January 2026 Eagles, Provincetown,

  Saturday January 3 Gorgeous sunrise this morning, with the light making the ice on the pond glow.

 

Checking eBird last night, there were reports of 3 snowy owls at the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Newburyport, on the north shore. Went up there this morning, but no luck with the owls. Did see a juvenile bald eagle and a couple of northern harriers, one flying low over the bushes near the footpath, along with some common eiders, a couple of surf scoters, with their wacky beaks, on the ocean and black ducks on the marsh. Lots of people there, all hoping for a snowy, but no one I spoke to saw one.

Full moon rising over the pond tonight.

Friday January 9 There was a deer carcass on the ice on the pond this morning! I'm guessing that a pack of coyotes chased it onto the ice and brought it down. Pretty amazing! I went back again in the late afternoon and saw an adult bald eagle standing on the ice, not that close to the deer. I assume it had been eating it earlier. 

Love these patterns of swirls in the ice this morning. 

 

Saturday January 10 Heard some crows making a racket as I started my walk around the pond and when I looked up, saw that they were harassing an adult bald eagle perched in a tree. It took off after a bit and landed on the ice near the deer where a few crows and ravens were feeding.

 

Went to Provincetown for a day of birding. Started at Race Point, where I spotted white-winged scoters and common eiders but most of the ducks were too far out for me to identify them. At Herring Cove beach, there were a couple of long-tailed ducks, a common loon and more white-winged scoters. Plus possible black scoters. At the pier in the center of town more long-tailed ducks, 2 female harlequin ducks, a few buffleheads, a single goldeneye and lots of common eiders and red-breasted mergansers. One of the other birders saw the pigeons that had been huddled together on the roofs of the huts along the pier take off as a peregine falcon swooped down. I missed that, but did get a look at the peregrine as it perched in a tree after its unsuccessful foray. At lunch at Fanizzi's restaurant, there was a single Brant goose swimming about close in to the shore. A couple dozen or so Brants further along the shore.

Here's a particularly reddish female eider that was swimming close to the pier in town.

 Stopped at the Wellfleet Audubon sanctuary to go for a walk. Not a lot of birds, but I was interested in this notice board with the count of the number of threatened or endangered sea turtles rescued this past fall. Some of the sea turtles that come north to feed in the summer get trapped in the hook of Cape Cod on their way south in the fall and, with the colder water, become lethargic and hypothermic. They get washed up onto the beaches of Cape Cod Bay where they die unless rescued. Mass Audubon trains volunteers to walk the beaches looking for stranded sea turtles and then Audubon brings them to the New England Aquarium facility in Quincy or the National Marine Life Center in Buzzard's Bay for rehabilitation. You can read more about Audubon's sea turtle rescue program here.

 Tuesday January 13 Beautiful sunrise over the pond.

 Went to Mass Audubon's headquarters in Lincoln this morning for a meeting. Stopped by Drumlin Farm across the road afterwards. The vet was giving the sheep their shots. They were all crowded into the barn, trotting from one end to the other in little clusters, trying to avoid the vet. But she got them all in the end. 

 And the goaties were cute, too.

 Wednesday January 14 The deer carcass is down to just bones at this point. Didn't see any birds at it this morning or yesterday. There have been some fantastic photos posted over the last few days (warning: this one from Mary Ellen at the Universal Hub website is pretty gory) - an eagle and two ravens at the carcass as a couple of crows watch. It's remarkable how quickly it got eaten - in 5 days, there was virtually nothing left.

Thursday January 15 And the deer is no longer on the ice.  With the ice melting, I thought it had dropped into the pond. But a friend told me that the skeleton had been dragged to the shoreline. I spotted it on Friday.

Sunday January 18 At Leverett Pond this afternoon, saw the swan family that had been on Jamaica Pond for the last few months: the 2 adults and 3 juveniles that are turning white, losing their greyish brown feathers. 

Monday January 19 A few inches of wet snow fell last night, clinging onto every twig and branch, turning everything into a winter wonderland. In the bathroom, brushing my teeth, I watched a grey squirrel running along the electrical wire at the end of my back yard, leaving scallops of snow between its leaps. At one point it slipped and nearly fell, but hung on with all four paws. Then a second squirrel followed and did the same thing.

 

Gorgeous views of the snow at the pond.

 

 Friday January 23 Marsha (the dog) and Bruce (the cat) visiting with me at Beth and Dale's.

 Sunday January 25 Couldn't resist Millie in her Hudson's Bay Company coat, with its iconic stripes, at the pond this morning.

Wednesday January 28 The storm on Sunday and into Monday dropped 20" of snow on Boston. Bitter cold, low single digits in the early mornings this week, with wind chills below zero. But I got out to the pond this afternoon to take some photos in the dazzlingly bright sunshine.