The inland hills.
I awoke to a wet world, a gray world, a chilly world—but not a rainy world. The wind seemed brisk, and the air temperature hovered in the upper-30s (F) when first I checked. A good little stream was flowing off the hill in the north side yard. But there was no precipitation.I heard a cardinal. I saw a crow. I heard a nuthatch.
Cloud shadows.
In late morning, as dog and I headed for our daily Beech Hill hike, I noticed some blue in the western sky. That didn’t hurt my feelings. In the eastern sky I noticed a herring gull.
Heading up the hill I heard chickadees, is all. Water lay pooled in the low spots. The views from the summit seemed particularly inspiring—patches of blue, moving cloud shadows on the inland hills, misty skies to the east. On the way back down, we leaned against a strong, frigid headwind.
On a little drive, I saw ring-bills and pigeons and a mourning dove or two. The skies remained tumultuously dramatic all day, with a number of dark-above, light-below vistas. Then I left my wallet in town and decided to ride my bike to pick it up: that’s about as chilly as I want to be on a bicycle.
Soon after I returned, it began to snow.
The snow didn’t stick. The sky got to clearing. Tonight, through the bare oak branches, shone the light of a waxing moon.
Today’s List
Northern cardinal
American crow
White-breasted nuthatch
Black-capped chickadee
Mourning dove
Herring gull
Ring-billed gull
Rock pigeon
House finch
Rockport Harbor.
Tags: American crow, black-capped chickadee, herring gull, house finch, mourning dove, northern cardinal, ring-billed gull, rock pigeon, white-breasted nuthatch
