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Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay Airing at Prince Edward Island!

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I am delighted to share that The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay is playing at the City Cinema of Charlottetown, PEI, on Thursday evening. This is a very special screening to me, brought to you by the Island Nature Trust; special because the INT is a fabulous organization striving to protect species at risk and to conserve their habitats. The Island Nature Trust is a model of great stewardship and I am honored that our film has been selected for screening.

Read more about the outstanding work being accomplished by the Island Nature Trust here.

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Best Director at the London Vision Film Festival!

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Dear Friends,

I hope you are doing well. What a lovely weekend weather wise for we in southern New England although we’re getting ready for the big cold snap coming. Right after Dia de Muertos, we plant paperwhites and amaryllis bulbs to force indoors. We switch up the colors of the soft furnishings in the music living room from warm weather blues and greens to white, rose, red, and greens. It’s a cozy (and gradual) way to get in the holiday spirit.

I am so very delighted to write that we received the Best Director Feature Film award at the London Vision Film Festival. It’s a wonderful honor and my first ‘Best Director’ award. I thank all of you everyday. Both Beauty on the Wing and The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay would not have been made possible without your generosity and I am so very grateful for your interest and kind support.

If you have a chance, there’s a very fun new film about the vibrant music scene in Boston during the 70s and 80s, Life on the Other Planet. Beautifully produced and directed by Vincent Straggas, we went to the premiere at the Regent Theatre in Arlington several weeks ago and it is again playing at the Regent on Thursday, November 19th. Along with a great many Boston musicians, my husband Tom Hauck and Fred Pineau from The Atlantics are featured, as well as local Gloucester musicians Willie Alexander and Jon Butcher. There is talk of Life on the Other Planet coming to The Cut!

The Rat

Here’s a link to a short video and photos of the amazing Pectoral Sandpiper that stopped over for a day on its arduous migration to southern South America. I mentioned the pair last time I wrote and wanted to make the video before too much time had passed. I wonder what the predicted whoosh of arctic weather will bring to our shores next!

Sending you kind thoughts and much gratitude,

xxKim

 

 

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MONARCHS ON THE WING

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Kim Smith is an award winning documentary filmmaker, environmental conservationist, photojournalist, author, illustrator, and an award winning landscape designer. For over twenty years, she has taught people how to turn their backyards and public spaces into pollinator habitat gardens, utilizing primarily North American native wildflowers, trees, shrubs, and vines. Kim’s programs and events are developed from her documentary nature films and landscape design work.

Her most recent feature length documentary Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly,  currently airing on PBS, has won numerous awards and recognition, including Best Documentary at the Boston International Kids Festival, Best Documentary at the San Diego International Kid’s Film Festival, Best Feature Film at the Providence Children’s Film Festival, the environmental award at the Toronto International Women Film Festival, and Gold at the Spotlight Documentary Awards. One of the greatest hopes for the film is that it would be inspirational and educational to both adults and young people and we are overjoyed Beauty on the Wing is finding its audience.

Melt the ICE and ROCK THAT RED HAT! $650,000 Raised as Knitters Unite Against Fascism

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Dear Friends,

I just had to share an inspiring story about a little knitting shop with the biggest of hearts. Located in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota, Needle and Skein is the outfit that is offering the Melt The ICE hat  pattern that you may have read about. Gilah Mashaal  the owner of the shop who is herself a daughter of Jewish immigrant parents, lives in the state of Minnesota where nearly 1/3 of its residents are of Nordic heritage and about 13 percent are of Norwegian descent.

During the Nazi occupation of Norway in WWII, Norwegians made red tassled pointed hats resembling gnome hats called ”nisselue” or “toppluer,” which roughly translated means “pixie hat” and are associated with Santa and Christmastime.  The Norwegian resistance hats were meant to be non-violent and not threatening. The main purpose was to keep up morale and hope during a very dark period. 

The movement was powerful and by 1942, the Nazis had banned the hats.

“Warning. Red caps. The wearing of red caps has lately become so prevalent that they are now considered a type of protest. Wearing of these caps is forbidden beginning on Thursday, 26 February, 1942. From that day forward, the caps will be confiscated from whoever is wearing one…” This was a public announcement from the police in Trondhjem.

