Skunk cabbage is growing in wetland areas....
All the budding bushes and shrubs are giving the landscape a pink tinge....
And there's something different in the ponds....
Green plants are already growing, reaching for the sun!
And winter ducks, such as this male red-breasted merganser are courting and displaying even as they prepare for their long journey north to breed and nest.
This winter there have actually been a fair number of eagles about, including this adult that has been hanging around in Mashpee. This photo is by Mary Noonan Keleher of Mashpee for although I did get to see the eagle I have no pictures to share. Let's just say the eagle is a dark speck with a white head in my photos.
These guys were found at Dowse's Beach in Osterville this week. There were about a dozen mixed in with the local winter sanderlings. Turnstones don't generally winter here though they are seen sporadically. I don't know if these have been here all winter or if they are early arrivals on their way north. They are in winter plumage that is turning.
They have the most wonderful markings.
Here is one getting behind a stone or shell to turn it over.
What did it find? Mostly they are looking for invertebrates to eat such as worms, small crabs, etc.
In this picture above you can see the orange on the legs. Have you ever seen one of these birds?
I took this photo at quite a distance but I believe these are sanderlings in the top picture. The area I took the photos in has had both dunlins and western sandpipers over the last few weeks as well as sanderlings and winter shorebird plumages can be a tough call. You need to look at the overall shape, size, behavior, etc.
I believe the bird in the second photo is also a sanderling. I thought it might be a dulin, which are a bit chunkier and have a longer bill that curves down a bit but another birder I spoke with is pretty sure it is a sanderling. I am happy to be corrected so please feel free to chime in.
These two shots are definitely of sanderlings. Jaunty little guys, don't you think?
They are often on our beaches all winter and will soon be molting and getting their summer plumages. The dunlins will, too. Then they will all be off to the north where they will mate and nest. They will return here in the fall.
The beautiful males or drakes are marked with lovely and distinct black and white patterns.
The females are also lovely but a more muted brown. Eiders nest much farther north than the Cape (though it is thought some are nesting here now) and are colonial nesters, meaning they like to nest in large groups. The color of the females helps them blend into the sand or dirt they scrape a nest in.
In any flock of eiders you may see what look like oddly marked birds that are neither marked like males or females. These are the immature or young ducks that haven't got their full plumages yet.
At one point eiders were hunted almost to extinction for their beautiful feathers. If you've heard of eider down, that referred to the soft down from the eider duck's breast. Coats and jackets were also made from their skins. Today these birds are safe from this sort of hunting and their populations have made a good come back.
They seem a little larger than the robins that nest here but don't forget that birds puff themselves up to stay warm.
Soon they will moult and grown new, fresh feathers and their colors will be more vibrant.
By the time spring arrives they will be full of rich, beautiful color.
These gulls look black against the light but that's just because the sun is behind them, making them look like silhouettes.
Stay warm!
They moved into the sand area so you should be able to see them better now. There is one standing in the sand and one still in the grass.
These lovely little birds are horned larks. You can almost see the yellow on the face/chin area in the top picture but it really shows up in the picture below.
These birds are about the size of a sparrow and they have black feathers that stick up on the sides of their heads that look like horns, hence their names. Pretty cool, huh? You can often find horned larks in our sandy dune areas such as Sandy Neck and Coast Guard Beach. These birds were photographed at First Encounter Beach in Eastham where I almost always see them in fall and winter.
Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown had a very brisk wind and these gulls were hunkered down in the sand to stay warm and out of the wind.
This view is overlooking Nauset Marsh from the Coast Guard station in Eastham.
Another view of Nauset Marsh showing the ice.
On the other end of Nauset Marsh, the view from Fort Hill in Eastham...
It was a cold and windy day but still beautiful here on Cape Cod. We saw very few other people out and about but lots of other cool things. I will post some of them as the week goes on.
