Owls are awesome. Big white owls from the high arctic are super awesome. Really, Snowy Owls are practically mythical creatures for me. So when multiple Snowy Owls started showing up along Connecticut's coast this past week, I couldn't not go to the beach and try to see one. (I didn't take advantage of the last Snowy Owl invasion, in 2011, and I wasn't going to let the current invasion pass me by!)
I went to Milford Point yesterday morning with my spotting scope in tow. This tool turned out to be absolutely essential, because while no big arctic birds were in range of my binoculars on the beach or in the marsh, the scope picked out a suspicious white and gray shape aaaaallll the way out on a rocky breakwater far offshore. It was tiny and distant, but I watched it turn its round white face and preen under its gray-barred wings. Yay, Snowy Owl!! There was no way my actual camera could reach that far, so I took some blurry photos through the scope with my phone:
Look, an owl! See it? ...How about now?
OK, so yes, it was really far away, but I watched this awesome (tiny) creature for a good long while nonetheless. This was a rare encounter indeed, and even this less-than-perfect view was still extremely exciting. I love that these creatures exist. :) And you never know, maybe I'll get a chance to see another Snowy Owl this winter if they keep showing up and hanging around.
Other big white birds were haunting this beach during my visit, too. Mute Swans are non-native, but they sure are impressive (and I still just cannot get over the color of that marsh grass):
One pair of swans was settled on the beach, and they didn't seem to care when I walked by. Pretty bird:
Their necks are so fuzzy, and so collapsible when it's time to rest:
A male Northern Harrier was hunting along this beach as well. I don't think I've ever seen a male harrier before, and now I understand why they're often described as "ghostly." This bird's gray and white costume fit well with the overall gray day:
All these big white and gray creatures definitely made for an awesome trip to the beach!
When Paul and I lived in New Haven, we used to take walks -- sometimes during our lunch breaks -- to East Rock Park, which was just a few blocks from our apartment. That was one of my favorite thing about that apartment, actually: we were in the city, but East Rock was always right there for when we needed a nature fix.
This morning, we got a chance to revisit our old haunt, because Paul was running a 5K through East Rock Park. (He did well!) So while he was running uphill and helping refugees (it's nice when races are for charity), I rambled along the river at the boundary of the park with my camera.
Surprisingly, the blaring music from the race hadn't scared all the animals away -- but then I guess they might be used to noise, living on the edge of the city and all. I saw a few small birds (sparrows, a Downy Woodpecker, etc.) foraging in the bare trees, and I watched a pair of Mute Swans swimming on the river.
I remember we once saw swans with babies here, and I wonder if these ones will stick around long enough to raise a family. I probably won't be around to see it, but it was fun to see these impressive creatures right in the middle of such an otherwise bare landscape.
The temperatures are back to hovering around freezing, but I did spot some bulbs starting to poke through the ground next to the sidewalk.... I remember that bulbs sometimes come up rather early in New Haven, though, so I'm not getting my hopes up about this being a real sign of spring.
The woods at the Naugatuck State Forest were bursting with life when I went for a walk there this morning. Still not much in the way of green things, but the critters were out in force, soaring and scurrying and sailing, and -- in the case of a particularly antsy squirrel -- screaming (at me).
The waterways were especially busy. I counted 26 Common Mergansers, although they kept diving below the surface of the water, so I wouldn't be surprised if there were actually more. And on one end of the lake, three Mute Swans had come to hang out.
Really, these are impressive birds, and they were definitely drawing attention -- someone else (other than me) was taking pictures (the swans didn't seem to be too wary of people), and another guy I passed said he'd never seen swans in these lakes before. (And I mean, I hadn't either, but he seemed to have more experience with these woods than I have.)
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| Swan butt! |
Mute Swans, I have learned, are actually native to Europe and Asia, but they were introduced to North America in the late 19th century and have since made themselves at home here. From what I've read, they can be quite aggressive and invasive, taking nesting spots from native species, and doing the sorts of things we're not supposed to like about introduced species. But... they sure are pretty, so I find myself conflicted on this issue.
