There’s a blizzard heading our way in about 12 hours but right now it is sunny and lovely out. The wind has picked up a bit since this morning when it was quite calm and still but it sure feels and smells more like spring than it does snow.

I went for a lovely beach walk this morning. You’d never know a storm was coming.

The osprey that calls this pole and nest home has returned. In another week or so its mate, or prospective mate, should arrive.

They have moved this nest pole several times but it is still very exposed to winds coming off Nantucket Sound and no nest here has had young survive past the first few weeks but the adults keep trying.

This beach has a lot of grassy dune area and over the winter snow buntings thrive here. This morning I hoped to catch sight of the snowy owl that travels back and forth between here and Great Island in West Yarmouth but no luck. I did see two northern harriers, though, both a male and a female. I see harriers here frequently and this pair looked like it was courting but this would not be a successful place to nest. At least I don’t think it would.

I found this sweet skeleton of a whelk shell…

and the sad skeleton of a great blue heron…

Every walk is different. Every walk leaves me with different thoughts and emotions even though I often walk in exactly the same place I have walked for over 50 years. That is part of the wonder of nature. It is always full of surprises. Always full of life and death and drama.

I leave you with this before the storm blows in…