Red-breasted merganser (female).
This morning was cold (single digits (F)) and sunny and full of crows and chickadees. I decided to do a little work, so I did. Then I decided to skip Beech Hill today and head for the Rockland Breakwater instead.
Great cormorant.
So Jack and I took off, traveled the short distance to the breakwater lot. Just a couple cars there—which I thought rather odd, considering it was a fairly nice Saturday. True, a blanket of clouds had moved over by then. Was a little cold, too, I guess, but I’d dressed for it. And was glad I did.
The usual collection of mallards were hanging round the shore. What wind there was hit our faces going out. We met a couple people returning but were otherwise alone on the granite. A couple mergansers floated not far away, and I heard the familiar notes of long-tailed ducks. (I love their call, the long-tails.) Low tide. A few black ducks swam off beyond the rocks on the island side, where I spotted a solitary harbor seal reclining on a stone.
Herring gulls, but not too many. As many crows, in fact—I saw (and heard) at least three flapping away across the harbor. A few eiders off the east side, along with a peeping black guillemot in winter plumage.
I looked for purple sandpipers but saw none. I looked for goldeneyes, but there were none to be seen. Snow flurries blew around us as we walked. A big loon or two floated on either side of the breakwater, looking prehistoric. And a great cormorant stood on the rocks in front of us as we neared the lighthouse. We got within perhaps fifty feet of it before it decided to split the scene.
Long-tailed ducks.
Returning was easier, with the wind behind us. We met a group of four walking out—i.e., only six others out walking today.
About half-way back, I heard the voices of innumerable Canada geese and looked off to see a flock of maybe a hundred circling around the Samoset golf course property. Geese are not an endangered species around here at any season, it seems.
Before we got back in the pickup, there came a repeated tweet from a tangle of vegetation nearby, so I paused. Jack wondered what we were up to—but after a minute or so, a bright male cardinal hopped up into view. First cardinal of the year.
In town later, I saw pigeons, ring-bills, and more herring gulls. Back home, I heard a house sparrow chirping from across the road.
And tonight, a light snow is falling. A gentle snow for a change.
Rockland Breakwater List
Beginning at 1:45 p.m., I walked the length of the breakwater.
Red breasted merganser (female).
1. Mallard
2. Red-breasted merganser
3. Long-tailed duck
4. Black duck
5. Herring gull
6. American crow
7. Common eider
8. Black guillemot
9. Common loon
10. Great cormorant
11. Canada goose
Elsewhere
12. Black-capped chickadee
13. Northern cardinal
14. Rock pigeon
15. Ring-billed gull
16. House sparrow
Mallard.
Tags: American crow, black duck, black guillemot, black-capped chickadee, Canada goose, common eider, common loon, great cormorant, herring gull, house sparrow, long-tailed duck, mallard, northern cardinal, red-breasted merganser, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon
