What changing numbers and new winter locations mean for the beautiful and hardy Harlequin Duck.An hour before dawn on a day in January, I gaze down onto the Atlantic Ocean from RhodeIsland's Beavertail State Park, a cliff-lined 153-acre promontory at the southern end of Conanicut Island, in the mouth of Narragansett Bay. The sea has gone the color of old silver, its surface as smooth as a wave-worn shell. The temperature is 10°F.An hour passes. The sun mounts the horizon, and fierce winds begin to blow, whipping the once-calm ocean into a froth. Stepping onto a steep and, today, ice-covered path to the sea feels like falling into gray oblivion. Indeed, local newspapers once hailed the area's vistas but warned that "the drop to the Atlantic is an easy walk to eternity for those not sure of foot."
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机译：变化的数字和新的冬季位置对美丽而又强壮的丑角鸭意味着什么。在一月的一天，在黎明前一小时，我从罗德岛比弗塔尔特州立公园（Beavertail State Park）眺望大西洋，该公园位于南部悬崖峭壁上，占地153英亩位于纳拉甘西特湾口的科纳尼卡特岛尽头。海洋已经变成了旧银色的颜色，其表面像波浪破壳一样光滑。温度是10°F。一个小时过去了。太阳升起，狂风开始吹来，将曾经平静的海洋搅打成泡沫。踏上一条陡峭的，如今被冰覆盖的通往大海的小路，感觉就像陷入了灰色的遗忘之中。确实，当地报纸曾经赞扬该地区的远景，但警告说：“对于那些不确定步行的人来说，跌入大西洋是通往永恒的轻松之路。”
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