Author: patmorss

On yesterday’s Good Morning Gloucester there was a story and video from Mike Codair about rescue of a Harp Seal stranded on the ice. That is prompting me to go “off Island” and post photos from our 2002 trip to see the newborn on the Gulf of St Lawrence pack ice, near our base, Iles de la Madeleine. One hotel opened off season to accommodate those of us wanting to experience the spectacle. The mothers haul out to deliver their pups in late February, and after just two weeks they are self-sufficient and leave independently.

My first 2022 lunch on the deck today. Our thaw will be short lived with snow predicted tomorrow, but everyone is enjoying it.

Our wildlife has adapted to winter.

Despite all the hype about the “bomb cyclone” blizzard of 2022, we were fortunate to weather it fine without losing power. Nice fluffy snow when it was over. This was our weekend timeline:

Our couple of days of “Ocean Effect” snow was pretty, with low temperatures keeping it fluffy.

A windy night, then woke up in the midst of our first major Northeast storm of 2022.

Nice snow over the weekend, but then warmer with rain and it was gone.

It was cold on Tuesday, so we took along a small amount of bread for the Mallards on our walk by Niles Pond. I have just read this is not nourishing for them, so it may be cabbage, kale, cracked corn next time.

Some encounters with Nature during the final days of 2021, on a Cape Ann “World’s End.”

HAPPY NEW YEAR

The rare Steller’s Sea Eagle from Asia that was hanging out mid to late December in the Taunton River, MA area, and covered in the local and national press as well as by Kim Smith, is now in Maine. Our daughter Jeannette took these photos of it in Georgetown, south of Bath, on New Year’s Eve day. She and her husband Derek own the Freeport Wild Bird Supply store and provide all our supplies with endless patience reviewing what I want to post with confidence on GMG. There is a lot to learn on their website, freeportwildbirdsupply.com

A Holiday is just another workday for feathers and fur.

There are rock ownership issuse out here. But wildlife generally gets along (unless you’re dinner). Happy Solstice tomorrow.

Another week of walks checking in with our friends.

The winter birds are back.

The holiday had no impact on life around us (except the first photo).

The seals approve of Brace Cove. We had a record (for us) of 24 this last weekend.

This seems to be the bird edition. More Feathers than Fur around recently.

Our secondary minor storm came through Saturday and was enough to keep the surf up at Brace Cove.

The surf is still noisy, but the nor’easter has passed out to sea. Back to the daily walk (we were fortunate not to lose power or have damage).

Hank, our resident Great Blue Heron, has returned for the fall, and is putting up with this week’s bad weather.