
Bird Watch
I watch a thin bird with long legs dip his narrow beak into the sand, after the ocean wave recedes. I ask my husband, “Is that a Willet or a Curlew?” He lifts his binoculars to his eyes and says, “Neither, it is a Marbled Godwit.” We walk. He stops me, “See that bird. It is a Whimbrel.” He can tell these lookalike shorebirds apart by the shape of their beaks. As we walk further down the sparsely peopled beach, I face the ocean, and lower my mask to inhale the salty air as the