waterbirds – Page 15 – In the Woods

a great salt marsh

10.11.15.0898 — Bass Hollow Boardwalk ~ 10.11.15 ~ Yarmouth, Massachusetts

Because we’ve been to Cape Cod so many times in our lives something I’ve wanted to do was visit a place there that we’ve never been to before. Bass Hollow Boardwalk in Yarmouth sounded enticing.

This long boardwalk extends out over a salt marsh on the bay side of the Cape and offers some breathtaking views and lots of birds to observe close-up. It was very windy the afternoon we went!

10.11.15.0915 — afternoon shadows and reflections

I don’t know what kind of shorebirds these are – would appreciate any help with identification!

10.11.15.0989 — looking back from the end

To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for untold thousands of years, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.
~ Rachel Carson
(Under the Sea Wind)

it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

10.11.15.0812 — Herring Cove Beach ~ 10.11.15 ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts

One morning in Provincetown we drove out to Herring Cove Beach, where we used to spend days at the beach when the kids were small. The waves here on the bay side are more gentle than they are on the beaches facing the open Atlantic. When they got older they preferred the excitement of Race Point Beach. This beach is pretty rocky, lots of small stones, making trips in and out of the water rough on tiny feet.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea
~ E. E. Cummings
(The Lyric Self in Zen & E. E. Cummings)

It was fun photographing the gulls sunning themselves in a different background than the large rocks they usually perch on at our local beach. The future is always uncertain, but lately possible scenarios seem to be monopolizing my thoughts, creating anxiety even as I try to stay living in the present. Spending so much time on the Cape has helped me restore a sense of peace with things as they are or will prove to be. It’s not so much a feeling of resignation, but more of an accepting of the inevitable flux and flow of life.

When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused.
~ Rainer Maria Rilke
(Letter to Clara Rilke, March 27, 1903)

a long fine life

9.7.15.0189 — 9.7.15 ~ Eastern Point Beach

Of course no evening at the beach would be complete without a visit from our old friend with the mangled leg and foot. The gull may just be greeting us in a friendly manner, but his call is so mournful and long we often wonder what tale of woe he is trying to share. The burdened gull looks in a lot better shape now than he did at the beginning of the summer.

9.7.15.0196 — 9.7.15 ~ Eastern Point Beach

I’ve learned not to feel too sorry for this gull. He doesn’t seem to feel sorry for himself. His large strong wings work perfectly well and we see him flying and fishing out over the rocks and the water. And every summer he’s an expert at swooping down and snatching hot dogs from unsuspecting diners at the picnic tables. I once saw him swallow a foot-long hot dog, whole, in one big gulp! Human food is not good for gulls and most people, including us, obey the rules not to feed them. At least not on purpose. 🙂

9.7.15.0198 — 9.7.15 ~ Eastern Point Beach

We learned that we are not this old gull’s only friends. While a group of three off-duty lifeguards were walking along, chatting and gathering up their equipment for the last time this summer, he flew over and landed on a picnic table right in front of them and squawked at them. They all said hello and spoke to him and then finally one said, as the gull flew off, “Good-bye, Claws! Please don’t die!”

So Tim & I are not the only ones who wonder at the end of each summer if this wounded gull will make it through the coming winter. Since I first met this gull in 2011, he must be at least four years old, probably more. Gulls live ten to fifteen years so it is possible he may be around for many summers to come.

9.7.15.0204 — 9.7.15 ~ Eastern Point Beach

Jonathan Seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short, and with these gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.
~ Richard Bach
(Jonathan Livingston Seagull)

9.7.15.0208 — 9.7.15 ~ Eastern Point Beach

photos by Tim Rodgers

unofficial end of summer

9.7.15.0244 — 9.7.15 ~ Eastern Point Beach

Today we went down to the beach for our last hot dogs of the season. I haven’t been taking many pictures this summer – too busy with ailments, illnesses and surgeries and determined to post pictures of our Norway trip before starting on other picture projects. But we’ve been down at the beach as often as possible in the evenings and have enjoyed the gulls and their antics.

I don’t remember what year the tiny laughing gulls started appearing at our beach but there is a large flock of them now. This year they came away from the parking lot, which was an unsatisfactory background for photos, and spent more time on the grass and on the rocks by the water. So I brought the camera today and finally got some good pictures of a couple of them standing on the rocks. I’m pretty sure these are “first summer” non-breeding adults.

9.7.15.0239 — 9.7.15 ~ Eastern Point Beach

Feeling wistful, yearning for something intangible. It’s still too hot and unbearably humid. Record-breaking temperatures are forecast for the next few days – a heat wave in September. Ugh. Already school districts without air conditioning in classrooms are announcing early dismissals for tomorrow, like they did several times last week. Autumn cannot come soon enough. It will come, though – it always does.

Nærøyfjord & Aurlandsfjord I

After we took our bus through the mountains we emerged in the tiny village of Gudvangen, located at the end of Nærøyfjord, which is an arm of Aurlandsfjord, which in turn, is an arm of Sognefjord. Getting off of our bus we immediately boarded our ferry for an eleven mile ride on Nærøyfjord.

Nærøyfjord is named after Njord, a Norse god associated with wind, seafarers, coasts, and inland waters. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and if I had to choose, this may have been my favorite part of our whole trip. The scenery was spectacular, and even though it was raining for most of our ferry ride we were spellbound.

