My View of Life on the Dock
Our Great Salt Marsh is beginning to spring back to life. Red-winged Blackbirds can be seen, and heard, chortling from every outpost, Morning Doves are nest building, and the Mallards, Black Ducks, and Canada Geese are pairing up. Only 19 more days until the official start of spring!
Mourning Dove
From an early morning stop at the bottom of my hill, with a view towards the Harbor and City Hall (as well as a feisty Common Loon), to the creatures abounding along the shore, it was a gorgeous winter morning, and all set against a widely striped and deeply-hued winter sky backdrop.
Common Loon at the pier, swimming very close to where I was standing and seemingly equally as curious about me as I was about it.
Gloucester FV Connemara Bay
Male (left) and Female Red-breasted Mergansers foraging at the Harbor
The Lollygaggers
Flock of American Black Ducks
Orchestra of earth tones for a well-camouflaged female Mallard Duck
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOkW5ydDEAg/
The Mallard Duck family that I have been filming during the early morning hours this past week is allowing me to get very close, venturing to within two feet from where I am tucked in amongst the reeds by the water’s edge. The ducklings mirror the parent’s every action and they are are especially adorable learning how to oil their feathers. Although the female attempts to stay close, and the male is always hovering nearby, one is becoming increasingly independent, a little too independent if you ask me. I can’t get over the ducklings vulnerability–its a miracle any survive to adulthood.
The mixed flock of ducks is comprised mostly of Mallards, with several pairs of American Black Ducks mixed in. A single pair of Blue-winged Teals was spotted for several days.
Blue-winged Teal Adult Male Breeding Plummage
American Black Duck
Good Morning Gloucester 