Two special things

While out and about today, I had to cross over a bridge spanning the Merrimack River. As I approached, traffic slowed to a crawl and I saw several people milling about on the bridge’s pedestrian walk. I knew what that meant, so I ducked into a parking area just before the bridge and joined the throng of spectators on the bridge.

The bald eagles are back. I’m not really sure where they go during the deepest, darkest part of winter, but at some point about this time every year, the mating pairs return to their nesting grounds along the river. They spend the month of February courting and building or repairing last year’s nests. Today a young pair were out in full display, taking advantage of gentle air currents. They soared up high, dived and rolled, and glided only several feet above the river, below bridge level. Some of the watchers on the bridge said the eagles were giving us an amazing courtship show called roller coastering. The thing that really impressed me was their caring and concern for each other. Eagles will mate for life and they do appear to care for each other. There was a tenderness in their behavior toward one another that seemed to suggest an emotional bond. I really could have stood there for hours watching, despite my chattering teeth. It’s not often we get to see the eagles out in full view like this. They are utterly captivating.

The other thing that made today special was the brine in the air. That’s a rare event for winter. Briny, seaweedy air is something that usually heralds spring. Once upon a time, back in NY state, hearing the Canada Geese fly over was what said ‘spring has sprung’. Here, it’s the scent of ocean. For some reason, the sea breezes and fogs in the winter don’t carry any scent of ocean and, usually, the first scent of ocean doesn’t occur until late March or April. So today it was very exciting to smell it. I don’t, for a moment, think that spring is about to burst onto the scene, but conditions were just right and the air was redolent of clams and seaweed. I’ll take it. It’s a scent that just makes me happy.

This was a pretty nice early February day. Yes, indeed.