Dreary Morning # 2

The rain that ended my excursion to the beaver pond continued through the night and into the next morning. It pounded on the garage roof as I put the snow blower away for the season and uncovered the lawn mower. Following that H and I had a video chat with a group of friends, a group that’s gradually diminishing in size as we age, during which the rain ended and a few patches of blue appeared in the sky.

Later, as showers alternated with broken clouds and the wind howled, we drove to the lake in hope of seeing some waterfowl blown in by the storm's wind.

Ring-necked ducks, Canada geese and couple of blue-winged teal sheltered from the wind in a small cove. Binoculars helped me find a small raft of ducks far out on the water, but they were so distant that they just appeared as dark silhouettes – sea ducks no doubt, birds that are at home in wind and white-capped waves.

Suddenly a white bird appeared, beating its way into the wind to land on a floating dock –

A closer look revealed it to be a tern, any of which are rather rare visitors to this part of Pennsylvania far from their usual haunts. The bird preened during lulls in the wind and squatted down during the strong gusts, one of which almost blew it off the dock.

The color of the beak and the white primary feathers on its wings revealed that it was a Forester’s tern, a bird that breeds in the midwest and along the coast but nowhere near here.

We drove around the edge of the lake, finding a few buffleheads and a distant pied-billed grebe, and then headed back the way we’d come. As we passed another small cove a tern appeared and dove into the water after a small fish. This too was a Forster’s tern – the same bird we’d seen on the dock across the lake or a second bird ? The tern made several circuits of the cove, swooping and diving for prey and presenting opportunities for photos as it flew past –

The rain increased and it was time to head home, a dreary wet/rainy/windy morning had again presented photographic opportunities.