A really bright morning, this one. Sunny—but a little chilly. And there’d come a bit of wind. Still, that didn’t deter the resident crows from making their morning rounds, nor the titmouse from singing its cheery spring song, nor a house finch from doing likewise from across the way. Thanks to the recent thaw, good-sized sections of brown lawn lie exposed, but when taking Jack out to pee it’s all I can do to keep from slipping on the ice between them.

The temperature topped out in the low 30s (F), I’d guess. And the wind rose—even grew just a little wild. Come afternoon, I decided on a whim that Jack and I would walk the breakwater for a change.

All right, yes, I suppose a little touch of craziness went into that decision. I wanted a taste of the wild wind.

Well, I got my taste. Oh, heading out wasn’t so bad—was rather nice even, with the wind at our backsides, moving us along, leaving me free to check out three species of gull, five species of duck, a loon, a guillemot. Never mind the fact that the sun’s blazing orb hovering over Rockland Harbor discouraged glances in that direction. There’d been only a couple of vehicles in the parking lot (odd for a sunny Saturday), and we met exactly three people walking back. Tightly bundled people. When the friendly old gent I see out there often said hello through the scarf covering his face, I commented that Jack and I were doing the easy part of the trip—headed out. He laughed and wholeheartedly agreed.

At the end, far out in the harbor, sheltered by the lighthouse, we lingered a while as long-tailed ducks began their swift afternoon commute back out to the islands (or the open sea, or wherever the heck they go each afternoon). I love watching those little pied guys on the wing. Meantime, a guillemot in his spring tuxedo dove in the chop just off the riprap.

Then I drew up two hoods, zipped up my heavy down jacket, pulled on my gloves, and we started back. The cold wind fought us, slowing our progress noticeably. Both Jack and I had to lean into it. A strong, steady northwest wind, churning up whitecaps in the harbor. A female merganser floating solo on that side nearly sailed off the tips of the waves.

Wasn’t too bad, though. Only my forehead got painfully cold, and Jack didn’t seem to mind much.

Driving back out Samoset Road, we came upon an elderly lady standing outside of her stopped car inspecting a flat rear tire. Pulled over and changed her tire for her. Granted, it took a little more effort than I figured—those nuts were snug, and it took a swift kick to get the wheel off—but I managed with only a bloody fingernail to show for it. Along with profuse thanks from the really pleasant owner of the car.

Back home, tonight, the wind is roaring. The temperature’s now in the teens, I bet. Not so perfect conditions for an evening stroll.

Rockland Breakwater List
Beginning at 3:45 p.m., I walked the length of the breakwater.

1. Mallard
2. Herring gull
3. Great black-backed gull
4. Black duck
5. Common eider
6. Red-breasted merganser
7. Long-tailed duck
8. Ring-billed gull
9. Black guillemot
10. Common loon

Elsewhere

11. American crow
12. Tufted titmouse
13. House finch
14. Mourning dove

Tags: American crow, black duck, black guillemot, common eider, common loon, great black-backed gull, herring gull, house finch, long-tailed duck, mallard, mourning dove, red-breasted merganser, ring-billed gull, tufted titmouse

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 19th, 2011 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Lists, Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.