January

 Extreme weather means adventure.  All boats to Nantucket were cancelled on Friday,  and when we  took the slow boat  on Saturday,  it was 16 degrees with winds from the northwest at 20 mph. But what a show the birds put on!  The King Eider was about 75% of the way from Hyannis to Nantucket.  Who else was outside looking at birds in that weather?   

How fun to see brant right at Brant Point!  And I hope I didn't bother the snowy owl out at Smith Point.   

King Eider 

Brant

Brant,  off Brant Point

Iceland Gull

Sanderling at Great Point

White-winged scoters off Great Point

Great Point Light

Male long-tail duck off Great Point

Snowy Owl at Smith Point

December

 

December in Nantucket gets wrapped up in red and green for the holidays.  This year was especially busy since President Biden's family visited over Thanksgiving and attended the annual Christmas tree lighting.

For me, however,  December's colors are golden brown grasses and gray goldenrod ghosts and the  red bittersweet, holly and winterberry.  The major bird migration is done,  but the crows and turkey vultures own the skies.  And the sparrows own the grounds.

Walking is ruled by the hunting season.  The Trustees of Reservation warden warned me off my hike to Coskata Woods.  Trucks of hunters in bright orange are talking about their kill.   Sunrises are later and a thrill to watch.

Ram Pasture

Polpis

Holly Farm, Polpis

New park at the Creeks

PS  In late November, my camera fell out of my backpack  while I was walking around Fresh Pond in Cambridge and I had to sent it to be repaired.  Every day I missed  it, a Canon Eos 90D with a 100-400 mm lens and 1.4  extender. I might have driven to the  North Shore to find harlequin ducks off Halibut State Park or Andrews Point if I had my camera.  The freezing thirty degree weather didn't hold me back…it was realizing that I would feel productive if I were taking photographs of birds, and would be “just going for a walk” if not.   There was a hint in the thousands of shots in my iTunes and Google Photos libraries.  A hint in my nature blog  and instagram feed.  Feeling productive is important to me.  And there is always more to learn about the light, the craft and the birds and their lives.

I got a new backpack.

And I  took pictures with my iphone for this time in Nantucket.