When it comes to late winter on Cape Cod, and the knowledge that beach weather is still four months away, it’s the little signs of better things to come
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The Winter Waterfowl Count is usually held during the first week of January and is normally the coldest event in which the Pembroke Area Field Naturalists participate. This year, the count was held on Wednesday, Jan. 6. Unlike last year where the temperature ranged around -14 C, the weather was quite mild for this year’s event. Eight birders participated, three fewer participants than the record year of 2008.
One has to give the participants full credit as usually they experience cold, inclement weather, and sub-zero temperatures with high wind chill factors. Fortunately, this was not the case during this year’s count. Also, it is hard to maintain enthusiasm when often only one or two bird species are found, in spite of their efforts.
Dale Bowman Things that made me wonder, then smile. Fritz Plous emailed this month about a lack of birds at his feeder, which they had just put up 10 days ago after a two-year absence because of neighborhood rat problems. “But there have been no bird visits and there is no seed on the ground underneath it,” Plous emailed. “My daughter said she saw a sparrow on it briefly this morning, but it flew away and has not returned. “Our neighbor has always had a feeder and has always been successful at attracting birds. But yesterday she said, ‘Something’s wrong. This time of year, I always see sparrows, juncos, chickadees and cardinals, but this year I’m only seeing a few sparrows.’”