July 12

I went to watch the platform today and count Osprey chicks. It would have been no surprise if there were fewer but it turns out that there are still three thriving chicks. It was hard to seem them all at once since the adult bird’s body obscured the view. When a second adult landed on the platform, everyone shifted and then the three chicks were obvious. I moved over to the Winthrop cemetary where I was surprised to find a very active community compost program. Looking down from the high ground, I realized how many birds there really were down in the creek. Ordinarily I cannot see down over the edge of the marsh grass at low tide so it is hard to see what  it is actually down in the bottom of the creek bed. Today there were at least a dozen Egrets, some shorebirds and couple of Cormorants. It was a pleasant surprise. Next, I went over to the Key on the Revere side. The Key is often quiet and that is its lure for me. Today it was a little different. A pack of a dozen Mockingbirds were noisily bickering back and forth. Some Starlings, Robins and Mourning Doves were about. Then as I turned a corner, I surprised a duck family and got this picture.

They were at the bottom of a ditch. As soon as they heard me, they scooted along. They didn’t take to wing so I assume that they are not fledged yet. Ordinarily ducks will explode into flight if I come this close. Mama got behind the kids and herded them along as fast as they could waddle. A Snowy Egret landed in one of the pools for a very typical pose.

Thankfully the bugs weren’t bad today so it was great to be out watching stuff under the big blue tent.

Ciao!

-Jorge

This entry was posted on July 12, 2008 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Daily - the next year. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.