Charles River Peninsula. Winter encounters.

 

Charles River Peninsula, Needham, MA

Inspired by Priyanka Kumar's Conversations with Birds, I headed out shortly after dawn to my regular patch, ready for deeper encounters with the winter regulars, secretly hoping that the merlin reported the previous day was still hanging around. (It wasn't). 

Beaver Lodge, Charles River Peninsula

Light snow covered the ground but it wasn't too cold. Chickadees were singing, six bluebirds flew overhead, the resident pileated woodpecker was chuckling across the river, hooded mergansers glided and dived. It was exactly what I expected and needed. 

Many pages in Conversations with Birds are devoted to Kumar's multiple, and ultimately successful, attempts to encounter bald eagles. As I was watching a group of Canada geese float down the river, a huge dark bird with a white head suddenly flew up and over them, quickly disappearing into the distance.

Bald eagle

You'll have to take my word for it. While I've seen eagles in Needham before, this was the first I've encountered at the Charles River Peninsula.