New Year's Day at Back Bay

On the first of this year, I was at Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge for a short hike, maybe 3 or 3.5 miles. It is good to start 2010 with a hike, I hope the first of many. I also got in a 4 mile walk at the start of the day. One of my goals for 2010 is to work out more, another is to hike more, and so at least on the first day of the year, I was able to do this. This first photo shows the winter marsh on this gray day.

It was a quiet walk on a cool winter's day. I started about 4:15 and finished a little more than an hour later as it was getting dark. I saw some wildlife, including a total of six deer in three different locations. The light was not good enough and/or the distance was too great to get photos, but I was able to watch all of them for a while before either I or they moved on. I also saw some tundra swans, and was able to watch them with the help of binoculars. On the way out, when it was almost dark, a group of five swans flew by pretty close. They are so pretty!

This next picture was taken from a wildlife observation building on the edge of the marsh. I always stop and check it out when I hike here. Usually I see nothing, but this time there were two deer, about a dozen tundra swans, and about the same number of Canada geese well in the distance. My field glasses brought them all in close for me.