Musings

Reflections on life lived by a coast

  • Home
  • Travel
  • Yoga
You are here: Home / Back to Basics / Rainy Day Musings

Rainy Day Musings

June 15, 2015 •

Cotuit Marsh 6-14-15Before the rain arrived, our pre-dawn morn­ing began abruptly with a noisy debate between wild turkeys and a neigh­bor’s dog. Not our typ­i­cal morn­ing ser­e­nade on a late spring day in Cape Cod!

We’ve begun to see turkeys graz­ing in our salt marsh. It’s a healthy and well-flushed habi­tat, a favored fish­ing ground for herons and osprey look­ing for small fish or crabs.

As seen through my grand­fa­ther’s vin­tage binoc­u­lars, wild turkeys are really quite ugly, espe­cially when com­pared to herons or egrets. They are begin­ning to over­run this sea­side vil­lage. Turkeys are also becom­ing a haz­ard to dri­vers when the toms decide it’s time to escort their large and slow-mov­ing harems across a busy road.

When annoyed by the turkeys, I remind myself of their impor­tance to the early Pil­grims who set­tled Cape Cod and nearby Mass­a­chu­setts towns. And of course, their domes­ti­cated cousins grace our table each Thanks­giv­ing!

Baltimore_OrioleDespite the turkeys, bird watch­ing this spring has been quite col­or­ful and diverse. While walk­ing or kayak­ing, we’ve seen:

  • Ospreys fish­ing or feed­ing their babies
  • Oys­ter catch­ers
  • Wil­lets
  • Great blue herons
  • Great white herons
  • Green herons
  • Snowy egrets
  • Bal­ti­more ori­oles (shown here)
  • Car­di­nals
  • Goldfinches
  • Swans
  • Wild turkeys

And of course, the nearly ubiq­ui­tous robins, chick­adees, gulls, terns, crows, spar­rows, mal­lards, Canada geese, mourn­ing doves.

We’ve heard but not seen the owls that hunt in the nearby nature pre­serve, a 100-acre con­ser­va­tion area that includes wood­lands, salt marsh and a brack­ish river fed by Pop­pones­set Bay.

Sum­mer sea­son has not yet begun, so the birds still dom­i­nate the local waters. They share the bay with kayaks, jet skis and boaters mostly on the week­ends, although that will soon change.

By then we’ll have returned to Wash­ing­ton, but will miss the seabirds and song­birds we so love here on Cape Cod.

About This Blog

Reflec­tions on life, travel, books, and yoga. Think­ing out loud about the pur­suit of mind­ful­ness and well-being.

Learn­ing how to recover from the loss of a beloved spouse, and then to find a trans­for­ma­tive path for­ward.

About Me

Semi-retired marketing exec, transitioning from a career in high tech. Now "managed" by two Tonkinese cats. Missing travel and friends on the West Coast. Avid reader and foodie. Staying active with long walks, biking, kayaking and yoga.

Recent Posts

  • Wet Sand, Wet Boots, Birds
  • Living with Vintage Items
  • Slowing Down
  • Reflections on My Camino
  • Going Off the Beaten Track in France

© 2020 by Christine Thompson. All rights reserved. • Log in