Photo from Norway’s Resistance Museum in Oslo. For non-kniitters, the resistance hats are both pointed and rounded shaped so I think any red knit hat would be suitable to wear to Melt the ICE. 

Then, as now, knitters are uniting against fascism. Gilah, Paul Neary, a designer that works at Needle and Skein, and the shop’s knitting family were feeling devastated by the deadly dangerous militia of federal agents that have invaded their city. Paul is a history buff and after researching the Nazi occupation of Norway in the 1940s, he created the Melt the ICE hat.

The hat pattern went up on Ravelry, which is a massive fiber arts platform that connects with a global creative community. The cost of the pattern is $5 and all proceeds are going to immigrant aid agencies who will distribute the funds to those impacted by the actions of ICE. To date, a phenomenal $650,000 has beens raised, or approximately 130,000 pattern downloads. The downloads are from people all around the world. By comparison, a typical Ravlery pattern will be downloaded about 100 times.

With my first Melt the Ice hat, I combined Paul Neary’s pattern with the free Ravelry pattern and added some additional touches. The yarn is Malibrigo Worsted, an Aran weight #4, color Vermillion. One mini hat was made for Charlotte’s dolls  and another to attach to my whistle. The minis are very fast and I just scaled down the adult hat.

Link to Paul Neary Melt the ICE hat at Ravelry

Link to the free Melt the ICE hat pattern, also at Ravelry

Melt the ICE crochet version

The color red as a symbol for fighting injustice is not new. In modern times, American and European women have worn red as a sign of female power.  “Suffrage leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman loved red lipstick for its ability to shock men, and protesters donned the bold color en masse, adopting it as a sign of rebellion and liberation.” As supporters of the suffrage movement marched through the streets of NYCity and passed the salon of Elizabeth Arden, she would hand out tubes to the protesters. Arden was a supporter of women’s rights and an early 20th century cosmetics entrepreneur and “influencer.”

Hitler despised red lipstick and red nail polish. He thought the ideal German woman should be subjugated to first her father, and then husband, and scrubbed free of make-up of any sort. Also, be on the chunky side so as better for childbearing and wear traditional alpine dirndl skirts; a living embodiment of Aryan purity. In response, Allied women began wearing red lipstick and nail polish as a sign of patriotism and a statement against fascism.

Rosie the Riveter sporting red lipstick

Cosmetic companies such as Helena Rubenstein introduced a red lipstick named Regimental Red while Elizabeth Arden released Victory Red. In 1943, Elizabeth Arden created a makeup kit for the American Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. The kit contained a new shade of red lipstick, Montezuma Red, which was designed to match the Women Marines’ scarlet red hat cord, scarf, and chevron.


A matching  rouge and nail polish was included in the kit. Speed and efficiency in the application of makeup were expected. Each was issued their first makeup kit in boot camp along with instructions on applying the makeup. Two minutes tops was the allocated time for applying make-up.

Knowing we were in for a​n exhausting four years, last January I got out my red lipstick. I had stopped wearing it regularly, thinking more about neutrals. Possibly softer shades are a better look but I don’t really care. I have loved wearing it again this past year and I think red lipstick looks great with Melt The ICE hats <3

Just as did Elizabeth Arden, perhaps a 21st century cosmetic entrepreneur will have the courage to introduce a new shade of red in defiance of the current administration. Suggestions on what to call the color include Rock That Red, ICEOut, Molten Lava – or what do you suggest to name that new red?

 

FV Lily Jean Catastrophic Shipwreck Fundraiser

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With thanks to​ Mike Farwell for sharing his beautiful photo of the FV Lily Jean

Dear Friends,

Many of you that receive my “Film Friends” newsletters are not from Cape Ann so you may or may not be aware that we had a devastating loss to our community. Seven crew members from the Fishing Vessel Lily Jean perished at sea in a tragic winter fishing trip. Our community has come together to support the seven families in myriad ways, including a clear way to provide direct financial assistance. Additionally, an anonymous donor has offered to match contributions up to $40,000. The following is information on the fundraiser and how to contribute, if you can.

The funds raised will be evenly divided between all the families of the seven crew members that were lost at sea. 100 percent of the contributions goes directly to the families.

