3.20.17  Bird Nerd Moment - West Dennis Beach
West Dennis, MA

SPRING!  Happy Spring!  It is HERE....and in the typical Cape Cod Spring fashion, there are very cold winds whipping the coast, but the sun is shining...time for a good morning beach walk.  What kind of a jerk would I be if I lived here and didn't fit in walks on the beach? Being surrounded by the ocean is such a gift, and it's certainly one of the reasons I moved here.  I had to get out to see what I could see and to feel the wind on my face.  I'm also excited for the arrival of Osprey... a little late this year so far in comparison to earlier years.

There were Red-breasted Mergansers diving in the salt marsh, and as I approached the rotary at West Dennis Beach, I could see American Black Ducks diving in the marsh and Common Grackles flitting this way and that over the dunes.  I was glad I bundled up for the elements, and I had the sunshine to warm me, but it was COLD... and it was beautiful. There are so many treasures on the beach, shells, rocks, sea grasses & lichens, exoskeletons of crabs... and of course... the birds.  The solitary Common Loon I spotted was feeling camera shy and I only had my phone camera for pictures, so anything close up (not alive) came out pretty good.  All others, well... maybe you had to be there.  It was an ideal way to begin a new week, a new season, a new spell...

Happy Spring indeed...

My List:
Red-breasted Merganser
American Black Duck
Song Sparrow
Common Grackle
Herring Gull
Brant
Common Loon
Canada Goose

Brant & Herring Gull silhouettes

Canada Geese

Canada Geese & Herring Gull 

at the mouth of Bass River

This juvenile Herring Gull seemed to be playing with this

shell and seaweed that were attached...s/he walked into

the waves when I got too close for comfort, but still posed for a photo.

Blue Crab carapace

It was so large I wanted my boot in the photo for size comparison

The abdomen section of a Horseshoe crab's exoskeleton, 

also named: opisothosoma

So peaceful...

Camera shy Common Loon  (so blurry...oh well)

Brant

 

Herring Gull

American Black Ducks 

Gull tracks

I wish you could hear this too...

Matching rocks underfoot on the jetty of Bass River 

What is it about a sandy path that leads to the ocean...?

As you get closer, you can see the ocean blue at the end of the trail.

I love that there was a friend waiting for me once I
got to the end of the trail.

Waiting for osprey... Bass River in the background

Happy Birding!