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.
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)
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.
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.
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:
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
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.
