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March 8, 1998
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Watchemocket Cove, 1:05 PM, low-tide
The common black-headed gull was a surprise. Just when I was ready to give up scanning the hordes of gulls for any rarities because the wind hand picked up and I was freezing, I spotted what I thought at first was a Bonaparte's gull. Closer examination revealed it was a common black-headed gull. It's not that unusual. I've seen up to five of them at the cove last winter. There are often a few around. But it's late in the season, and there were no Bonaparte's around. Usually the black-heads hang out with Bonaparte's. The other unusual thing is that there were any widgeons at all. This is the time for them to migrate northward. It was odd to see just three individuals - all males - cavorting around not in a huge raft. The widgeons normally hang out on the side of the cove closest to the golf course far from the road and in a tight raft with the canvasbacks. Sometimes a few of them will follow the hooded mergansers around to scavenge food that's stirred up by the hoodies' diving, but we don't usually see lone widgeons who aren't associated with mergansers. The three stragglers we saw were not associated with mergansers at all. One was hanging out sort of close to a group of mallards. The male mallards were doing their courtship displays and chasing the females with gusto. Besides the buffleheads, there were other diving ducks around but once the wind picked up and the sky got darker I couldn't identify them - they just looked like black dots on the waves. One of them might have been the common Goldeneye we see there from time to time - judging by the head shape -but I didn't get a close enough glimpse to be sure. While I was scoping out the common black-headed gull, Nancy discovered a patch of phragmites that buzzed like musical instruments when the wind blew. At first she thought it was the reeds clacking against each other that was making the sound, but when I came over to check it out, I noticed the sound was coming from the reeds whose tops had broken off exposing the hollow tube. The wind was blowing across the open tops of the hollow reeds making them vibrate. It was a wonderful sound: unearthly yet totally earthy. I wished I had a tape recorder. I'm gonna have to make that part of my field kit soon. We warmed up with hummus sandwiches and coffee at the Center Cafe in Warren, one of those places we both really like but we don't get there often. It was warm and relaxing so we sat and schmoozed for far longer than it takes to down a couple of sandwiches. By the time we got back to Nancy's place, the rain had started. It was a light rain and I had no idea it was supposed to be a big storm. The further north I got, the harder it was raining until I passed through the rain belt and came back into the drizzle area near home. It took me almost two hours to get home because the traffic was moving at about 40 mph in most of the rainy area. I heard on the car radio that flood warnings had been issued for all of Rhode Island and eastern and central Massachusetts. I half expected to encounter a flooded Shawsheen when I got home, but so far the Shawsheen is within its banks. |
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