For more information go here. https://fvlilyjeanfund.org/

To donate online, please go here. https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/U2XYHMZSJRRHL

To donate by check, please make payable to Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund (GFCPF) and mail to:
Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund
c/o Cape Ann Savings Bank
109 Main Street
Gloucester, MA 01930

Memo Line: “Lily Jean Fund”

With gratitude, thank you for any help given.

xxKim

Obituary for Captain Gus Sanfilippo


Heartrending memorial to the fishermen

 

40 Thousand $$ in Matching Funds for the FV Lily Jean

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There are several ongoing fundraisers for the crew of the F V Lily Jean. If you choose to give through the Lily Jean Fund, an anonymous donor is matching contributions up to $40,000.

The funds raised will be evenly divided between all the families of the seven crew members that were lost at sea. 100 percent of the contributions goes directly to the families.

For more information go here. https://fvlilyjeanfund.org/

To donate online, please go here. https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/U2XYHMZSJRRHL

To donate by check, please make payable to Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund (GFCPF) and mail to:
Gloucester Fishing Community Preservation Fund
c/o Cape Ann Savings Bank
109 Main Street
Gloucester, MA 01930

Memorial at the Man at the Wheel

 

MELT THE ICE PROTEST HAT PATTERNS!

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Here are two Melt the ICE hat patterns, both from Ravelry. I have downloaded both because I like to experiment with yarn and with needle size. One is free and here is the link to that hat: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/melt-the-ice-toque.

The other is $5.00 and all proceeds go to help immigrant aid agencies who are distributing aid to people impacted by the actions of ICE https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/melt-the-ice-hat

I am using Malabrigo Worsted, color Vermilion, because that is what I have on hand. This is a lovery, super soft Merino, and very easy to work with. It’s more of an Aran weight, #4, and works up great in needles anywhere from size 6 for ribbing and up to to size 9. Malabrigo at Wool and Co. has an array of beautiful reds to choose from. $14.80 for a large skein of 210 yards.


Red pointed knit touques (or caps), with a tassel, were worn by Norwegian citizens in protest against occupying Germans during World War II. They were eventually forbidden by the Nazis, along with Christmas cards featuring patriotic gnomes.

English: Photo taken at the Lofoten War Memorial Museum (Norwegian: Lofoten Krigsminnemuseum) in Svolvær, Norway’s largest exhibition of uniforms and smaller items related to the Second World War, Nazi Germany and the German occupation of Norway 1940 – 1945

Home made knitted mittens, with traditional Norwegian decorative pattern and monogram of King Haakon VII of Norway, the year “1940” and his motto Alt for Norge (“All for Norway, Everything for Norway”)

From wiki –

Confiscated Christmas Cards and Banned Hats in Nazi Occupied Norway

During the Nazi occupation in the Second World War, there were a number of bans the Norwegian people had to follow. These prohibitions were implemented, among other things, to ensure that people should not influence each other to oppose the occupying power. The Norwegian Santa (Nisse) with its red hat is a central figure in Norwegian culture. Walking with red hat during the war was therefore seen as a silent protest against the Nazi occupying power. It became a symbol of resistance. Many therefore let their children go with red Nisse hat to show that they were against the occupation. On February 26, 1942, however, a ban on red hats and all items with those red hats was introduced. The hats were withdrawn and the criminal liability of children under 14 years was introduced for the parents. Also some Christmas cards with these nationalistic figures were banned.

Home made knitted mittens, with traditional Norwegian decorative pattern and monogram of king Haakon VII of Norway, the year “1940” and his motto Alt for Norge (“All for Norway, Everything for Norway”)

Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany in April 1940. Haakon rejected German demands to legitimise the Quisling regime’s puppet government, and refused to abdicate after going into exile in Great Britain. As such, he played a pivotal role in uniting the Norwegian nation in its resistance to the invasion and the subsequent five-year-long occupation during the Second World War. He returned to Norway in June 1945 after the defeat of Germany.

