Eider on Nauset Marsh before a Storm

On the morning of February 15, before an impending afternoon storm on the Cape I walked north along the spit from Town Cove in Orleans toward Nauset Inlet.  American Black Ducks lounged on the eastern edge of the cove along with groups of Buffleheads and several Red-breasted Mergansers.  The wind blew gently from the east with nippy temperatures just below freezing, the calm before the storm. 

Large loose flocks of Common Eider floated further out on the marsh.  I estimated that they numbered around 350. 

 

I was surprised by a long extended line of these ducks flying in across the spit, circling to land and join the others.  The count was almost too high to estimate, especially when another equally large group followed from the sea.  My guess at a total was a minimum of 600, almost certainly too low.   

 

About two thirds along the spit toward the inlet, I crossed over to the ocean met by a small flock of Sanderlings in their tireless habit of running up and down the beach. 

 

Upon glancing up just beyond the breakers, I saw the source of the Eider migration into the marsh.  Several hundred additional down-warmed ducks were gathered in huge groups offshore. 

 

The total of all the Eider must surely have been well over a thousand, I assume all hunkering down behind the protection of the spit in anticipation of the storm. 

 

A blizzard developed over night with sustained winds of near 40 mph.  The pelting snow blanketed our backyard shed, a beautiful sight the following morning.   

This has been a hard winter on the Cape, the worst in recent memory.  The Eider, however, have managed to find a way to flourish.