birds

Conflicted

Rae Spencer3 Comments

Cardinal April 19

This week our television flashed image after image of chaos, pain, and loss. I don’t have a personal connection to any of the Boston Marathon bomb victims, nor any of the Texas fertilizer plant explosion victims, and yet my shock and grief feel personal. More and more personal as time passes, as scenes of blood and smoke and flames give way to achingly poignant details about the dead and wounded.

Cardinal April 19

Desperate to escape my growing sense of helplessness, I turn off the television and retreat into the yard, where I find a foraging cardinal, a pollen-dusted bee, and a pair of brave grackles. A hungry tufted titmouse, a half-grown rabbit, and a sleepy squirrel. They remind me that my journey is simultaneously important and insignificant, that I am both connected to and separate from the world. And their company feels like a glimpse of solace, a brief visitation of peace during a week defined by turmoil.

Cardinal April 19

Bee April 18

Birds April 14

Tufted Titmouse April 19

Rabbit April 20

Squirrel April 19

A Slow Start to Spring

Rae Spencer9 Comments

Pear Tree March 30

Today was finally warm enough to feel like spring. Add in an entire afternoon of bright sunshine, and it was a beautiful day in the yard.

Iris March 30

Speedwell March 30

Osprey March 30

Robins March 30

Rabbit March 30

As much as I enjoyed my afternoon in the yard, I couldn’t help comparing it to last year’s spring, which was both warmer and earlier than this year’s season. By the end of March last year, the pear tree was fully in bloom and the yard was full of bees. This year, the pear tree is only beginning to bloom and I haven’t seen a single bee.

Pear Tree March 30

Last year, all threats of frost were past. In fact, there were days that felt like summer. The tulips were blooming and spiderlings were hatching. This year I’m afraid to uncover the ginger lilies, because it seems likely we will see more frost, and the tulips are just getting started.

Tulip March 30

I wonder if our delayed spring will spill over into a delayed summer, or if summer will simply storm in right on the heels of winter.

Hibernating

Rae Spencer5 Comments

View Feb 22

February’s annual malaise has set in. My mood reflects the sky’s gray clouds. My joints ache, brittle with frost. Each morning is more reluctant than the last, and each evening more welcome.

My instinct is to hide from February. To find a dry den, line it with blankets, and retreat into sleep’s warm sanctuary.

View Feb 22

But then, when I woke to the storm-scented gusts of spring, I would regret my weeks of sleep. I would wonder what I had missed, while hibernating…

Merganser Feb 22

Squirrel Feb 22

Unknown Bird Feb 22

Mallards Feb 22

Back Bay, Part Three

Rae Spencer6 Comments

Back Bay View Feb 6

A final set of photos from Wednesday’s walk at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, which is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

Back Bay View Feb 6

Back Bay View Feb 6

Back Bay View Feb 6

Back Bay View Feb 6

Back Bay View Feb 6

A rich variety of wildlife makes every visit a fascinating new adventure.

Warbler Feb 6

Turtle Feb 6

Turtle Feb 6

Back Bay View Feb 6

Coot Feb 6

Coot Feb 6

Ducks Feb 6

Ducks Feb 6

Ducks Feb 6

(The ducks pictured above are a new species for me, and I would love a little help identifying them. Are they Gadwalls?)

Merganser Feb 6

Merganser Feb 6

As much as I enjoyed taking these photos, I regret that I missed the deer.

Tracks Feb 6

And I’m aching to know who left the following tracks on a patch of sand near the trail.

Tracks Feb 6

There were two sets of tracks, side-by-side, moving in the same direction. The footprints were slightly smudged, but the tail-drag marks were clear enough. What do you think? Did I miss otters? Or are the tracks more lizard-like?

I can’t resist a mystery, and I would love to add deer photos to the archive. I’m already planning my next walk…

More from Back Bay

Rae Spencer3 Comments

Flock Feb 6

During my Wednesday walk at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, I heard this flock of birds before I saw them. Their whistles and scolds carried over the water, and I wondered what was causing all the excitement.

Flock Feb 6

Flock Feb 6

At first, they seemed chaotic and confused, a disorganized muddle of hunger and alarm. After watching a while, their behavior made more sense. They would land for a frantic spell of foraging, gulping down seeds and anything else they found in the trees and on the ground. Then, at some mysterious signal, they would erupt into the air and circle to a new location.

Flock Feb 6

When they reached a small gravel road, they streamed back and forth across it, oscillating between dense stands of pine on either side.

Flock Feb 6

Flock Feb 6

Flock Feb 6

The most riveting part of this experience, to me, was the soundtrack. Whenever the birds landed, they communicated with a grating cacophony of calls. But they were almost silent in the air. As they shifted back and forth over the road, their wings whirred an eerie echo of the nearby surf.

I heard them in my sleep last night, and I dreamed of flying.