Leaf, Beech Hill.
You could just feel it. Something about the angle of the sunlight, something in the ambient sound outside. Soon after rising I was antsy to get out of doors—even before I checked the thermometer, which showed 40s (F) early. But I had a couple obligations, which I handled responsibly despite the fishhook in my gills.
Northern cardinal.
In the wild blue sky on a quick trip to town, I saw herring gulls circle, rock pigeons wheel, and a couple ring-bills sitting on a roof near the fast food places. Then I turned off toward the breakwater.
By then, the temperature had reached the mid-50s. I heard then saw a male cardinal sitting in tangles at the edge of the parking lot. The breakwater was packed with walkers. It was mid-tide, so what water birds there were stayed at a little distance. More loons (heard one call), a raft of common eiders on the island side, loose flocks of long-tails in the harbor emitting their conversational calls. At the lighthouse end, I counted three humans sunning themselves on the great granite blocks with their eyes closed.
Common loon.
Then I took a spin by Weskeag Marsh. Not much hoppin’ there—a few Canada geese, a pair of black ducks, a solitary gull. That’s all I saw.
So I headed to Beech Hill. Also relatively packed, with a number of vehicles in the parking lot. Still warm and bright as I strode up the trail—but with strong, variable breezes that scattered last fall’s leaves like miniature herds of springboks beneath the tall bare hardwoods on either side of the trail. I heard only the voices of chickadees, dogs, and people.
Deer trail, Beech Hill.
Curiously, I ended up alone on the summit. A stout west wind bent the stalks of old wildflowers on the sod roof of Beech Nut. You could see open water on the fringes of Chickawaukie Lake below, and Monhegan Island—and neighboring Manana—floated hazily on the southern horizon.
For early March, the day was unnaturally, outlandishly warm. I didn’t mind it—in fact, consciously savored it on more than one occasion—but it made me worry a little. A sort of nebulous, hard-to-pin-down worry. It wasn’t so much fear of climate change as it was concern about migrating species and their arrival times and the possibility of a late, killing blizzard. Crazy, dreamlike worry. Not anything I take too seriously.
Later today, I took an unscheduled drive to Owls Head. En route, I saw a pair of buffleheads floating alone in the middle of a tidal pool—perhaps contemplating their flight back north on some upcoming day just like today.
Today’s List
Herring gull
American crow
Rock pigeon
Ring-billed gull
Northern cardinal
Common eider
Common loon
Long-tailed duck
Black-capped chickadee
Canada goose
Black duck
Bufflehead
Harbor sky.
Tags: American crow, black duck, black-capped chickadee, bufflehead, Canada goose, common eider, common loon, herring gull, long-tailed duck, northern cardinal, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon
