My View of Life on the Dock
Two odd couples among our wildlife friends. Also, our family of 10 turkeys now has an evening obstacle course through our neighbor’s yard, scaling the fence, flying down into our driveway, and then up into the trees to roost for the night.
On Tuesday we had a record (for us) 17 seals hauled out on the low tide rocks at Brace Cove, before sunset; half of them in these photos. On the way over there was a large formation of gulls taking off from the ice on Niles Pond and guiding us to the cove.
On Sunday our family of ten turkeys flew into the trees during the middle of the day (never seen that before). Some relocated to the coastal rocks in the afternoon (never seen that before). Maybe the two Red Foxes, first in the driveway and then down on the rocks, had something to do with this odd behaviour?
And if anyone is wondering where their Mallards went, check out Niles Pond.
A couple of evenings ago, while taking in Christmas lights, a turkey flew off our roof and went careening into the tree brances across the driveway. Last evening we saw at least 4 (probably from our family of ten) roosting in the trees. But first, a New Year’s hello from several of our friends on Niles Pond.
Before the snow is washed away, here are a few more photos of birds at our feeder that have been giving us a lift with their colorful presence and behaviour, during a very strange Christmas and Holiday season. The first is a flashback to the snowstorm last Thursday.
Here are some weekend photos around Eastern Point following the snowstorm. Regarding the first, the closest conjunction (visual) of Saturn and Jupiter since the Middle Ages is right now. I knew it would be overcast, so got this picture last Friday.
Another active week for birds, and a personal record 14 seals at Brace Cove.
First, heartfelt thanks to the NationalGrid crew that made it out here during the Saturday storm, soon after we lost power. The poles are pretty inaccessible in the Audubon Sanctuary, and a second truck was called in to cut a path in the right-of-way by chain saw. In the dark they made repairs. The lineman admitted afterward that it was a pretty challenging climb in the driving rain – our anemometer showed gusts to 58mph.
Still activity around us, as family was reassigned to Zoom.
From the past week. It’s getting more black-and-white out there, but these are all color photos.
Two windsurfers enjoying the wind and relatively calm harbor, launching off Niles Beach on Saturday afternoon.
Everything pretty normal (but rewarding) this past week.
Don’t mean to inundate you with Great Blue Heron photos, but our friend did return and put on a good follow-up act.
Three Great Blue Herons visited yesterday. They spent the afternoon in the trees preening and napping. We kept checking on the last one, that flew off to hunt at sunset. These are yesterday’s photos, but it is the same routine today.
A ‘Wicked Tuna’ film crew was busy yesterday in the harbor, and then outside slightly offshore. The captions to these photos are my imagination as to what was going on.
Teddy was offshore and nothing like our March northeast storms a couple of winters ago, or past hurricanes with a more direct hit. But teddy wasn’t timid.