 

Miss Featherton and Winterberries

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A happy pair, our native ‘Winter Red’ Winterberry (Ilex verticilatta) and Miss Featherton, our resident American Robin. If you plan to grow winterberry in your native plants garden, be sure to also grow a male, like ‘Southern Gentleman.’ Although he doesn’t bear fruit, his flowers are needed for cross pollination. There is a newer female cultivar that I would love to try. She has the sweet name of ‘Berry Poppins,’ reportedly growing only only 3 to 4 feet in height.

Snowy Owl in the Falling Snow

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With some trepidation, I took Charlotte to see her first Snowy Owl last week. I write trepidation because I don’t want to add to the insanely unethical behaviors directed towards Snowy, Short-earred, and Long-earred Owls that is taking place in our region.

I had learned about one flying around a neighborhood well beyond our immediate region and thought that would be a non-threatening way for her to see one. We found the Owl easily enough, thanks to a super nice Mom that worked in the neighborhood. She had shown her daughters the Snowy the week prior. We didn’t stay long in hopes of not drawing attention. Charlotte did a little dance for the Owl and then we went on our way.

We checked back several hours later. The Snowy had not budged from her rooftop perch and of course was completely unfazed by the snow falling all around her as she drifted in and out of sleep.

 

Swan Alert!

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What an uplifting few moments to catch sight of this beautiful young Mute Swan. I believe he is a male because of the good-sized blackberry, or black protuberance, on his upper bill.

It’s been many years since Gloucester and Rockport have had a pair of Swans breeding at our local ponds and frequenting the waterways. Our dear Mr. Swan, a beautiful and rare blue-eyed Swan, passed away in 2019. He had survived two mates and was at least 29 years old at the time of his passing, a simply extraordinary age for a Mute Swan not held in captivity

Let’s everyone keep an eye out for the well being of our visitor. Winter is very tough on young Mute Swans. At this time of year, their parents are often pushing them out of their home territory as they prepare to nest and raise the next generation. Mute Swans don’t migrate however, they do move around from body of water to body of water within a region, especially during the winter.

The Swan has a deformed left foot but that did not prevent him from using his foot to preen and to take off on the ice, which is not easy for any large-bodied bird, injured or not. With his distinct foot we may be able to track him if he is still in the area. I saw him in the morning and my friend Carlos later in the day but he was not at Nile’s by nightfall. Please email or leave a comment in the comment section and let us know if you see him. Thank you! kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com

Why We Love Pokeberry (and so do Scissor-tailed Flycatchers!)

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Dear Friends,

Taking a break from thinking about the heart-rending reality of our national politics to talk about a native plant that you may want to encourage to grow in your wildflower garden. Pokeberry is a large, gangly native plant that goes by many names: American Pokeweed, Dragonberry, Pigeonberry, and Inkberry, to name but a few. Although all parts of the plant can be toxic to livestock, the berries are much beloved by a variety of songbirds including Mockingbirds, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Cardinals, Brown Thrashers, Cedar Waxwings, Bluebirds, and many more.

Pokeberry was one of several fruiting plants favored by the exquisite (and rarely seen in the Northeast) Scissor-tailed Flycatcher that was visiting the Spencer-Pierce-Little Farm. The Pokeberry was growing in the pigpen and around the edges of the farm fields. If you plan to grow it in your garden, know that Pokeberry can reach five to six feet and is a good candidate for the back of a border or along property edges.

In our own garden, we never had Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers until I let a volunteer Pokeberry grow where a bird had deposited a seed. Now we have a tribe of YBS stopping over during spring and autumn migration, a male, a female, and even a  juvenile. This past autumn, our “pet” Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, as Charlotte likes to call the male who comes daily, was with us from October through December. He was mostly focused on procuring  sap from our tree garden but I don’t think it would be here unless it had been initially attracted to the beautiful deep purple berries of the Pokeberry plant.

Grow Native and They Will Come!

P.S. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds drink nectar from the tiny white Pokeberry flowers.

Iceboating in Gloucester!

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Iceboating in Gloucester at beautiful Niles Pond! The last clip is in slow motion so you can see how the boat lifts up at high speed.

Thank you to Geoff and Pilar for taking Charlotte on a sail. She loved it! <3

 

Looking to 2026

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Dear Friends,

I hope you are finding renewed hope in the new year.  As we turn the page away from 2025, one thought burns so brightly in my mind and that is to Power On. We’re all in this together and as we become united, we will be empowered to right the wrongs.

