It's not a terribly glamorous time of the year to visit Plum Island but this is when my spring break is, so it had to do. And I'm not exactly in the "I-need-an-obscure-warbler" stage of my birding career, so regular old seasonals are fine by me. A good day, ultimately, in fact even better than I expected.
Start with the northern pintails. I saw one at Great Meadows the other day but didn't get nearly close enough for a photo. So I was happy to see a whole pond full of them upon entering the sanctuary (at the Salt Pannes observation area). It was surprisingly hard to get a decent photo--they spend most of their time tipped over, head in the water.
I then traveled all the way to the end of the island, walking the beach at Sandy Point. The normal brants and eiders were out on the water. I spotted some bird movement in the grassy dunes. Killdeers, I thought at first. Horned larks, it turned out (you can just barely make out the horns in the bottom left).
It was low tide and the clammers were out. I watched through my binoculars as a dingy passed and did a double take. Wait, were those harbor seals out on that rock? Sure enough. First wild seal sighting (though I'm sure the people who live in the area take them for granted).
So why are you taking my picture, asks the chickadee, when there are more interesting subjects out there?
Such as this snowy owl sitting on a post. (It had been sitting there all morning, apparently, near the Hellcat trail observation tower.) I almost missed it. From a distance it blended in with the post and closer up it was hard to tell if it was real or not. Real it was!
And then for my final walk I went down the marsh trail to the blind at the end (though honestly I doubted I'd see anything--shore birds haven't returned yet. There was much evidence of beaver and muskrat activity, though I didn't happen to spot the animals themselves). I stood for a moment and then heard a familiar huffing sound. Sure enough, a river otter, right up close, looking me straight in the eye, acting as if it was disgusted with my scent.
I left completely satisfied. It took me less time to get there and back than I expected. I fear this may become an addiction.
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