Snowy, Napatree

Today marked another wonderful milestone in my ongoing return to full natural history action: a trip to Watch Hill to, at last, trek the Napatree Point beach. Despite the fact that the first dune, a steep climb that is required to get to the shore, nearly proved too much, I prevailed, however slowly, and was soon walking at a pretty decent clip. It was chilly, but far less windy than yesterday, and when I finally made it to the Point, I was greeted by lots of Sanderlings and what I thought were Purple Sandpipers but later keyed out as Dunlin. In the Lagoon were numerous Brant, and on the gravel bar, I noticed something unexpected: an exceptional early American Oystercatcher. In the low dunes was a bird even more unexpected than any I'd imagined seeing: a Snowy Owl! Snowies were pretty plentiful during a much-touted "irruption" of the Arctic visitors last December, but I was in no shape to hike the beach back then and my visits via car to possible Snowy haunts were unproductive. Maybe the birds sensed my disappointment, for on my first day back at the "job," here was a first-year owl, probably haunting the beach for rodent fuel before heading back north. I watched, photographed, and gave abundant thanks.