Sunset at Ballyhac Cove.
Kind of a lazy Sunday. A breeze kicked up early, and the temperatures stayed fairly low. The big snowstorm in the news these past couple days not only passed well to the south of us but also to south of New York, 400 miles distant, where my daughter lives. (The mid-Atlantic got socked, I gather.) Here at the 44th parallel, all is fairly nice for winter—sunny, windy, cold.
American crow.
From the deck at mid-morning, I heard a few chickadees chattering away up the hill. They sounded happy and animated, as if excited about the lengthening photoperiod and the certainty of spring. Not long after, three crows landed in the limbs of the oaks and commenced with their varied calls. Crows tend to come in threes.
In late-afternoon I kept an appointment in Owls Head. En route, I took Buttermilk Lane thinking I might see the sparrow I missed photographing yesterday, but no dice. The wide, icy expanse of the Weskeag Marsh extended brightly to the south, and I checked most every perch on passing trees for shrikes, but none appeared. Gulls flew high and solo in the mostly clear blue sky.
I didn’t see a lot of birds today. But come sunset, I found myself on the wind-whipped shore of Ballyhac Cove under a western sky that looked like an oil painting. Beautiful.
And the stars tonight are profuse and sharp and twinkling.
Today’s List
Black-capped chickadee
American crow
Herring gull
Ring-billed gull
Rock pigeon
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, herring gull, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon
