Wild Cape Cod Notebook: Winter
- John J King II
- Feb 2, 2014
- 1 min read
Perseverance has finally paid off in our quest to find the snowy owl and capture some images. There are still reliable reports of these beauties hunting on Sandy Neck(2), West Dennis Beach, Gray's Beach, Nauset Beach, Coast Guard Beach in Eastham, High Head (2), Race Point, and the West End dunes in Provincetown (2).
Red Breasted Mergansers (3 females) with Hooded Merganser pair West Dennis beach Mouth of the Swan River at dusk Brandt Geese forage on seaweed at the shore's edge Young Red Tailed Hawk a bit annoyed by my interest in its meal. The magnificent Snowy Owl. A juvenile. A pair of Hooded Mergansers Near the mouth of Bass River
We finally caught up with this fellow late one afternoon at West Dennis Beach. For those who don't know West Dennis Beach lies at the southern terminus of Bass River as it empties into Nantucket Sound, is easily accessible and offers an impressive winter landscape right now. In addition to the snowy owl we also found some other natural happenings including a young Red Tailed hawk who appeared to be devouring a small waterfowl, some hooded mergansers and of course Brandt geese and juvenile Herring gulls seemingly impervious to the winter chill. On this winter day the temperature was mighty cold and we had to take special care with the cameras. Air temp was approximately 10 degrees F and with windchill (SW winds of 15 kts) the temp felt like minus 10 degrees F (that is -23 degrees C)! Have not felt those temps since we returned from the Himalayas!
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