Day 19.046: Snow, no snow, snow

I had the day off work today to drive Exile #3 to a medical appointment in Boston. The weather decided to make it interesting by providing a few inches of snow to “help” us along. 

The first section of the journey was fairly unpleasant. The snow was accumulating on the highway and we were in front of whatever snow clearing was happening. By the time we got into Massachusetts the big snow flakes were no longer settling and when we reached our destination the sun was trying to shine. The weekend’s storm had been the opposite of course so as we drove into the warmer weather, we also saw the snow banks from that storm increasing.

As we were preparing to set out for the return journey I took a quick photo of snow piles and blue skies. 

Happily, our journey home was on clear (and mostly even dry) roads. 

Day 19.045: Goldfinches in the snow

Yesterday, we were grazed by the northern edge of a large snowstorm. We had some strong winds and several inches of snow, but the airport in Providence, Rhode Island had more than three feet of snow, so we were let off lightly. Nevertheless, most of us decided to keep off the roads and work from home. At one point I looked out of the window and watched the goldfinches gradually gathering by landing under the feeder and then abruptly fleeing back to the nearby branches. They continued for long enough for me to get a quick video out of the bedroom window.

Day 19.044: Saturday birding

To avoid the overnight snow, we gathered with our nature group in the afternoon. This week we were at Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport. Here is some of what we saw from the beach, by Little River and on the streets nearby. 

Black scoters

Surf scoter

Common eider

Distant (and small) horned grebe

Northern mockingbird

Northern mockingbird

House sparrows 

Tufted titmouse in a Scotch pine (one of the trees we’ve studied in recent weeks) 

Bufflehead 

Mallards

American black duck

Common goldeneye 

Red-breasted merganser

Bald eagle

Bald eagle

Downy woodpecker 

Red-breasted nuthatch

This week’s tree - the northern white cedar 

Snow covered seaweed on the beach 

Day 19.043: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #544

Exile #2 writes…

There have been beautiful blue skies over the last couple of days, and some moments above freezing. Yesterday, I 

even braved our nature group outing without the two thermal under layers that I usually wear. However, this being Maine we received the following blizzard warning earlier today, proving that winter is not done with us yet. It’s one of three systems lining up to come our way so it could be a busy week.

Whiteout conditions are expected with visibilities below 1/4 mile due to falling and blowing snow. The greatest potential for blizzard conditions will exist late morning through afternoon Monday. The hazardous conditions will arrive during the Monday morning commute and will continue through the evening commute. Strong winds will down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. A Few trees and power lines could be downed. The power outage threat is elevated.

Day 19.042: Fresh snow

The snow that fell in our large storm nearly a month ago is mostly still with us. We’ve had a few melting days and a few inches of fresh snow in the interim, but no widespread open ground. Last night we got a few more inches of snow and - as things stand - expect some more on Monday. 

Day 19.041: A quick stop at Pine Point

Our second stop on Monday was for a quick visit to the co-op pier at Pine Point near the mouth of the Nonesuch River. Here is some of what we saw there:

American Black Duck x Mallard hybrid

Common loon (we saw eight)

Red-breasted merganser

Greater scalp

Common eider

Long-tailed duck

American black ducks

Day 19.040: Four miles on the beach

As I mentioned, on Presidents Day, Exile #2 and I went for a walk on the beach at Old Orchard Beach. We ended up walking 4.2 miles which took us from south of the pier nearly to the Scarborough town line and back.

Here is some of what we saw along the way:

American herring gull

Rock pigeons on the pier

The largest gull in the world (great black-backed gull)

Clam for dinner

The pier was wearing ice shorts

Sanderling

Horned grebe

Common loon

Sanderlings

Sanderlings in flight

Wind vane

Some of the 31 sanderlings that we counted when several groups converged

Another clam bites the dust