I am going to do a series for you called House of Feathers - location - on the nest. Who needs Netflix when the Sandhill Cranes are on the nest? :). I hope this series will warm your hearts….

Episode 1

Each year I count the days as the time approaches for the possibility of success at the crane nest… It is always right around Mother’s Day. The week leading up to Mother’s Day was rain, rain and more rain so I did not go as soon as I normally would have.

I had not planned on going to the Sandhill Crane nest on April 11th because the forecast was for rain in the morning. But …. I woke up early and looked out the window to see everything coated in a gorgeous coating of snow! About an inch had fallen and stuck like glue to every possible surface - even in the darkness I knew if it didn’t melt this would be my chance to finally see snow on the nest… I immediately checked to see if the roads were in good shape for driving and they were so I hurried as fast as I could to get my gear and get ready.

Thank you for coming along on my adventures in Westerly, RI - I so appreciate sharing the beauty of this very special place with all of you. This post is from my last morning outing. I was up extra early - I wanted to be in place back at that special cove well before sunrise. As I walked out on that path it was so alive with birdsong - it was so beautiful to hear all of our feathered friends belting out their songs!

Temperature was once again perfect….

The second morning in Westerly I left a little later because some big thunderstorms rolled through the area. I obsessively checked my weather app until I saw that the lightening had moved out and then I immediately was out the door and on my way. There was only a light mist for part of the way and by the time I got back to the cove - there was no mist and everything was perfectly still - the pond was light glass. There are mornings like this where honestly you wouldn’t know if you were looking at the sky or the water because the water is so perfectly reflecting the sky -

I realized after I made yesterday’s post that I had a few more early morning shots for you. These are from right after I left the cove and was heading back.

I have never seen or heard so many Willets as I did on this trip. Just as I was leaving the cove I heard more Willets and was trying to locate them when all of a sudden …..I scored!

I just spent 3 1/2 incredible days in Westerly, RI that were honestly more than I could have hoped for - wow! The weather was absolutely perfect - each morning was in the mid-50’s with no wind and no bugs biting me. Each morning I went out to the same area because I totally scored on the first morning and felt like there were no reason to look any further for another spot. I walked directly east out on a sandy path with the ocean on my right and Quonochontaug Pond on my left.

This is in the category of … you never know what you might see on any given morning! The birdsong is definitely picking up a lot… which is really heartwarming to hear. I decided I would go up the steep area first and work my way towards the northeast corner where I have been wanting to explore. I wanted to be up in that area before sunrise to figure out where to be when for my next outings over here. Dawn’s chorus was getting louder but I still couldn’t spot any of our feathered friends as the lighting was still not quite light enough for me to see what I was hearing…

Yesterday morning I went to the North Meadows in Old Deerfield to see if the green herons had arrived yet… nope! It is so nice to head out in the morning trying to locate new Spring arrivals…. I have been seeing some reports of green herons in our general area and thought it was worth a shot at the ponds at the North Meadows but no dice.

The sunrise was glorious with great temps around 38 degrees and no wind…

Yesterday morning I spent time at another swamp - this one borders Conway and Ashfield. It was a gorgeous April morning - 35 degrees and no wind. As soon as I started out I heard more birdsong than I have so far this year - it was wonderful. As I went around a corner I saw this gorgeous silhouette of a barn swallow. I thought to myself, another swamp - another show!

This morning I went to Bullitt for a short wander around - beautiful temps with no wind. I have only four shots to share this morning… but wow! I was doing my usual loop around Bullitt listening to the birdsong when I heard a beautiful song that I have heard before but couldn’t place… who was singing such a beautiful song??? I kept making my way towards that beautiful song …. and then way up at the top of the larch tree I saw the constant flitting around of a kinglet!

I knew by the calendar that the cranes should be on the next by April 10th as they have been each year since I have had the pleasure of watching them. It is truly amazing that this pair flies to this farm and swamp to mate and then is on the nest by April 10th - that just totally amazes me. As I have mentioned before each pair mates for life. Sandhill cranes have beautiful courtship and mating rituals which include dances, flapping of their wings, and unison calls. Unison calls are used to strengthen their bond to one another and to mark their territory. I get chills when I hear these unison calls.

