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June 21, 1999 |
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slow swallows |
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June 21, 1999 common tern Official Plover Count: 12 pairs, 2 chicks Today's Starting Pitcher: Brian Rose Reading: Eugene Onegin
Copyright © 1999, Janet I. Egan |
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The waves rolled in gently as the tide receded leaving thin lines of shell fragments. A whole history of the transition from high to low tide was written on the sand undisturbed by human or canine footprints. Besides my footprints, the only tracks were of gulls. It's never this deserted at midday in June, but today it was. I spoke to exactly one visitor. She was marching down the beach collecting shells in one hand and clutching a pack of cigarettes in the other oblivious to the beach closing. When I told her, she responded that she loves birds and animals and doesn't mind giving up part of the beach to them. I told her the birds thank her. I kept hearing willets and killdeer calling from beyond the dunes. Their voices sounded muted and far away. I guess they were pretty far away and their voices, which are quite loud, carry further on the humid air. This is getting to be the crucial time for the piping plovers. Eggs are starting to hatch. The chicks are very vulnerable to predators and trespassers alike as they make their run to the tide line for that first meal. I'm too far away from the nest areas to actually see the chicks - they're really really small. I have seen some in the past, as well as fledglings. The official count on the white board said they counted 2 chicks. I'm not sure when that was updated. My shift went by as if in a dream - in slow motion yet I was surprised when my radio crackled that it was time for me to go. On the way off the island I saw the body of a dead brown thrasher by the roadside. It must have tried to run across the Plum Island Turnpike. Not a good spot for ground-loving birds. |
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It's
humid and hazy again, though not unbearably hot. As I
crossed over the dunes to the beach I could feel the
temperature drop several degrees and the sea breeze stir up
the thick air. Everything seemed heavy and slow even on the
beach. A ring-billed gull landed on the beach about 10
minutes after I arrived and sat in the exact same spot for 4
hours. Even the swallows were slow, swooping in long lazy
loops and resting on the sand between loops. A tree swallow
landed a few feet from the ring-billed gull and just sat for
about 10 minutes before it took off again. This is the first
time this year that the swallows have been moving slow
enough for me to identify them with certainty.