I saw my first Harlequin Duck off of Nauset Beach on Cape Cod this week. I had never seen one before!
I was taking a walk along the beach when I saw these three diving ducks a little bit offshore. I wasn’t sure what kind of ducks they were so I took a few photographs. They looked pretty dark with two white spots on their heads.
As I looked them up in my Sibley Guide to Birds, I learned that an adult breeding Harlequin Duck is very colorful, where an adult non breeding Harlequin Duck looks just like this from November to May.
It was such a pretty day at the First Encounter Beach on Cape Cod and the sky was so blue, I just loved this photograph of a Seagull standing in the little inlet on the beach at low tide.
I looked out of our kitchen window yesterday as it was snowing and down by the water at Meetinghouse Pond in Orleans on Cape Cod was a Great Blue Heron…waiting for lunch! Between the snow and reeds he was somewhat difficult to decipher but being my favorite bird, I just knew it was “Blue.”
I have never seen a Great Blue Heron wading in the marsh by our house, so it was quite a treat.
Not a great photograph as it was snowing and it was through the wet window, but still one of “Blue!” Awesome!
We saw several Brants on the shores at First Encounter Beach in Eastham on Cape Cod. The Brant is a small goose of the ocean shores that breeds in the high Arctic tundra and winters along both coasts.
The Brant is a medium to small goose with a black head, neck, and chest and a white, partly broken collar.
The Brant is a very beautiful and distinctive bird. I had never seen one before. Have you?
Cape Cod daily articles on the wonderful Cape Cod places to hike, experience and photograph. A Cape Cod Outdoor Adventure Series.