This last photo of 2025​, from the 31st, is​ of a Wild Turkey taken in the Wolf Moon a few days before it was completely full. Charlotte and I watched in wonderment as the turkeys took flight at twilight. It takes a good amount of energy for their ungainly bodies to become aloft and ​turkey flying comes with much noisy whooshing and vigorous wing flapping. They sleep in trees for protection from mammalian predators and even young poults learn to fly and roost on low branches, at the ​very tender age of only a week or two.

I have been meaning to share this video of Gray Seals singing. For about ten years or so I have been watching the growing population of seals at Brace Cove, which isn’t really very long in the grand scheme of things. When I first began to notice the congregation there, it seemed as though it was all Harbor Seals. More and more Gray Seals seem to be coming each year. One day in November I counted 14 Gray Seals hanging out together in the water, not on the rocks. Another day, there were 34 all told, both Harbor and Gray, in the water and on the rocks. There possibly may have been many more as they move around the cove and are often emerging from underwater.

The first clips are of a chorus of Gray Seal bull songsters; the last two clips happened several days later when two were behaving very affectionately towards one another. Notice how the more active the males became, the more anxious the small seal in the center of it all became before giving up its spot on the rock. Turn up the volume to hear the full chorus! Gray Seal mating season is happening now and the singing can be either amorous or territorial. Mating takes place underwater but I wonder if the clips where they are behaving affectionately is a form of courtship. Everything I have read states mating is violent but watching the seals playfully rub each other and dive together for fifteen plus minutes makes me think perhaps there is another side to Gray Seal breeding.

Power On Friends,

xxKim

 

A Great Day for Gloucester!

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City Hall was packed this afternoon with well-wishers for the newly elected Mayor Paul Lundberg, City Council, and School Committee members.  Emcee Bob Gillis did an excellent job conducting the ceremony while Alessandro Schoc gave a pitch perfect and stunning rendition of the national anthem. In between the administration of oaths of office, Chris Langathianos and Joe Wilkins provided musical interludes. Gloucester’s co-poet laureates, Jay Featherstone and Heidi Wakeman, along with Anne Babson Carter, read original poems. Governor Maura Healey addressed the audience via video and Senator Bruce Tarr gave an uplifting key note address.

Mayor Lundberg’s inaugural address was inspiring and I thought also very unifying. It was a great day for our fair City, welcoming all these newly minted, and incumbent, public servants who so generously give of their time. Thank you!

Alessandro Schoc sang the national anthem – truly a magnificent voice!

Heidi Wakeman’s inauguration poem “Abecedarium: 26 Lines for 2026” was so on point and the audience loved it!

Mayor Lundberg, Jack Clarke, Jim Cantwell from Senator Markey’s office, and former Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken

Wild Turkey in the Wolf Moon

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Last photos of 2025 –  Just as i was readying to return home after a twilight walk, the local turkeys began migrating up into the trees for their nightly rest.

Blitzen at the Lighthouse

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Blitzen taking a break from wooing the does in the neighborhood.

We passed several does and a juvenile deer foraging in the snow and were just about to turn around when our favorite buck appeared alone and silhouetted against the sunset. He only stayed a moment before bounding away.

Clement C. Moore, author of A Visit from St. Nicholas, originally named Dunder and Blixem for Dutch words meaning thunder and lightning. He later changed Blixem to Blitzen for the German word meaning a flash of light.

Good Morning Cape Ann!

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Gloucester’s beautiful Lobster Trap Tree and FV Ramblin’ Rose

Happy Holidays with Rare and Splendid Little White Geese in the Falling Snow

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Dear Friends,

I hope you are doing well and enjoying the holiday season. I feel deeply blessed to have my family home for Christmas-making this past week and we are almost ready for tomorrow morning. I am thinking about you and grateful for our friendship. I hope you are finding joy despite these difficult times.

For the past several weeks a pair of Ross’s Geese has been residing at Parker River. They are really quite exquisite with their friendly little faces and punch pink beaks and legs. Smaller than Canada and Snow Geese, the adult is almost pure white, save for black wing tips, while the juvenile’s plumage is mottled with some gray and brown. I couldn’t tell what they were foraging for until looking at the footage back home, but it appears as though they are eating slender green grass shoots buried under the snow.

