The mulch was frosty and the birdbath solid ice, but there was open water on the creek. The water at dawn mirrored the sun on the far bank. White throats were undeterred by the frost as they kicked the mulch to reveal fallen seeds. The female downy was already eating suet. Titmice must have been hungry because they started raiding the feeder earlier than usual.
Blue jays came to see if there was more bark butter, but pecked at the leftovers. Some robins just wanted water. A myrtle warbler experimented with seeds. A heron fished below the bend in the creek.
Another heron waited for a fish in one of the shallow ponds around the Back Bay Wildlife Refuge office as I embarked on the Back Bay/False Cape Terra-gator and Tram Tour. The bigger impoundments had geese and tundra swans. Our ranger said they were Canada geese but they were silhouettes to me. I saw a turtle sunning on a limb fallen into the ditch, but it slid into the water before I could focus. Taking pictures while riding in a tram on a dirt road wasn't easy.
Since birds were scarce I took a lot of photos of vegetation, especially when we got out and walked in False Cape State Park. Some fellow travelers found an owl hairball full of bones including a jaw I believe belonged to a muskrat.
Then we boarded the Terra-Gator and came back along the shore. Alas the windows were filthy and also picked up fragmented reflections. There were great blackback gulls and I think lesser as well, herring and/or ring bill gulls, some kind of sandpiper, and I believe terns.
Sunset came soon after we got back. It was all glow and cloudless. The derth of birds in the woods illustrated a point form last night's lecture - that suburbs have far more species of birds than nature preserves, at least in the temperate zone.
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