GREENFIELD — Ezekiel “Zeke” Jakub stood next to the Power Canal in Turners Falls one recent blustery winter morning, staring intently across the water at a flock of geese sitting atop the waves.
The temperature, in the single digits, was the coldest it has been this winter. But Jakub, who was bundled in three layers of underwear and socks, and who was wearing a large faux-fur hat that covered all but a small area of his face, didn’t seem to notice.
“This is a great place to watch them,” Jakub said, as he finally realized someone was standing next to him. “The water is always running, so it doesn’t ice over and the birds like to come here.”
With binoculars in hand, he looked up from his $3,000 spotting scope, which he calls Lola.
The backpack that he carries everywhere contained his field guide, a notepad and a pencil.
“A bird watcher always has, at the very least, a field guide, notepad and pencil to record what he sees,” said Jakub, who is writing his thesis on neo-tropical urban bird conservation for a master’s degree in resource management and conservation from Antioch University New England in Keene, N.H.