Morning Visitors

In the early morning as soon as the sun breaks through I will scan the river for activity even before my cup of coffee.  It is winter and the "snowbirds" from Canada stay through rain and snow and sleet enjoying the balmy weather in the Mid-Atlantic. The other day I walked out to the bird feeders to replenish their larder and heard a rasping sound. I stopped and listened carefully. It did not sound mechanical like halyards on a mast or squeaky like tires on snow from my neighbor putting his motorcycle away.  It did not sound like ropes rubbing against the bow of a boat.  It was the only sound on this very quiet morning.

I turned carefully to look toward the sound scanning the trees wondering if it was a woodpecker cleaning his bill against the bark of the tall tulip tree or oak. Then toward the bottom of the trunks where the path to the dock covered in snow lies, I saw a red fox. He was lovely in his healthy fur coat and the sound I had heard was his panting. The sound carried over the air. He hurried toward the river's edge and down the dock, and within seconds, I heard the slap of wings and honk of startled Canadian Geese sharply breaking the silence as they took to the air for safety. It was loud on that quiet snow battened morning, and I would have missed it if I had snuggled on the couch and stayed inside, letting my birds wait until the later warmer hours to feed.  The photo below was taken at another time and may be deer tracks as fox tracks are very straight.

The river was frozen over for a few days, but this did not dissuade "my" visitors from waiting out breakfast on those mornings.

This ice makes my teeth ache just looking at them! We also were lucky to get a rare flock of Canvas Back ducks (below) to visit after the snow melted.