In the bleak midwinter

Here's what you get in the winter:  shrunken horizons.  When the Mystic freezes over, all the waterbirds, of whatever species, are forced into the narrowing patches of open water.  That's how you get ten hooded mergansers in a hole the size of a tea table.  The rains of the past few days may have opened up more water, but last week when it was still cold, there was an incredible profusion of birds in a bit of open water near the Route 28 bridge  -- swans and gulls and geese and coots and a half dozen species of ducks.  Worth a look (though it can be a bit murderous on that bridge when the wind is up).