Yesterday was a gorgeous day… sunny with temps in the high 40s. It felt like spring, after all of the cold and snowy weather that we’ve had the past few weeks.
Phil and I took a nice walk on Boat Meadow Beach. The tide was low and the views were spectacular. Little did we know that when we moved here this would be in our backyard! It doesn’t get much prettier.
Yesterday Phil and I were driving home from a walk on Nauset Beach when I saw something out of the corner of my eye as we passed over the bridge on Bridge Road. Stop the car! I jumped out!
There, swimming and fishing in Boat Meadow Creek was a beautiful Red-breasted Merganser. I’ve been trying to get a good photograph of one all winter, so this was a huge treat.
The ripples in the water made for such a unique photograph. Gorgeous bird, don’t you think? Love his red eye, orange bill and his messy hair look!
Boat Meadow Creek has frozen over in the past few days. When we were driving by yesterday morning we saw something large on the ice and we had no idea what it was. I got out of the car to investigate (hope you enjoy the whole story with photographs).
It was a Harp Seal that was resting on the ice. According to volunteer Andrea Spence, soon to be an intern at IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), Harp seals migrate from the Arctic and are very comfortable on ice and ice packs. As long as they are moving and stretching, they are fine. This seal was doing both. It must have made its way up the creek from Cape Cod Bay, maybe before it was frozen over. (We’ve kayaked this part of Boat Meadow Creek in the summer and this is a long way up the creek from Cape Cod Bay.)
“IFAW is a global non-profit organization that protects animals and the places they call home.” Andrea is based out of IFAW in Yarmouth Port, MA and helps to monitor marine mammal rescue and research. She was very informative as I clicked away.
You can see by the photos that this guy was quite at home on the ice. I especially like the photo where his back flippers form a heart.
Quite a surprise for a Sunday morning as you can see me photographing the seal from the bridge! Have you ever seen a Harp Seal?
