Happy November!

Well, I haven’t posted much in October, mostly because October was a whirlwind, crazy busy month for me. I taught art and nature classes all over the Cape, had an exhibit at Barnstable Town Hall and wrote a whole lot of columns and reviews. Yep, it was a busy month.

I worked with Project Life classes through the Thornton Burgess Society in Sandwich, Bourne and Mashpee….

032taught kids how to pick up crabs without getting pinched…

033taught a little painting to adults, too….at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary but also did a little painting of my own…002

We had a little reunion with former students–all the ladies but me are in their 80s and one is in her 90s! I’ve known most of these ladies as students since 1980 and we’ve all become great friends. One moved to New Mexico 10 years ago but came to see us this fall….2011 etsy christmas cards 025

We had a great 5 week session of fall Sandy Neck Junior Rangers…011

and of course, the always energetic and photogenic Arlo was happy to join me walking along the canal on some of the best fall days….147

 

 

 

Migrating sea ducks and more….

Just after the recent storm I went looking for ducks. Sea ducks, that is. Each winter our bay area beaches are host to thousands of diving ducks, including various scoters and eider ducks as well as loons and grebes. Most come from farther north and west and visit our area for the warmer, more open waters.

At Sandy Neck the other day there were thousands and thousands of scoters and eiders. They were pretty far out and it was hard to really get a good picture of them.

Mostly all you could see for miles in either direction were thousands of these little dark dots on the water….

Many of these birds blew in with the storm and probably found shelter here. Many will disperse and spread into other areas but for this one day it seemed as if all the sea ducks on the east coast were hanging out at the neck…..a pretty amazing sight.

At the canal there were still some young cormorants–note their light necks and chests–

There were some brant–note their dark chests–and they are smaller than Canada geese, which they can resemble from a distance…

and there were about half a dozen loons–some of which were still in between their summer and winter plumages,,,

getting ready for a dive–check the back–

another view

sorry the pictures aren’t better but if you head out in that direction yourself you may be able to get better views!