Journal of a Sabbatical

September 14, 1998

monday still feels like monday

Copyright © 1998, Janet I. Egan

All these years away from the nine to five grind and Monday still feels like Monday.

Was yesterday national nail polish day or something? Read all about Diane's fabulous nails and Willa's nail polish too! Must be one of those diary collaboration things.

I took the camera up to Plum Island again today in an attempt to finish off the roll of film so I could put yesterday's pictures of the sign in yesterday's entry. I took a few photos but the gray light was terrible even for a wacko like me who likes to photograph gray days. So, alas, I still haven't finished the roll.

I read all the articles about the sewage overflow at the cove and the proposed dumping site for the sediments from the dredging project , as well as the RI DEM Narragansett Bay water quality report, this morning over coffee. I came to the conclusion I need to read the Corps of Engineers environmental impact statement for the dredging project before I start making phone calls.

The cove is such a different environment from Plum Island and yet I go there almost as often, and have many life-bird sightings from there. The cove is totally spoiled where Plum Island is unspoiled. The cove is urban. The cove is populated mainly by mute swans (introduced pest species), Canada geese (unpopular indigenous species), feral mallards, and ring-billed gulls. And yet it teams with life: wild life. I don't think the people who come to feed the swans and ducks or the people who fish under the bridge know what a diverse place it is. So many species of ducks come there to winter and in summer there's a substantial roost that includes great blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets, black crowned night herons, and at least one green-backed heron. Yet all the news coverage of the dredging project focuses on fish and crabs (granted they are vitally important) and the impact on the wealthier East Bay communities (Barrington, Warren, Bristol) and pay little attention to East Providence and the birds.

All that said, today's high point came at Plum Island. I was alone at the North Pool Overlook watching 6 whimbrels poking around in the grass really close to me - close enough to identify without binoculars - when a Northern harrier swooped down at them. The whimbrels flew up squawking like they were one organism and landed a few yards away. The harrier circled his orginal target area for a minute or two and then went after the whimbrels again. The lifted off like rockets and vanished behind a dune on the other side of the road. The harrier kept circling and finally swooped so low I couldn't see him over the spartina and phragmites. I have no idea what the harrier caught but I know he didn't get any whimbrels.