Shortie…Again!!!
I am so thrilled that the previous Shortie post resonated with so many of you… thank you so much for reaching out to me to let me know - I truly appreciate knowing what touches you! I love that not only was the Shortie special to you - and for some - Plum Island also brought back very special memories. It truly is a beautiful place and our Shortie encounters are something that David and I will never forget. And to Dave W - David says hi back to you!
We really could not believe our first afternoon sightings and kept talking about it - wow! We made plans to be at Parker River the next morning right for opening - the sign said - Open from Sunrise to Sunset. Now you all know that for me I consider that late! We arrived 30 minutes before sunrise and waited behind two delivery trucks for the gate to open. I was jumping out of my seat wanting to get into the park… that was a long 30 minute wait - for us both! Finally the gate opened and off we went down the road. I wanted to set up a little further past where we had watched the Shortie the day before at dusk. We parked and hopped out and got to the spot and I set up and David was immediately scanning the horizon for any sightings with his binoculars.
We waited and waited…. we saw a huge flock of geese fly in, we watched lots of ducks flying in and Northern Harriers in the far distant horizon but no Shorties. And that is how it went that Tuesday morning… we were out for hours and hours at various places in Parker River with no luck for Shortie sightings… we knew how lucky we had been the afternoon before and knew we would keep at it over the next two days.
The next morning we planned on getting at the gate early again - I kept thinking that maybe some employee would open it open early when they saw us eagerly waiting - nope, that didn’t happen. As soon as the gate opened we went right back to where we had set up the morning before. I set up and David was immediately scanning the horizon for any sightings. I realized 15 minutes later when I was getting really cold that I had been so excited that I had left my hat in the car. My wonderful brother ran back to the car and got it for me - thank goodness! Now we were really ready… :). Scanning… scanning… The light was getting better and better… And then you guessed it - guess who??? We were both looking right and the Shortie came flying in from the left and landed in the grasses just to our right!!!
Can you believe this??
I said to David - OMG - we can see her ears! It is fairly rare to see their little ear tufts - I could not believe it. A shadow passed over us and I looked up immediately and saw a Northern Harrier flying above the Shortie - so that is why she was on high alert showing her “mad” face with her ear tufts up!
The Harrier kept on going so she was calming down a little…. just as the sun was rising behind us to light her eyes right up…
Well, I thought she was calming down but I was wrong - she took off so quickly I couldn’t even get a shot off… She then landed quite a bit further out into the marsh… I love this profile…
We watched and waited for quite some time… just hoping she would take flight to hunt and come back closer to us….. and she finally did! The morning was quite cold as you can see from the spectacular blueish colored frozen parts of the marsh - just so beautiful.
How spectacular is this?? I absolutely love when they are flying forward and looking back….
And she came closer….
For me this is a heart stopping moment….
And this…
She was so clearly on a mission -
Flew further out again -
Came back towards us again -
And my last two shots and then she was out of our sight….. wow!!!
We kept at it that day and took wonderful walks along some trails - it warmed up to the low 30’s with clear blue skies - a gorgeous day for January in New England - especially during this frigid winter. That date we left exhausted but exhilarated.
Our next morning was our last morning - we decided we would go for an hour or two and then head home. We gave it our best shot with no luck for Shorties. As we were driving back down the road to leave an enormous flock of geese was flying alongside us out over the marsh- we felt like we were in a National Geographic movie. It was so gorgeous it is hard to describe. For a few breathtaking moments we were in perfect sync with this honking flock of hundreds of geese - they were sending us off -