I wasn’t quite sure at what point we left Nærøyfjord and entered Aurlandsfjord so I’m posting these pictures together, and, I’m splitting them into three posts so this post won’t be unbearably long. However, they are in the order they were taken. It was difficult deciding which pictures to use, but I think I managed to cull the cream of the crop for my readers!

I couldn’t get over how tiny the houses seemed sitting at the base of the mountains. The mist and clouds offered a heightened sense of drama. And as we were learning about Norway, there was always another waterfall to be seen as we sailed on. On the shores we also saw small villages, farms, sheep and goats.

It is steep and deep, shallow and wide, wild and gentle. Nærøyfjord is a 18 km long branch of the worlds second longest fjord Sognefjord (204 km). It is only 250 metres at the narrowest, and more than one kilometres at the widest. The depth varies between 10 and 500 metres. The surrounding mountains are up to more than 1400 metres high.
~ www.naeroyfjord.com

More pictures coming!

Flåm

Morning light in Flåm, Norway, looking off the balcony of our hotel room. (above) Morning is my favorite time of day and this particular morning we did not have to rush off to catch a train or a ferry or a bus so we could enjoy a a few leisurely hours in the village before our next adventure.

5.24.15.7755 — good morning! ~ friendly little curious female house sparrow

5.24.15.7767 — later on we would cross this bridge on a bus
to get to a long tunnel to Gudvangen

5.24.15.7772 — it didn’t take me long to find a few gulls

5.24.15.7796 — entrance to Ægir Brewery & Pub,
where we had dinner the night before

5.24.15.7800 — wood carvings in a dead tree near our hotel

5.24.15.7808 — so many lovely birch trees

5.24.15.7810 — Ægir Brewery & Pub ~ it’s only open for dinner

5.24.15.7812 — Flåmsbrygga Hotel, the warmth of knotty pine floors and doors

5.24.15.7813 — Ægir Brewery, sign above entrance

5.24.15.7815 — Tim on a little stone seat sticking out of the wall
of the Flåmstova Restaurant

5.24.15.7819 — wall in the Flåmstova Restaurant, where we had breakfast

5.24.15.7821 — ceiling in the Flåmstova Restaurant

While we were eating breakfast by a picture window, enjoying the view of garden, fjord and mountain, a cruise ship very slowly pulled into port! Then we could barely see the mountain over the top of it! Cruise ships are amazingly large – Flåm was such a tiny port I am sure it couldn’t possibly accommodate more than one of them at a time.

5.24.15.7838 — I still can’t get over how it was spring on the fjord
and winter in the mountains

5.24.15.7853 — there was a hiking path up through the farms
hugging the side of the mountain

5.24.15.7859 — wish we had time to hike up there,
but the zoom lens came in handy to capture this scene

We boarded a small bus to take us through the mountains to Gudvangen. This is the entrance to Flenja Tunnel (above) which is 5,053m long. (16,578′). We came out of it for only 500m (1,640′) before entering Gudvanga Tunnel, which is 11,428m (7.1 mi) long, Norway’s second longest road tunnel.

Next stop: Ferry ride on Nærøyfjord from Gudvangen back to Flåm.

appearances

4.11.15.4627 — 4.11.15 ~ Mystic, Connecticut

There is one common flow, one common breathing, all things are in sympathy.
~ Hippocrates
(The Mystic Vision: Daily Encounters with the Divine)

Last week Tim & I spotted this great egret fishing for its lunch on the west bank of the Mystic River.

Life flows on within you and without you.
~ George Harrison
♫ (Within You Without You) ♫

The appearance is ever-changing, but the beingness is ever-present.
~ Joan Tollifson
(Painting the Sidewalk with Water)

clipped by the elbows

SławekStaszczuk.cormorant — cormorant by Sławek Staszczuk

Is that a cormorant perched on the next stump-island? He snaps open his wings and leaves them outstretched, as if they were hung on the line, clipped by the elbows to dry in the dusk. When we get closer, he will pull in the laundry and lift his feet restlessly – one, then the other.
~ Kathleen Dean Moore
(Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature)

frozen

2.16.15.3242 — 2.16.15 ~ Groton, Connecticut

These pictures were taken along the east side of the Thames River, looking south. The meteorologists are reporting that if this deep freeze continues, this will soon be the coldest month ever recorded in Connecticut. If this is what climate change will be bringing us, I think we will need to invest in some serious fleece lined boots. More snow due tomorrow and still more on the weekend.

2.16.15.3262 — 2.16.15 ~ Groton, Connecticut

Notice the chunk of ice in the water behind this duck. He seems to be doing better than the gulls, but where is the rest of his flock?

2.16.15.3279 — frozen waves stick to the riverbank ~ 2.16.15 ~ Groton, Connecticut

Every once in a while, Mr. Logic (Tim) and I will have a brief discussion about poetry. I’m for it, he’s against it, and we agree to disagree. He says it doesn’t make any sense to him. But the other day I was browsing through my Emily Dickinson book and thought perhaps Tim might “get” this one. Read it to him, and wonder of all wonders, he said it made sense to him! I so enjoyed the once-in-a-lifetime moment.

“Faith” is a fine invention
For Gentlemen who see!
But Microscopes are prudent
In an Emergency!
~ Emily Dickinson
(The Poems of Emily Dickinson, #202)

2.16.15.3281 — 2.16.15 ~ Groton, Connecticut

After this we headed over to Mystic. More pictures soon…