South Shore Journal

February 20, 2008 - Looks like snow again...

Yup, that's what the forecast is telling us for next Friday and Saturday, and in this case, I don't mind one bit. February has been kind to us, with some rather temperate breaks here and there, getting up into the fifties at times. More than we could ask for, if you ask me. And the birding has been fun. So was the origami class our caretaker, Ellen Adams held, at left.

On February 8, David Ludlow and I took the Friday Morning Birders up to my neck of the woods, up onto a neck of land known as Hull. Yes, Nantasket Beach. Yes, where I grew up. We didn't mean, at first, to go there, but after an unsuccessful search for a Townsend's solitaire in Hingham, we suddenly had one of those "Well, we're this far north" moments that hit us from time to time, and as such decided to check out the Hull Redevelopment Authority land, a parcel now comically four decades in the "redevelopment" stage. In the meantime, some pretty interesting bird sightings have taken place here. That day we found a flock of forty or so horned larks, a winter specialty.

When we go to the HRA land, we also go to the Meade Avenue overlook, and would be remiss if we bypassed Straits Pond without a glance. We were glad we stopped. After finding another small flock of horned larks, we came across a nice discovery, a Barrow's goldeneye. Limiting ourselves to spots outside of Plymouth for a few weeks, we had become resigned to the fact that we had missed the Barrow's on Great Herring Pond, and would probably not see one this year at all. This guy made up for that one. The Iceland gull off Crescent Beach wasn't bad either. Neither was the flock of purple sandpipers off Minot Beach, below.

A windy morning on Duxbury Beach the following Sunday brought out nothing special, and the freezing temperatures on the following day made me thankful to be indoors. That morning I gave a talk on local history to the fourth graders in Hull, an excitable group that taught me a thing or two I had never known before about our common home town. On Valentine's Day I walked the trails of both the North River and Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuaries with the South Shore quest booklet folks, allowing them to test out my new masterpieces, "The Owl's Quest" and "Hannah Eames' Quest," in preparation for their launch in April. Heavy rains the night before had made the trails beyond soggy, but the trips were fun nonetheless.

On Friday the 15th, we birded again, with mixed results. We had been pre-alerted to a feeder flock of common redpolls, one that actually showed up on cue. On the way to see them, I spied a sharp-shinned hawk in a puddle, and when we reversed direction, we watched it fly off with what we believed was a northern flicker in its talons. After an hour, we had barely reached double digits in species. The woods around Scituate and Hingham were silent. We moved to the coast, and ended the day with a flurry, 46 species strong.

That afternoon, I joined our regional scientist, Robert Buchsbaum, in placing 40 coverboards on the North River Wildlife Sanctuary. When the spring rains arrive, it'll be time for red-backed salamanders to come out and be counted. Through briars and downed trees we marched, trying to move as adroitly as possible in straight lines. Hah! Fat chance. But we tried our best. The next morning, I led a walk at Daniel Webster at sunrise (6:38 a.m.), the Friday Morning Rewind trip (9-12), finding bobcat tracks at Wampatuck State Park, and then gave a talk at Kennedy's Garden Center on Route 3A in Scituate on attracting birds to your yard by landscaping with native plants. I gave the same talk last night in Pembroke for the Mattakeessett Garden Club.

As for this weekend, if the snow can hold off until Friday night, that would be nice. If it could give us a nice blanketing on the Hull peninsula, preferably one that lasts into Sunday morning, that would be cool, too. I'll be leading trips both day based on one of my books, When Hull Freezes Over. I could use the ambience.

February 2 - Think warm thoughts, think warm thoughts...

We've had a pretty good winter, especially if you like things cold. I've always believed in the mantra "if it's going to be this cold, it might as well snow." Cold without snow is just frustratingly bleak. Cold with snow is, in my opinion, the epitome of a New England winter. And there's no secret in the fact that I like to be outdoors enjoying the variability of the New England seasons. That definitely includes these colder days.

But there's a part of me that has been cold for long enough. I could go for a warm day here or there, one that thaws all the snow and gives at least a hint of late spring, or early summer. At least, though, I have a lot to look forward to this year, whether that warmth comes sooner or later.

In March, it'll be cold when we visit Nantucket, but it'll be worth it to see the mass flights of long-tailed ducks. Last year our Nantucket visit scored the first belted kingfisher and great egret seen on the island during the calendar year. We also tracked and found an Eurasian wigeon, part of the fun of three days on "the rock." It'll be much warmer in late April when we had for Sapsucker Woods and the birds of the Cayuga Lake area, and even warmer in May when I head down to Wilmington, North Carolina and Pensacola, Florida on maritime historian business. In June, things will be just about perfect when we head for the White Mountains to search for breeding Bicknell's thrushes. I know that downeast Maine will be ideal in July when we go for puffins on Machias Seal Island, my third trip in three years. And if last year's weather pattern holds for this year's trip to Block Island in September, well, that should be meteorologically delightful as well.

So there are warm thoughts ahead. In the meantime, we continue to seek wildlife in the cold of New England. Last Friday, January 25, we located a bald eagle on Great Herring Pond in Plymouth, and then headed for Scusset Beach Reservation to find a morphing northern harrier, a young male that was both splotchy gray and brown. Speaking of kingfishers, we found one there as well, the first one on our 2008 list. The beach also held horned larks, tree and savannah sparrows, including one of the "Ipswich" family.

While friends headed north for a second consecutive Sunday to miss the slaty-backed ghull, I did a half an hour in studio with Ray Brown on WATD 95.9 FM's Talkin' Birds to hype our Focus on Feeders event, which is taking place right now in the high winds that have followed last night's rain storm into the region. Looking out the window at our feeders here at the North River Wildlife Sanctuary, we've got a big fat zero going on.

Yesterday, we decided to stay local in our weekly search for avian species. The Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary was alive with birds of prey, with as many as five rough-legged hawks, in both light and dark morphs, visible from Fox Hill at any moment. American tree sparrows have become regular winter residents in the treeline out near the hill, and our young northern shrike continues to be very visible atop the shrubs of the Piggery Loop. Two golden-crowned kinglets surprised us while we were looking for long-eared owls, which again have proven quite elusive for our Friday morning gang.

Twice in twenty-four hours we've visited Duxbury Beach. Yesterday's trip turned up an Ipswich savannah sparrow and a black guillemot. Today's brought a red-throated loon, a close Cooper's hawk and a flock of snow buntings. Neither trip brought what we had hoped for: snowy and short-eared owls. Like I said off the top, it can be frustrating: if it's going to be this cold, there might as well be snowies. No such luck.

Punxatawney Phil will have his say today, as will Mrs. G of our Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln. I get the feeling that we're in for more cold, but I know it can't last forever. That's only happened once in Massachusetts history, in a year known as eighteen-hundred-and-frozen-to-death, during which ships were ice-locked in Boston Harbor in May and June. Either way, I can think warm thoughts, and know that this year is going to be one filled with new sights, new sightings and plenty of days where I'm paid to be doing what I love - wandering trails under the sunshine and experiencing the wonder of the nature of Massachusetts and the northeast states.