Perched on a rock at high tide, a female blue-winged teal
Another duck in our local collection, alongside American black ducks, mallards and buffleheads. I wouldn’t ordinarily get such a photo, but there was a bush between us and the duck was preoccupied, I suppose. The tide was very high, flooding the marshes. It’s duck country.
Chasing the skittish bufflehead ducks - this is as close as I got this morning.Bufflehead pair. At times like this I want a good camera and a telephoto lens.In the morning after some April showers and before an April downpour
On a cold morning the receding tide leaves a film of ice on the seaweed and rocks along the shore. Nova Scotia is blessed with natural shorelines like this. It's a haven for wildlife, but threatened by development. More about that in future posts. We feel fortunate to live along an undeveloped coastline.Ice forms patterns on two species of seaweed.Chunks of heavier winter ice are heading out to sea, temporarily caught in the overnight freeze, soon to be melted by the warming spring sun.
The ice that yesterday filled the cove has floated out to sea. The Oak Island Inn (which is not on Oak Island, but overlooks it) is in the distance.As soon as the ice had melted, the bufflehead ducks that had all winter occupied the other side of the causeway, the side that didn't freeze, gleefully (I imagine) took possession of the newly open water.
A jumble of ice on Martin's River as the weather turns warm
It was about 8 degrees Celsius today, and sunny – a gorgeous day that drew us outside. We went for a walk along Martin’s River, which flows into Mahone Bay between the towns of Mahone Bay and Chester.
We saw quite a jumble of ice from upriver blocked by the two bridges: the former railway bridge that is now part of the trail system, and the road bridge. The tea-coloured water was rushing around and under the ice floes.
Looking downstream, past the railway bridge to the road bridge in the distance.Looking down Martin's River
We walked past the bridges down one the east side of the river. The ice is thinning but still intact.
The tidal inlet on the cold morning of December 9th
The temperature has been bouncing around like a yo-yo – rather like the price of gas, from minus 10 degrees C to plus 10 and back again within a few days.
Unlike fresh water, which is at its most dense around 4 degrees C, salt water is most dense at its freezing point, which is typically around minus 2 C. The more salt is in the water, the lower its freezing point. In oceans that freeze, the water deeper down is saltier, so it stays down, and is less likely to freeze because the high salt concentration lowers its freezing point considerably. The lighter, relatively fresher water stays on top – so it’s more likely to freeze, and when it does freeze it has little salt in it, as I found out by tasting it.
Ice that formed over rocks at high tide, then bent and cracked as the tide fell - December 14.
After what will surely be remembered as the great November snowstorm of 2008, I went for a walk this morning in crystalline -8 degrees(C). From Crandall Point I looked out on the still waters of Mahone Bay, the open ocean behind, and counted six boats between Oak Island and Tancook. I thought of our sailboat, now snug and dry, and marveled at the fishermen who brave such cold. But it’s the first day of lobster season, too important a day to stay home if you have traps to set.