fog watching

I was out of bed, dressed, and down at the water early enough this morning to actually see the fog roll in. These spring fogs seem to originate on the ocean and then move inland as the air temperature warms up and there is a substantial difference between the water and air temperatures (the water being much slower to warm up in the spring here on the South Shore). So the fog develops (and seems to roll in) from ocean to bay (Shinnecock) to creek (Weesuck). Pretty soon I can't even see the other side of the creek!

The dank, somewhat oppressive atmosphere was not especially appreciated by the birds. Before the fog came in, I was early enough to hear a rollicking dawn chorus -- mostly robins, wrens and cardinals with a few whistled contributions from the chickadees. And the local warblers, Yellowthroat and Yellow eventually joined in. No Purple Martin Dawn Song that I could detect; the martins were very slow to emerge (few flying insects I suppose) and most of them spent the early morning lined up on the bars supporting the nesting gourds.

One creature that clearly likes warm muggy weather is the Box Turtle and I have seen quite a few of them in the latter part of May -- at least one on nearly every one of my morning walks including today's excursion. I am trying to memorize the different turtle patterns -- all variations of black & yellow or black  & orange -- so that I can identify individual turtles. So far this spring, I am confident of at least half a dozen different animals and probably more with both sexes and more than one age group represented. I was quite concerned after Irene and Sandy but it seems that we still have quite a healthy population

Eric Salzman