Sunset over Rockland.

Another brilliantly sunny day today. In morning, from the back deck, I heard the voices of crow, chickadee, titmouse, downy woodpecker, and American robin. Always nice to have winter robins around. After a busy, fruitful Friday, I opted for the easy walk: the Rockland breakwater, just a few minutes way. I didn’t get there until about 4 p.m.

Herring gull.

From the Clam Cove, just across the way, I knew it was a high tide. (I could’ve guessed this from the time of my view of the moon yesterday.) And when I got my first look at the breakwater, I knew it’d be an invigorating walk; its harborside waters spread calm and reflective; its bayside waters churned with whitecaps thanks to a robust northeast wind. Going out wouldn’t be so bad, but coming back might be a bit nippy. The temperature was about 30 degrees (F).

Right away I flushed a tight flock of black ducks, which wheeled over to the choppy side, touched down, and bobbed dramatically in the waves. In the western lee, a pair of red-breasted mergansers sailed and dove. In the eastern chop, a common rode it out. A pair of loons cruised the western surface, alternately dipping their faces into the water to scan the bottom—or at least I suppose that’s what they’re doing. A herring gull stood on a granite block ahead of me, looking bored.

Purple sandpiper.

I put up my hood and picked up my pace. Three times on the way out I failed to notice herring gulls on the stones directly in front of me until I’d gotten maybe thirty feet away, when they took wing, startling me. After the third, I began scanning for gulls—and right away missed three rock-colored purple sandpipers on the stones directly in front of me, keeping away from the wind. They hurried left, to the east, and flitted over onto the surf-washed riprap, twittering the way they do.

Near the lighthouse I spotted a greater black-backed gull, just standing there. I stopped and lifted my camera, but by then it’d gotten too dark for anything but grainy, blurry photos. Off on the bay side, a great cormorant bobbed a while, then vanished beneath the swell.

At the end of the breakwater, protected by the lighthouse, things seemed calm and benign. I watched a tight-packed cluster of buffleheads speed past on rapid wings. A pair of common eiders followed a similar route, but their wingbeats seemed leisurely by comparison. I climbed the steps to the upper level of the structure and got some shots of Beech Hill—my other favorite walk—standing bare below a pinkish sky, directly down the line of stones.

Beech Hill.

I also counted ring-bills and Bonapartes, but conditions weren’t the best. On the way back, in fact, even with my hood up, I marveled at rush and crash of the wind-whipped waves to my right. I got thinking about how, lacking life on earth—no trees, no beasts, no birds—there’d be very little sound or motion if not for the voice of the sea.

By happy coincidence, a vivid red sky appeared over Rockland after the sun went down. I took a few photos—well, more than a few—but they don’t come close to actually being there.

Today’s List

1. American crow
2. Black-capped chickadee
3. Tufted titmouse
4. Downy woodpecker
5. American robin
6. Herring gull
7. Black duck
8. Ring-billed gull
9. Red-breasted merganser
10. Common loon
11. Purple sandpiper
12. Great cormorant
13. Greater black-backed gull
14. Bufflehead
15. Common eider

Sunset, Rockland Breakwater, Rockland, Maine, 22 January 2010.