Purple sandpiper, Napatree

On the grayest of gray mornings—a time that, I swear, looked like it wanted to snow—I decided that the time was nevertheless right to walk the beach at Napatree Point in Watch Hill. The quaint village was all but deserted and there were few other crazy people with the same idea, so I had most of the shore to myself—well, unless you include the birds, who were there in abundance. There were scattered Common Loons and rafts of Red-breasted Mergansers floating and diving just past the surf-line, and a few hardy shorebirds probing the sand and rocks for meals. This Purple Sandpiper might well be my favorite winter resident, a bird that's more gray than purple but is certainly a poster child for the cheery strategy of successfully making it through hard times. The sandpiper laughed at the cold air, water, and photographer and went about its foraging business without complaint.