Birds, Marsh, Thicket

This morning I looked out the kitchen window to see four Robins.  I’m not sure they even left this year, but they were having a grand old time in the ivy and the forsythia thicket.  Then I saw a Flicker, followed shortly by a Nuthatch, a Yellow Bellied Woodpecker and a Snowbird, otherwise known as a Dark-eyed Junco.  It must have been a bird convention of some sort.

A muddy path through Dyke Marsh

It has been unbelievably temperate.  I am getting all my salad greens from my cold frame, and I went there today and got lettuces from it.  There was also arugula and chard, hardy leaves not under cover.  Next week, I should be able to harvest broccoli raab.  Who would have thought?

Fishermen in the marsh…

On New Year’s Day, I went for a walk in Dyke Marsh south of Alexandria with a friend.  I had never walked the marsh paths before, choosing instead to kayak through it.  But it was worth the walk.  There were little beaches scoured out on the river bank, and shells and stones to see.

Cattails and marsh grasses abounded.

People were out sailing.

A birder was out watching to see what flew around.

He told us about a rarely sighted goose, called a Ross’ Goose that was on another path.  We found it, with lots of birders with amazing scopes watching it.  I found them incredibly generous, stepping back and offering views.

It has black tail feathers and a pleasant, goose-y expression.

The goose seemed quite at home with its Canadian cousins.  Apparently flocks of Ross’ Geese will join up with flocks of Snow Geese, but the Ross’ Goose is rarely seen beyond the Great Plains, though it has shown up around here and in the lower Mississippi Valley according to Audubon.  I thought it was quite charming, and hope it has found its brethren.