The bay today.
The day dawned overcast and chilly. By “chilly,” I mean, oh, a couple degrees above freezing. Not exactly wintry. In fact, this winter’s been crazy—good early snow and some nice cold snaps, then a thaw, and another thaw, and some rain, and another thaw. Now there are no ice houses on the local ponds, and liquid water laps at the shore of Chickawaukee Lake, whose greater expanse somehow still carries a husk of ice. In my yard this morning I saw two small piles of very old snow where gigantic plow-drifts had been a month ago.
Ferry.
Not only was it gray, but a brisk wind blew. And in the wind: tiny snowflakes. A little gang of chickadees flitted around the place, gleaning what food they could out of the bare branches of some lilacs. I finally got out of the office in mid-afternoon, as tiny snowflakes danced around. Saw herring gulls and crows and ring-bills, either on the wing or (in the case of the gulls) sitting atop the old mill building in town. In Rockport Harbor, I caught sight of a single male bufflehead.
Late in the day I decided to brave the breakwater, despite the apparent increase in wind and snow. Temperature: mid-30s (F). Sure enough, on the way out I felt myself being blown from behind—which made me cringe at the thought of the return trip. On the island side, waves and whitecaps and a pair of black ducks and a single common loon. The ducks and loon rocked in the waves. The loon had full breeding plumage, I noticed.
On the harbor side, I saw a pair of red-breasted mergansers. And aside from a few herring gulls, that was it as far as birds were concerned. I did see an island ferry coming in—seemingly far off course.
The way back took more effort than I’d imagined. By then a strong headwind had wound up to the point that I had to lean hard into it to get anywhere. Felt like I was walking uphill. Spray and snowflakes stung my eyes. I loved it. I felt alive.
On the way home, a pair of robins flew across the road in front of me. Once I arrived, I felt some tired.
Today’s List
Black-capped chickadee
American crow
Herring gull
Ring-billed gull
Bufflehead
Black duck
Common loon
Red-breasted merganser
American robin
A bit of a blow.
Tags: American crow, American robin, black duck, black-capped chickadee, common loon, herring gull, red-breasted merganser, ring-billed gull
