January 31, 2008 by OrientSee.

Finally the end of January, the longest month of the year. Today was bright and clear but there wasn’t much to see. The tide was low and not even the ducks were around. It was fine to be out walking but it was a tad boring until this pigeon shaped bird landed on a tree in the park. Pigeons don’t ordinarily hang in the park so I knew it had to be something else. When I got close enough, it was this Kestrel and suddenly it wasn’t boring anymore. It hung around for a while then out by the parking lot, I found it again and then best of all a second Kestrel. A day with two Kestrels in it is a very good day for me. Their gold feathers shine out in the sun.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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January 30, 2008 by OrientSee.

Today was a miserable day. It started spitting rain but supposedly it was to clear. Instead it started to rain and that ended my walk this morning. I disturbed this Great Blue Heron and then except for the usual trio of pigeons, gulls and starlings everything else was in hiding. It wasn’t even quiet for the planes were landing to the south which meant lots of noisy traffic overhead. Kind of cranky day for a cranky guy.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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January 29, 2008 by OrientSee.

I flushed a hawk as I entered the thicket by the casket company. Usually it’s a Red-tail who immediately flies off into the distance. Today it just moved over a tree or two and then I could see that it was this Cooper’s Hawk. A nice start to a walk. It was low tide so there wasn’t that much else to see but I did get to listen to a Downy Woodpecker pecking away while a flock of robins was busy in some tree litter nearby. A trio of Chickadees was busy making their chatter. So it was a sort of mini-orchestral performance. For a warm day in January it was a nice trip into the marsh.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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January 28, 2008 by OrientSee.

Wicked fierce. The wind and the waves were very strong today. It was not the sort of day for a stroll in the marsh. So I went over to the beach and watched waves until I got too cold. A small storm blew past yesterday and it kicked up the Atlantic. So today we had waves. I had forgotten this small pleasure and was glad to have found it again. Wicked fierce is part of my past. I grew up in the tribal areas of deepest Boston. We spoke a different language and had some strange customs. Boston was a different world then, not better or worse, just different. Wicked was a part of speech that figured in nearly everything that you had to say. It’s not commonly heard anymore but it said a lot about who you were and where you came from. The best things were wicked pissah. Don’t laugh. It was a mark of high enthusiasm and respect.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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January 27, 2008 by OrientSee.

The snow was coming down and so I hoped for a very quiet meditative walk this morning. It was quite pretty but the noise never let up. The snow wasn’t hard enough to discourage the planes and then it seemed that everybody decided to go out for donuts. The road traffic was far more than usual for a Sunday morning. Finally when quiet came, there came this horrible noise. It sounded like a pack of dogs tearing into a flock of sea gulls. The birds were screaming. It was just awful. Then I got over to the park and found the sled dogs. They were the source of all the noise. There were no gulls, just excited huskies who wanted to pull a sled. It was a demonstration of dog sledding not gull slaughter. There were far too many people to take a picture of the dogs. Instead a photo of the one moment that it was peaceful out in the thicket.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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January 25, 2008 by OrientSee.

Somebody has set up a rough feeder out in the thicket. The chickadees were in and out. A quick shot of one just leaving with a large seed in his beak.

There was a group of gulls whirling around over the flat grass of the marsh. They were wheeling and swooping. I got to the boardwalk and finally understood what was going on. There was shell litter on the frozen ice surface. The gulls were shell busting. A gull will find a mussel and then drop it so that the shell will crack and then they can eat it. The group must have found a good mussel bed to feed from because there was quite a group dropping shells while others were busy stealing from the first group. Quite suddenly it all stopped. I looked up and saw that a Red-tail Hawk was soaring above watching all the activity. The gulls immediately stopped their antics and settled down in the grass. The hawk drifted on and the gulls started up again. It was all great fun to watch.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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January 22, 2008 by OrientSee.

High tide and the spartina is covered while the phragmites towers above the water. It’s warmer today and with the ice gone and the water is open, the ducks are feeding much closer in than yesterday. The mallards seem to be little bothered by my presence.

I was unable to photograph today’s best moment. As I was walking the path through the thicket, I came to a place where there is an open space caused by a stretch of very low wet land. No bushes or trees grow here just reeds and grass. There are slightly higher banks where the thicket resumes. It offers a little perspective to the close packed thicket on either side. I had stopped to see if anything was stirring. In the midst of this quiet moment, a glorious blue gray clipper ship sailed before me not twenty feet away. The Great Blue Heron effortless glided in front of me and I was struck still by the sight. Then it was gone. My jaw hung slack in amazement. A second passed and a great loopy grin covered my face. It was a moment to enjoy.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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January 21, 2008 by OrientSee.

An even colder night followed by a bright day. The smaller ditches are iced up so the ducks and geese are further out in the open water. There were definitely fewer small birds in sight. The mockingbird who thinks that he is cat showed up again today. A Great Blue Heron flew by in the distance. It was like watching a jumbo jet cruise by. This piece of flotsam was resting in the grass and the rich rust color was a delight. I’m not sure why this piece of timber was so wrapped up in chains. It surely is not attached to anything now. Nearby one of the ditches narrows suddenly and makes a right angle turn. When the tide is running fast, Charybdis appears. Charybdis is the mythological monster that we call a whirlpool. This whirlpool doesn’t swallow ships but it is fascinating to watch. Shard of ice bounce up and down as they are swept up and down into the whirlpool. With the sun bouncing off the ice it makes for a great light show.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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January 20, 2008 by OrientSee.

If you have a cat, then you’ll probably know how these curious felines can shadow your every step while watching whatever it is you are up to. It’s also how cats get stepped on. Lately there are less small birds around and so it is easier to pay attention to a single individual. I realized today that this bird follows me like a cat for some distance every day. At some point there is an end to his territory and he stops following. Up to that point, he is always lurking close by as I walk around. It’s like having a mockingbird as a pet cat. Today was cold and very windy. The tide was high and so there were plenty of ducks and geese feeding off the submerged grass. The Cooper’s Hawk was prowling the thicket while the Red-tail kept his lordly distance. The buffleheads were diving in the creek. It was another day in the marsh. Another cold day filled with bright blue skies and plenty of birds.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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January 18, 2008 by OrientSee.

A very bright afternoon after a very gray morning. The rain lifted and the skies cleared into a shiny new day. It has gotten warm for January but a another arctic cold blast is coming in from the northwest to remind us that it is still January. Over in Rosie’s Pond, these ducks left off feeding as soon as the shutter clicked. Lunch over. The Cooper’s Hawk was brooding over the thicket from his almost hidden perch while the pheasant loudly complained about my presence. The snow cover is almost gone again and with it the tracks of the coyotes and all the birds that have been walking over the snow. Another nice day.

Ciao!

-Jorge

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