
Wet sand, wet boots, happy me. Who would have guessed that there are so many walking trails here on Cape Cod. Or so much birdlife!
Despite the rainiest April ever recorded in Massachusetts, I’m out on Cape Cod’s walking trails every day. It’s beautiful here, even when it rains. The summer people haven’t arrived yet, so the trails are virtually empty. I may pass a dog walker or two, but otherwise the bird life predominates.
It’s mating season so the birds are competing for attention with vibrant colors, passionate choruses and choreographed mating dances. If I stop and wait quietly, there are marvels to see and hear.

Flirting cardinals, eye-catching Baltimore orioles, dancing dowitchers, elegant swans, mallards, osprey, robins and bluebirds, great blue and white herons, tufted titmice, finches, sparrows, chickadees, red-winged blackbirds — the list goes on and on, if only I had the skill to name all the birds I see or hear.
Thanks to years of hiking in the Pacific Northwest, I’m well equipped to enjoy nature’s courtship rituals and musicals, despite inclement conditions on these coastal trails. I put on a GoreTex jacket, don a rain hat and off I go. For prolonged downpours I just add rain pants, some semi-waterproof hiking boots and a pair of warm wool socks.
Rain mists my glasses, speckles my outerwear and the birds welcome me back. The sand crunches under my boots. It’s a daily blessing to be here.