This post is not an April Fool’s Day joke! This all really happened…

I arrived at Silvio with a sky filled with clouds. The forecast was for the sun to pop through shortly after sunrise. The temp was right around 32 degrees. I started the loop going clockwise like I usually do. I kept wondering how far I would get before the puddles would be too deep - well, it didn’t take long at all. I have good waterproof boots but the depth of the first puddles would have been too much even for my boots- so I turned around to try the loop counter clockwise.

The Sandhill Cranes are back!! As you know I tried to locate them recently with no luck…. On Thursday morning I received an email letting me know that they had arrived - four of them!I They arrived back at the Ashfield property where I have permission to wander around. As is the routine - the parents fly back with the previous year’s young ones. As soon as they arrive it is as if the parents are saying - ok we got you back to your place of birth - now it is time for you to begin your own lives somewhere else in the neighborhood!

What a morning I had this past Wednesday…. a spectacular morning at Silvio - slight breeze and about 28 degrees - yet another day with a face mask. I have to say I felt it in my bones that I would see an owl Wednesday morning…. Wednesday marked 6 months since my/our beloved Lorraine passed away…

I arrived 30 min before sunrise - exactly when I wanted to arrive. I decided I would do the loop as many times as it was going to take to spot an owl - so off I went. I went as quietly as possible - scanning from high to low and everywhere in between.

This morning I went to Ashfield looking for the Sandhill Cranes - they will be arriving any moment. It was 24 degrees once again a face mask was required! No cranes - after searching in all of the possible spots that I know of I decided to leave and go to Edge Hill in Ashfield and try my luck there. The sun was still behind the mountains there which meant that I had the chance to set up and get ready near the tiny pond and wait for the magic. The pond still had more than half of it covered in a thin layer of ice.

This past Thursday and Friday I spent many, many hours outside - no face masks required! What a treat to dress for just above freezing temps and head out. Thursday morning I went back over to Honey Pot. We had had a dusting of snow during the night so everything had a beautiful thin coat of snow on it. I was hoping to see the short-eared owl which is still being reported - but no luck again. But I did have luck with something else that I had also been hoping to see… Well before sunrise I was standing up alongside the CT river scanning the field behind me…

It has been quite some time since I have been out for an early morning outing - it was a treat to get in the car and head out. I decided to go to Honey Pot Road in Hadley this morning - I was looking for an easy walk to try and begin to get back into the rhythm of morning outings. It was a gorgeous March morning in New England - 28 degrees, perfectly clear and absolutely no wind. As I drove to Hadley the horizon was just starting to lighten with red, orange and yellow hues - it was setting up to be a beautiful sunrise.

A quick post to share some exciting news! I was contacted last week by Renee Gannon of the Trustees from The Trustees of Reservations asking my permission to share my incredible encounter with the bobcat at Bullitt! Bullitt Reservation is one of the many properties that The Trustees of Reservations oversees throughout Massachusetts. An employee at The Trustees had seen my blog post and passed it along to her which set this all in motion. Of course it was my absolute pleasure to grant permission.

I left the house Thursday morning for Silvio- temperature was 12 degrees and it was not going to hit 14 until 2 hours after sunrise. Thankfully - no wind! I arrived at Silvio well before sunrise and had decided that I better only make one loop because of the frigid temps. It was so incredibly cold that as I made my way to the first of the wooden walkways the wood was snapping and popping incredibly loudly with each step that I took. The popping sounds echoed throughout the woods - I certainly wasn’t going to sneak up on anyone anywhere near those wooden walkways.

Let me start by saying that today’s encounter still has might heart racing… and it happened about six and half hours ago! My day started at my usual hour in Deerfield - I went back to where I was yesterday in the hopes of seeing the Short-eared Owl again… I had absolutely no luck at all - it was extremely quiet. I hung in there for about 2 1/12 hours wandering around trying to find spots where I thought the owl might be hanging out - I just had no luck.