Bird Therapy at the Geremonty Marsh

 Black-capped Chickadee at the Geremonty Marsh in Salem, NH 3-13-12

After spending most of last week down in Connecticut to be with my Mom during her final chemo treatment for breast cancer I returned home to all my own chores and errands to do. Since I had to go to Salem for errands I decided to stop for a little more Bird Therapy at the Geremonty Marsh first. I first found this birding location through eBird as one of its Birding Hotspots when I moved to Andover over a year and half ago. Since then I have counted birds here several times. I even brought my friend Kathryn here last fall when she came to visit me. It’s a great little place located next to a library and a school and the distance around it is only about a half a mile. Still, I usually spend up to an hour watching birds when I am here and today is no exception!

The trees by the library seem to be full of chickadees, but I soon leave them behind and head for the path through the trees.

 I look through the dead reeds for ducks but I do not find any.

Across the marsh near the schoolyard I find a pair of Mourning doves sitting on the wires. Even from this distance I can hear their mournful cooing and the whistle of their wings when they fly.

 But the real treat are the Red-winged blackbirds that have returned, a sure sign of the return of spring.

It is late afternoon and the lowering sun falls soft and golden on the marsh.

 I looks at the water’s edge and think about the day soon when I will no longer see the water peeking out at me like this. When these cattails grow tall and green once again they will obscure this view from me.

 Though I have been seeing and hearing grackles since my arrival they are now taking to the snags over the marsh and calling out their harsh cries to the world. I watch their iridescent feathers glimmer on this golden afternoon. They almost look like jewels on display in some earthy gem store.

 Though the air is warm and the ground mostly dry, the evidence of winter is still seen in a pile of melting snow at the edge of the school parking lot. Perhaps this is winter’s last remnant.

 When a Red-winged Blackbird sings out, “Konk-a-REE” all thoughts of winter flee.

 

 

 Yes, spring is coming soon!

Across the street from the marsh a pair of mallards glides in to the wetland on that side.  Seagulls circle overhead and crows caw out their protests over the tall eastern white pines. I have arrived back at the library once again with a robin or two flitting about, and high overhead I look up to see a flock of seven turkey vultures titling and soaring as if in benediction. There… I feel better now.

 Good-bye!

Our World Tuesday!

Birds seen at the Geremonty Marsh 3-13-12:

1. Mallards, 2
2. Turkey Vulture, 7
3. Ring-billed gull, 8
4. Mourning Dove, 2
5. Hairy Woodpecker, 1
6. American Crow, 8
7. Fish Crow, 6
8. Black-capped chickadee, 8
9. White-breasted Nuthatch,1
10. American Robin, 3
11. European Starling, 8
12. Red-winged Blackbirds, 16
13. Common grackles, 25

(I spent one hour birding and walked 1/2 mile around the marsh. Winds were light and variable and the temperature was 74F!)