 

Seeing the Ross’s Geese reminded me of the beautiful and tender story of The Snow Goose. You can read it here: The Snow Goose by Philip Gallico. If you have never read it be forewarned you may be crying your heart out by the end <3

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and peace and love in the coming year.

xxKim

 

Where you would more typically see Ross’s Geese. 


Map courtesy Cornell.

Last Minute Gifts from Mother – Daughter Ventimiglia Authors!

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I’m so looking forward to giving our granddaughter the newly published Making Waves: Ocean Activism for Beginners, by Laura Jones Ventimiglia. I read about the book through her Mom, Laura M. Alberghini Ventimiglia. Charlotte’s East Veteran’s third grade class has been studying Jacques Cousteau this past fall and I know she is going to love it! All proceeds from the sale of the book go to Surfrider Foundation. You can purchase Making Waves through Laura directly and you can read more about the stellar work of Surfrider Foundation here.

Laura M. has a new novella out as well –The Women of Light: Betta’s Story.  Based on a true story passed down through generations, The Women of Light takes place in the Italian fishing village of Terrasini and is a tale of resilience and courage in the face of tremendous adversity. Our daughter purchased a copy for me and after all the Christmas-making is done, I’m looking forward to curling up on the sofa with Laura M’s book. The Women of Light: Betta’s Story can be purchased at the Bookstore of Gloucester, which is open tomorrow, Christmas Eve day. 

Spellbinding Woods Walk with a Young Buck

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Walking through a semi-wooded area I came upon a buck that seemed wholly unbothered by my presence. So much so, that he stopped at various points to snuffle through the fallen leaves, reach for branches, and relieve himself. As I crossed the road, so did he, and when I paused to film, he wasn’t spooked. We came to a clearing where another person was approaching. All too soon the enchanted spell was broken and he picked up his gait. I didn’t hurry after him as I didn’t want to break his trust and just watched in wonderment as he loped away.

 

I wonder if he’s the same buck that I filmed in early spring and then again in summer? Here he is with new antler nublets, and later with velvety fuzzy antlers growing in.  I read no two deer antlers are alike, similar to human fingerprints. In the photo below, the buck’s first set of tines are similar to the buck’s tines in the film; the right tine is straighter than the left tine.

Composition by Reynaldo Hahn • “Danse pour une déesse, pour flûte et piano.” Recorded by Jean-Pierre Rampal and Francoise Bonnet form the Internet Archive of Royalty Free Music.

Gloucester Firefighters Rigging the Star to the Lobster Trap Tree!

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Many, many thanks to Gloucester’s awesome firefighters for each year braving the cold and wind to attach the Christmas star atop the Lobster Trap Tree.

Miss Celebrity Scissor-tailed Meets Miss Annie and Miss Ethel Piggies

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The elegant Scissor-tailed Flycatcher gracing our region is the second Scissor-tailed to land in Massachusetts in as many years, two winters in a row. They both made their stopovers at similar habitats, wide open fields with berry-rich shrubs and trees outlining the fields. Last year’s Scissor-tailed perched on the Bluebird boxes at Audubon’s Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary, foraging over the field for insects and dining on crabapple and bittersweet berries. This year’s beauty is making her home in a field that includes a pigpen!  She skirts the edges looking for berries and insects but spends most of her time perched in the pen with Ethel and Annie. In addition to the insects the Scissor-tailed forages for in the pen and farm fields, there are crabapple trees, bittersweet, Staghorn Sumac, and Pokeberry.

She has the gorgeous tail characteristic of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher however, the male’s tails are even longer. The long forked tails assist the expert aerialists in catching insects mid-air, a behavior called ‘hawking.’ Hawking is described as a feeding strategy where the bird sallies forth from a perch to snatch an insect mid-flight, then returns to the same, or to a different, perch.

If we lived in Texas or Oklahoma, these birds would be run of the mill, but here in Massachusetts she is a rare treat. As much as she is a joy to observe, Miss Scissor-tailed is sooo far north and east of her range, I truly hope she departs soon. She should be in Central America by this time of year!

