Halibut Point with Mom

Today's the first day of classes for Spring quarter, so I just got back to Monroe county (home sub 2) after being home (sub 1) in Massachusetts for a week for Spring break. Not much birding, mostly spent time with friends I don't get to see often. However, I did get to go out to Halibut Point State Park to see Harlequin ducks--and Mom even wanted to come along! :)Yea, I know, I look kinda goofy. But I was warm, and besides--who worries about how they look when they go bird watching?!?

It was windy and a bit chilly, but actually fairly warm for the time of year and the fact that it's right on the ocean. I was glad to have a chance to show Mom how nice it is to have a scope, since, you know, my parents are the ones who bought it for me for Christmas. :P Since it was so windy I had difficulty keeping both my camera and the scope steady, which meant that I didn't 100% positively identify my lifer Black Scoter until I reviewed my pictures later that day.
I want to make sure I give due credit to Mom for her birding that day, even if it means admitting my own goofs (cue up keyboard cat).....

I initially set up my scope to look at what turned out to be a buoy. As I was confirming the sighting of my first 2010 Buoy Bird--
Mom: "Isn't that a bunch of ducks over there?"
I turn and look, naked eye. "Yes, yup, those are the Harlequins. Nice work."
Oops. Turns out locking on to the first dark thing you see floating in the water may not be the best duck-watching policy. :P

Take nothing but pictures (and maybe the trash of jerks who came before you), leave nothing but footprints.

Harlequins at Halibut Point

As it turns out I did muster up my courage (and some willpower) to head out early Thursday morning. Up at 4 am and out the door by ten to 6. I got all bundled up--two layers of socks, new boots, leggings on underneath my jeans, boybeater, long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, and I had gloves, a ski-mask (with just one big opening for the eyes), my hat with earflaps, and my scarf in my backpack ready to go. I drove up to Rockport listening to my favorite Rage Against the Machine songs (helps to feel more awake) and then belted out some tunes from Taylor Swift's new album (odd juxtaposition, I know).

I got out there on the scenic overlook, ready to face the cold and the wind. And.......it was fine. No wind to speak of. And not that chilly, even though it was just barely dawn. A nice surprise, really.

I spotted a group of Harlequin ducks and cheerfully headed down closer to the shoreline.

I was at Halibut Point for about an hour and a half, taking tons of pictures of the Harlequins, and getting shots of all the other birds who treated me to a fly-by:
common eiders

a double-crested cormorant

6 white-winged scoters

2 surf scoters (a new lifer!!)

A common loon, a couple red-breasted mergansers, and a long-tailed duck were also in the area. Actually, common loons followed me wherever I went that entire day.

On my way from Halibut Point to Gloucester Harbor I stopped by at Folly Cove Landing to get some shots of a group of American Black Ducks. They were joined by a female red-breasted merganser (who I suspect to be the same bird I had seen earlier flying past in the general direction of the cove), a common loon, some ring-billed gulls, and a raptor I was unable to identify. I was just about to put my car in reverse and leave Folly Cove when I saw the raptor fly up and land in a tree. So, out the camera came again, just after I had packed it away in its case.

Then it was off to Gloucester. Hung around by the Fisherman's Memorial, taking pictures of the 2 common loons I saw there, the 5 or 6 long-tailed ducks (They seemed to be working on a chorus tune or something, made quite a bit of noise. Made me giggle at them fondly.), and the big bunch of common eiders hanging out not too far from the memorial. They were also making quite a fuss, with funny little muffled squeaks. Not sure if that's an accurate description, I just remember that they, too, got a fond giggle for their vocalizations. Once they saw me walk up to the railing by the side of the water, they swam over, no doubt expecting some bread crumbs.

I don't mean to leave out the gulls, it's just that I've been so enraptured by diving ducks lately.

A quick stop at home to upload the contents of my memory cards to my brother's computer, and I was off again, this time to Wachusett Reservoir. It was one of the places on my "need to explore" list, and I just sort of chose it at random. Went hiking along some of the trails, near-ish to South Bay, I believe, and was a little disappointed when I got close enough to the water to survey a large portion of the reservoir--a solitary bird-dot. You know what I mean by "bird-dot", right? Well, it turned out to be a common loon, which I watched for a little while as it dove and foraged underwater. The loon would stick its head underwater to survey potential prey, as far as I know, and then lift its head up for a moment. A few times it would scan underwater, lift its head up briefly, and then proceed to dive under, but at one point it seemed to be having some rotten luck. It repeated the scan-then-lift-head-up process several times again and again without diving, then seemed to resign itself to preening.

More hiking the trails led me to black-capped chickadees, a couple of downy woodpeckers (I have yet to see a Hairy), a white-breasted nuthatch, and at least a dozen kinglets. I was delighted to see them, I'd forgotten how much I missed those little guys. I still insist that they like having their picture taken. Such curious little birds. Once my presence was known, they flitted closer and closer to me, begging to have their pictures taken, but not willing to give up all the dignity of wild creatures. To maintain the self-respect of wild creatures, they hop around too rapidly to make taking their picture too easy. Funny little fellows.

Then I was more or less exhausted, and quite satisfied with good pictures of Harlequins, a new lifer, and seeing some kinglets again for the first time in weeks.

Brave Winter Weather Birds

I may never tire of black-capped chickadees. I just adore them.

Anyway, I had a lovely Christmas with my family. My boyfriend's family spoiled me rotten (again) and gave me a very nice feeder, a pole to put it on, and bird seed. I'm excited to get back to school so I can set it all up. If my apartment complex gets uppity and says we can't have it in the backyard, I'll be heart broken. They're very strange about what we're allowed to keep in our backyards.....oh well. I keep scolding myself for not putting up a feeder earlier in the year, since I've read in a few different places that birds typically start scouting out food sources (which yards have feeders, for instance) in the Fall. Hopefully if my apartment complex gives me their blessing and I do set the feeder up, the birds will find it and enjoy it, even if I did put it up late.

In addition to the three bird books I opened as early Christmas gifts and the feeder, I also got a new camera (Panasonic Lumix with 10.1 megapixels and 18x optical zoom) and binoculars. I'm hoping that tomorrow morning I can get up enough courage to brave the cold and head down to Halibut Point. The last time I went I had my aging Powershot, and I'd really like to get some better pictures of the purple sandpipers and the Harlequin Ducks.

Those purple sandpipers are tough little guys, borderline crazy. Of course, I guess the ducks are even more insane, since they're diving into the freezing cold water, completely submerging themselves. Now, I realize that they've developed physical characteristics that enable them to survive in these conditions, but it still blows my mind. I mean, polar bears, whales, seals--I have a much easier time seeing them in icy cold conditions. That's probably because I just think "Oh, blubber. They're alright." But birds are such light-weight creatures, it's harder for me to think "Oh, their feathers are designed to trap body heat, and they also repel water."

One I finished typing that last bit I thought "Geez, I'd better look into this a little more before I keep rambling on, they'll think I'm an idiot." So I did some quick online research (not the best technique, I know). I was already aware of how feathers overlap and trap body heat, and that feathers also repel water (very very cold water if you're a crazy purple sandpiper). Now I know that when I see a duck balancing on one foot and holding the other up close to its body, it is trying to keep warm. Tucking the bill and face beneath a wing is another way to keep warm.

One thing I was clueless about until about 5 minutes ago is the system of blood vessels in a bird's feet that help to minimize heat loss. I must admit I don't completely understand it, but apparently this system is even more sophisticated in penguins than in other birds (which makes sense).

Maybe I'm just a wimp, but I'm still going to think "BRRRRRR!!!!" when I see those ducks and sandpipers out there on the chilly New England coast, whether it's the ducks diving under the numbing waves or the sandpipers huddled on the rocks getting splashed by them.

Happy holidays, and think warm thoughts!