An Overcast Day

Miracle of miracles, another Sunday off! It was a chilly and overcast day, and a dead calm one, too. I went walking, and here are the results.

Ballard Park

The birds were avoiding me in the park today. Lots of fast little guys - Chickadees, Nuthatches, and Downy Woodpeckers. So I got some more bare trees and rocks, and rocks with ice falls.

Gooseneck Cove

Here's a shot of the upper end of the Cove off Hazard Rd.

Now here are the shots of what really caught my attention today. The upper end of the Cove is capable of freezing over, as I showed you last week and in the shot above. But the lower end nearer the ocean is saltier and rarely freezes. Today with the dead calm that smooth water acted like a mirror, with some absolutely gorgeous effects. Here are the best of the shots I got of the reflections. Oh, and that duck in the one shot is a male Bufflehead.

 South of Ocean Drive Gooseneck Cove empties into the Atlantic Ocean:

And overlooking the entrance to the Cove is this house. The architect is a genius - look at how he used the house to essentially finish off the almost-pyramid of the hill:

 Newport Harbor

At the end of the hike is Newport Harbor, and there were some Red-Fronted Mergansers swimming there, but I couldn't get any decent shots. However, they're taking down the old brick and stucco wall on the Halidon Ave. frontage of the New York Yacht Club (yes, I know this is Newport; this is their Newport branch), and it uncovered this view of the yacht club's "Chapel By the Sea":

And that, folks, is the end of today's walk.