Bird lore - Project Puffin

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Bird -Lore
and then a Spotted Sandpiper flies by, too, from the beach shore of the sand-
spit, up through the "transition-marsh," I suspect, to the artificial fresh-
water lakes beyond. Or perhaps it is the other way. In all the summers
that I have watched the inner harbor, I am not really sure on this point. It
is always a delight to watch the Herons come in to feed, to learn their difi'erent
actions in flight, to study their poses as they stand immovable, waiting the
opportune instant to strike for prey or stalk stealthily over the yielding, muddy
ooze. Very rarely they call during the day, though occasionally I hear the
little Green Heron's ke-cuk, or the hoarser quawk of its larger companion.
At night, the latter calls more frequently, and though I cannot look through
the darkness a stone's-throw to the harbor, I know who is there, when the tide
is out.
To-day was one of many red-letter days at low tide. In addition to the
Crows and Herons, Kingfishers three and the restless Sandpiper, a Great Blue
Heron came in, with GuUs and Terns and a strange Duck. It was so exciting
that I could pay little attention to a parent Starling, whose nesthngs, tucked
away in a crevice of the old building behind me, made unceasing demands
upon its distracted attention. The Terns hardly made the circuit of the harbor,
so brief was their stay, before returning to the larger waters of the outer harbor
and sound. It was fortunate I was on the lookout. The big Herring Gulls
had been in almost daily for some weeks, sometimes one in nearly adult plu-
mage, sometimes others in dark immature plumage, but this was the first day
of the season that the Laughing Gulls swept in from the outer waters. Their
airy evolutions in which they show to such fine advantage the black primaries
of their slender wings, caught my eye, and though nearly all of the little flock
were immature, two black heads were visible, and all showed a dark or blackish
bill. One could hardly wish for better fortune than to see these two species of
Gulls sitting side by side on the weedy flats seldom feeding, however, although
once a Herring Gull seized and bore off a wriggling eel, followed by a greedy
Night Heron. It may be the harbor at low tide offers a recreation-ground for
them, or an attractive place of rest, for they seem to hke to swim slowly about
in shallow water, now and then splashing the water over themselves and
preening, but best of all, to squat quietly on the flats of water-weed exposed
by the ebb-tide.
The Great Blue Heron has been an unusual visitor for days this season,
causing much speculation as to whether it is a stray, or a breeding-bird, rare
as a summer resident in this locality.
One could scarcely tire of watching this graceful Heron, slender of neck
and leg, now wading breast-deep in the incoming tide, now standing motionless
with fixed eye and ready bill, turning occasionally, and instantly, as if by magic,
disappearing from sight, so perfectly does it blend into the colorless air and
current.
The Duck which happened in, this memorable day, kept paddhng well