Many have noticed when observing her, she tolerates very well the farm animals and small quiet groups of onlookers however, one recent Wednesday we observed a birding group of 16 tromping noisily through the snow-crusted field. The were boisterous and talking loudly amongst themselves. The Scissor-tailed suddenly became very still. She did not budge from her perch for a good 25 minutes while the group was there. The very moment they left the field, she resumed foraging. With temperatures in the teens, these migrating birds need every minute of the shortened days of sunlight to forage. Several of us turned to shush the group, but they ignored and even the group leader was holding a very audible discussion in close proximity to the bird, about the bird.

It would have been so much kinder to the little migrant if the very large group broke up into smaller groups. The leader sets the tone of the encounter. She could have offered the bird’s life history back at their vans and made an effort to keep the chatter down. There were many other interesting birds in the surrounding field to look at while they awaited their turn. The group didn’t get to see the beautiful Scissor-tail in action displaying her fascinating foraging habit because she was frightened and stayed very still. Tenderly and reverentially is the way to approach wildlife, especially one so vulnerable. People will surely see much more of the animal’s natural behavior if we at least try to make ourselves invisible.

Orange = breeding, yellow = migration, blue = wintering.

 

Great Horned Owl Rescue

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The Great Horned Owl that has been seen at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge the past several days was found alive but immobile in the Hellcat parking lot this morning. A kind photographer shared the information but that is all she knew. I was just glad to hear of the rescue because when we saw him from the road Sunday morning, he was tucked way back in a tangle of trees and appeared as though his left wing was drooping. I am hoping one of our readers may know more about the rescue. Please write if you do, thank you!

900 LOBSTER TRAP TREE BUOYS!!

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Cape Ann kids have painted an astounding 900 plus buoys for the 2025 most grand of all 25th Anniversary Lobster Trap Tree.

 

Director Traci and program manager Darcie are adding the finishing elements of ropes and hooks to attach the buoys to the tree, then lugging all 900 to Gloucester Maritime.

The Lobster Trap Tree lighting takes place after the Middle Street Walk on Saturday, December 13th, at 4:30pm, at Solomon Jacobs landing (adjacent to Maritime Gloucester).

Loving Tribute to Ann Margaret Ferrante

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Several thousand people were in attendance at Ann’s funeral mass this afternoon. Friends and colleagues, including Governor Maura Healy, State Senator Bruce Tarr, and Ann’s chief of staff Dru Tarr, spoke in loving memory, with Reverend Jim leading the mass.  Ann’s profoundly positive impact on the life of so many in our community will be felt for generations to come The service was live streamed by Streamography and you can watch here. The mass starts at about 21 minutes into the video.

Bruce Tarr ended his tribute to Ann with these transcendent words from Emily Dickinson –

Unable are the Loved to die
For Love is Immortality,
Nay, it is Deity—

Unable they that love—to die
For Love reforms Vitality
Into Divinity.

The photo of the Snow Moon setting behind Saint Ann’s steeple is for Ann. Despite her wonderfully full life, every now and then she would write to say how much she liked a photo I had shared, usually a harbor scene with a fishing boat or some beautiful Cape Ann building.  She loved this photo, and another Moon one with Our Lady of Good Voyage, and I will try to locate that one too.

On the back of Ann’s program was the poem “On Children,” written by Kahlil Gibran –

Hurting hearts for the passing of Ann Margaret Ferrante

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We can’t possibly list all the extraordinary ways Ann Margaret impacted our community. I’m just trying to hold onto some. Ann’s integrity, her compassion, her deep spirituality, her incomparable and highly successful advocacy for the people of Cape Ann, her vision for the future of Cape Ann and her fierce love of Gloucester are just the first few that come to mind. Sending love and deepest condolences to Ann’s family and friends

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours <3

I am thankful for your friendship and for your support of our film projects, Beauty on the Wing and The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay. Both films are continuing to do well and were only made possible because of your generosity and kind support. A most heartfelt thank you!

I may have but don’t think I did, shared this clip of a late hatched Turkey poult. Watch how Mom patiently waits for her poult to take a tiny seed from her mouth. Turkeys are so outwardly cumbrous but have such tender tendencies towards their young.

Happy Thanksgiving!
xxKim