"Faster Than a Speeding Bullet,"

American Mink - Neovison vison "I am looking for you"

For the number of times I have been down to the Cape Cod Canal, I have not seen The American Mink that roams along the shore, among the rocks.  The other day I went down with the intent in mind of seeing and photographing the mink.  The mink has been usually found around the fishing dock, so that's where we planted ourselves to observe the shoreline.  The shore of the canal is made up of many large boulders, which gives the mink places to hide and also to have a den.  Makes can have a home range, which size can range from .6 of a mile to 3 3/4 of a mile.  Makes run by abounding gate and can go with us speed up to 4 mph.  What makes it harder to photograph from that they will also snake under the rocks and even reverse directions so they come up behind you, rather than in front of you.  Because of the large number of fish in the canal, minks have a ready supply of food.  Minks will dive to depths of 12 inches lasting from 10 to 60 seconds.  Besides fish.  Minks will feed on rodents, crustaceans, amphibians and birds.  Besides, swimming, they also can climb trees.

American Mink - Neovison vison

American Mink - Neovison vison

American Mink - Neovison vison going fishing

American Mink - Neovison vison swimming with a fish

American Mink - Neovison vison

fish in the water of the canal

American Mink - Neovison vison out of the water

Cape Cod Canal

Enjoying a beautiful March day

We had visited down to Cape Cod Canal.  Hopefully to get out to Scuesset Beach, however, the road, pass the headquarters building was closed because of the snow.  The path that ran from the Sagamore Bridge down to Scuesset Beach was plowed, and there were a number of people walking and jogging on it.  For all the winters I have been coming down to the canal, this day was the first one that I saw the canal with a large amount ice flowing from Buzzards Bay out to the ocean.  There was more ice on the Scuesset side than on the Sagamore side.  There was a large ice flow stranded up on the rock side of the canal.  There were waterfowl coming and going, including greater scaup, common goldeneye and of course, common eiders.  There were a number of gulls flying overhead.  I am sure as the weather warms up the ice will clear from the canal and we will see more waterfowl in the canal.

Great black-backed gull

greatest scaup flying from the ice on the canal

large ice flow

common eiders flying in

common goldeneye

Video of the ice flowing in the Cape Cod Canal

King Eider at Scuesset Beach

Male King Eider taking off along with two female common eiders

It is now Tuesday, birding with Doug day.  First, we decided to check out a new area, West Island in Fairhaven.  There was a brisk wind blowing, and not a huge amount the birds were present.  Through the scope we got great look at a number of common goldeneyes, who were too far out for any pictures.

Because Doug has not had a great view of a King Eider, his only view was one flying away from us at Provincetown harbor, we traveled down to Scuesset beach state reservation, where there has been a King Eider present.  I had been previously down to Scuesset beach on the weekend and did have great views of the King Eider.  At Scuesset beach, we met a friend Linda, who had sighted the King Eider earlier.  We search through the hundreds of common eiders and finally found the King Eider.  All the eiders slowly swam toward us, giving us some good close-up views.  For me, the best photographs that I obtained today was when the majority of the flock of eiders, including the King Eider suddenly took to the air and flew down the Cape Cod canal to the ocean, and I captured the King Eider taking off.

Male King Eider taking off along with two female common eiders

King Eider

Thursdays Ducks

Male Common Eider swimming in the Cape Cod Canal

Thursday, besides obtaining the photographs of the screech owl and the canvasback's, I did obtained photographs of some more of our common species. After we've saw the screech owl we traveled down to the Cape Cod Canal, which at high tide was higher than I have ever seen it due to astronomical conditions and looking toward what will occurred during the upcoming blizzard and continuing astronomical high tides and Gail Ted hurricane force winds, I worry about beach erosion and the people who live along the coast. All that aside,

Including the canal and Jenney Pond, I obtained some nice photographs of common eiders, red-breasted mergansers, gadwalls, hooded mergansers, common goldeneye and ring-neck ducks.

Female Common Goldeneye, has been present at Jenney Pond for a number of weeks

Pair of Hooded Mergansers and a pair of Gadwalls illustrating size differences in the ducks

Male Gadwall walking on the ice at Jenney Pond

Male Red-Breasted Merganser which has been hanging out on Jenney Pond also for a number weeks. The reason it's breast seem so large is its crop is filled with a very large perch.

Male Ring-necked Duck at Jenney Pond

Juvenile Common Eider swimming in the Cape Cod Canal

Female Red-breasted Merganser swimming in the Cape Cod Canal

Cape Cod Canal, Sandwich Visitors Center and Scuesset Beach

Another interesting place to visit to observe birds and to photograph them is the Cape Cod Bay end of the Cape Cod Canal.  Both sides of the canal offer opportunities for these endeavors.  On both sides.  There are jetties that you can walk out on, I find the jetty on the Sandwich side much easier to walk on.  Both sides of easy to get to.  Although you do have to drive over the Sagamore Bridge to get from one to the other.

The day of my last visit, there was a snow shower the night before and the ground was covered with snow.  The first picture that I obtained was a close-up of a phragmites seed head with snow on it.  I  utilized my 500 mm f/4 lens to do the macro.

As we slowly walked down toward the jetty, we observed common loons, red breasted mergansers, herring gulls,common eiders and other birds.
Flying there was a herring gull which had food in its mouth being harassed by a first-year juvenile herring gull.  The long and the shot of the story is that the adult bird opened its mouth and drop the food into the canal, so neither bird got to eat it.
Down in the water off the beach, there were a number of Atlantic Brandt swimming and flying around a Great Blue Heron.


I was able to capture some sequences of bird action.  The first was a red-necked merganser taking off from the canal and the second was a common loon diving for food.  I combined the pictures into inaction-sequence panorama, utilizing the technique that George Lepp described in Outdoor Photography and is available online at http://www.outdoorphotographer.com/how-to/shooting/action-sequence-panoramas.html


There were a number of Brants feeding in a area of snow covered grass.




Crossing over to discuss the Scusset Beach State Reservation   Area, we observed mostly the same birds that we had seen on the opposite side of the canal.  There was a lone sanderling feeding on the beach. Normally you find sanderlings in in groups.  The sanderlings was very cooperative and walked back and forth by me as I knelt in the snowy sands to get a low profile of the bird.
The wind had picked up and this song sparrow, I captured with its feathers blowing in the wind. A ringed-build gull decided to make the handicap parking sign its resting place. 
There also was a good number of American Crows around the area.
I do recommend a visit to the Cape Cod Bay end of the Cape Cod Canal for your enjoyment.  Directions and information are available at http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/recreati/ccc/ccchome.htm