Herons in the cove

Photos by Michael

On Wednesday morning, we woke up at 6:30 to discover 3 great blue herons fishing in our cove. We went out on the deck and watched them for an hour before deciding it was too cold to stay outside any longer. The next morning there were 4 great blue herons for a time. Herons, laughing gulls, herring gulls, eiders, mallards, and cormorants were all taking turns during the week feeding on small fish and mussels in the cove, a steady banquet. On Saturday morning an enormous group of ducks, 8 adults and 7 ducklings, found their way to the cove in the thickening fog. We had seen a group just like that near the Marshall Point lighthouse a few miles away on Thursday afternoon, and it was fun to imagine they had followed us home. Birds were in the air all week as well, from enormous osprey to a hummingbird that suddenly rose out of nowhere to hover right across the deck railing from my face for a few moments before zooming off. Swooping finches (gold and purple), loudly territorial crows, doves, chickadees and more all shared the tall pine trees. And a wild turkey greeted us as we crossed the causeway onto the island for the first time, near where the fox had appeared last year.

The amazing ornithology teacher at my high school, Arthur Cooley, promised that he could increase any student’s repertoire of birds they could identify by a factor of 10 over a year, regardless of where they started. I loved going on the nature hikes he’d lead, and I sure wish he’d been up at that cove with us.