Christmas Dinner and Boxing Day Birds

Christmas Day was a new venture for our family. Rather than doing the holiday at my Dad’s, Christmas dinner as at Chilmark Girl’s place, with dessert later at my brother’s. CG made dinner, which was also non-traditional: rack of lamb and some (for us) new vegetables, including an amazing cauliflower gratin. I participated in the appetizer, which was a fruit compote- raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, apricots and bananas- in raspberry coulis with tangerine sorbet. I made the sorbet. The entire meal was wonderful and memorable.

White Beach

Salt marsh behind White Beach

Today, Leon and I participated in a tradition of our own- a drive around Cape and with birding. We started at White and Black Beach. The weather was beautiful- sunny and in the mid 40’s. Unfortunately, good weather keeps the ducks further off shore and out of view. Still, the day held some real pleasures.

Eastern Point Lighthouse and breakwater

Navigational beacon at the end of the breakwater

Black-backed gull (Larus marinus) on the breakwater

Purple sandpipers (Calidris maritima)

The weather was so nice, that we were able to walk the breakwater at Eastern Point in Gloucester. The breakwater is about a quarter mile long, and connects the lighthouse at Eastern Point with a small navigational light at the entrance to Gloucester Harbor. In previous years either the weather was too cold, or the waves were crashing over the breakwater. Today it was only us and the birds. We saw mostly gulls, but there was a flock of about 60 purple sandpipers flying about and landing on the rocks of the breakwater. I managed to get a few pictures.

Roadside birders on Eastern Point. What are they seeing?

The real treat of the day came as we left Eastern Point. Passing a small pond, we noticed a group of birders lining the road with spotting scopes trained on a group of gulls out on the pond ice. I rolled the window down and asked if this was a Christmas Bird Count, or if they were seeing something special. It turns out that there was a slaty-backed gull from Asia out in the flock. It was the first-ever record of this species in Massachusetts. We were invited to look through a spotting scope and got pictures through it. My birding friends will be jealous of this one.

Slaty-backed gull (Larus schistisagus)
The characteristic pink legs are visible in this picture.

We continued our circumnavigation of the Cape through Rockport and on to Essex. The only noteworthy sighting was a hooded merganser in a salt marsh in Rockport. Lunch was fried clams in Essex. For a day when the conditions were not the best for duck viewing, we had an amazing experience.

Slaty-backed gull (Larus schistisagus)