 7 a.m. with a canoe tour of the marsh.

Events throughout the day include birding with a naturalist from Maine Audubon, clam digging at Pine Pont with Scarborough Harbor Master Dave Corbeau and hikes along the Eastern Trail that crosses the marsh near the Maine Audubon Center on Pine Point Road.

The snowy egret has been adapted as a symbol of the marsh, which is owned and managed by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, but the marsh is home to egrets, cormorants and other waterfowl as well as foxes, voles and fish and shellfish.

Hayes, a former electronic and software engineer, said becoming a paid staffer at the Maine Audubon visitor center on Pine Point Road has helped him stay involved with tours and educational programs for visitors.

“If I get paid a little, my wife lets me come here more,” Hayes said. He can talk at length about the benefits of the marsh and economical and ecological cost of preserving the habitat.

“My slant is different than the average birder,” he said.

What Hayes said he really enjoys is paddling through the serpentine passages of the Nonesuch and Dunstan rivers. The trip is sometimes tranquil, depending on tide and currents in the water, and frequently pungent.

“You should be here at low tide,” Hayes said on a recent trip where frequent breezes pushed salt air and the earthy scent of mud and marsh grasses through the air.

The bends in the Dunstan River create rapidly changing views of the shoreline. A paddler can see the lower end of the industrial park on Washington Street, Anjon’s restaurant on Route 1 or the bridge over the marsh where the Eastern Trail passes through.

At low tide, Hayes said, it is hard to see above the mud banks and cord grasses that are constantly reshaped by the flow of the water.

Hayes said the balance of which species depend on the marsh and how they adapt to it is what fascinates him.

“A food web is a much better description than a food chain. The stability is related to niches and inter-relationships,” he said.

Hayes explained freshwater flowing into the marsh carries sediment, branches and other material downstream where it is absorbed by the grasses and soil in the marsh.

The tide from the Atlantic brings salt water and fowl in search of food. Salt marsh hay was once used to feed livestock.

On the water, it is difficult to see the egrets – Hayes said they gather in “pannes,” areas where cord grasses or salt hay have given way to pools trapping fish the egrets eat.

But cormorant sightings are common; they flap and splash their way off the water as paddlers approach and will sometimes congregate on sign posts set where channels intersect on the Dunstan River.

Hayes said he has seen the egrets and cormorants combine talents to get food. Cormorants, which have webbed feet, will dive for fish in the middle of the channel, driving some to the edge where egrets may grasp them with their spindly talons. Fish not caught by egrets will swim back to the center of the channel, Hayes said.

Canoes and kayaks are available for rent at the visitor center, and Hayes conducts morning marsh tours during the week. The visitor center is also a free public boat launch.

For more information on the marsh and Snowy Egret Day, call the Friends of Scarborough Marsh at 883-5100, visit www.maineaudubon.org or email smac@maineaudubon.org.

Staff writer David Harry can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 219