March 14, 2025. Pi Day.
The wind has scoured the landscape, including the stubborn oak leaves. The mowed verges are golden brown, contrasting with the greys of the leafless trees. There is a flannel blanket of pewter clouds in the sky. Sesachacha Pond is high, with no opening to Cain's Pond. A single long-tailed drake swam by, as close as I have ever been. American wigeon and ruddy ducks and buffleheads swim on the pond. At Norwood Farm, there silence. No birdsong and no airplane noise. No bikers or cars or hikers or deer. A flock of yellow-rumped warblers and a few Carolina wrens observe me.
The ponds are very low. Almanac Pond is non-existent ; others noticeably smaller. The cumulative rain from December through February was only 4.62 inches. In 2023 and 2022, the totals were 6.83 and 6.56 inches. I am missing data for 2024.
At the end of the winter, there are always dead animals that didn't make it. There are two dead deer in pine forest at base of the bluff. The dead deer near Cain's Pond is still there. Much of the talk has been about the number of eiders which have washed up dead on the beaches. During my walk to the Creeks from Monomoy, there were at least 10 dead eider. Apparently there are many more out on Coatue. Eiders are the largest population of birds in Nantucket in the winter.
It has been a cold winter. The mean temperature in January was 31 and February 33.3. In 2023, January was 41.9 and February 40.1 degrees. In 2022, January was 30.3 and February 36.5 degrees. Did that make it harder on the birds, or was it bird flu?
At the Milestone Bog, I see two groups of six and seven deer running. This weekend I am only seeing groups of deer. Overall, the deer population continues to grow.
The clouds obscure the rising of the Worm Moon as well as sunrises.
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| The Worm Moon rising |
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| March 17 sunrise |
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| Whimbrel at The Creeks, March 16 |
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| Early Willet, The Creeks, March 16 |
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| Almanac Pond, March 14 |
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| Norwood Oak |
Sconset updates: Captain's Cabin up on risers for a new basement, the Baileys house on Sankaty Avenue looks put together, there is new house on the lot below the Wade Cottages.
