Barred Owl Snowy Morning Flight
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Category Archives: birds of North America
Snow Bunting Toes!
A favorite winter visitor to our shores is the wonderfully engaging Snow Bunting. Whether foraging on snow covered scapes or on windswept sand, they appear at first to the untrained eye to be convivial. Don’t let their social foraging habits fool. Snow Buntings spend a great deal of energy tussling amongst themselves for seeds, even snatching food from another’s beak. I have taken a number of images and much footage of little Snow Bunting fights and am looking forward to making a video of this behavior. In the meantime here is a short video taken on a super windy morning. Notice all the seaweed flies in the photo below. The tide was extremely high that day forcing all the flies to move out and up from the seaweed and onto higher ground, making for a very easily accessed breakfast.
Snow Buntings are Arctic specialist. They are ground dwellers with toes well adapted to snow and ice, which I think makes their toes also especially well-suited for running and hopping in the sand, along rocky shores, and in piles of seaweed. Their toes look like snowshoes as they bound about finding seeds buried in snowdrifts. When they are here in our region, I see them mostly feeding on insects found in seaweed and the intertidal zone, along with a variety of wildflower seeds.
“The snow bunting is the most northerly passerine bird in the world. It breeds in a circumpolar range, south to Scotland and Iceland, and it is a common breeder in suitable habitats in northern Scandinavia, Greenland, Svalbard, arctic parts of Russia and the northerly parts of North America.” However, the species is in significant decline in North America with reasons ranging from habitat redistribution to the heavy use of pesticides in croplands where the birds feed heavily during the winter months.
A snowy morning flock of Snow Buntings from a year ago January
Rarely Seen in the Northeast: The Wonderfully Acrobatic Scissor-tailed Flycatcher
The very special Scissor-tailed Flycatcher was at Mass Audubon’s Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary for several weeks before departing. For we in the northeast it was a rare beauty treat to see this exquisite little bird as she twisted and turned on a dime, snatching up insects before returning to her perch to devour. I filmed her late one afternoon eating loads of bittersweet twining through tree branches but couldn’t find much information about Scissor-tail berry eating. They mostly feed on insects, including beetles, grasshoppers, wasps, bees, flies, caterpillars, spiders, and Lepidoptera. Berries are typically only eaten in winter. The Ipswich S-tF appeared to be dining very well, fattening up before (hopefully) resuming migration.
A collective sigh of relief was felt by all when she departed as she was so very far, far away from her breeding and wintering grounds. She needs to be in warmer climes.
The closely related Eastern Kingbird feeding its young a damselfly
Scissor-tailed Flycatchers are closely related to the Eastern Kingbird and Eastern Phoebe, which are much more common in our region. According to several websites, Scissor-tailed Flycatchers are reportedly tolerant of people, which appeared to be the case at the Audbon sanctuary.
As we can see on the range map from Cornell, the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher breeds mostly in in the southern Great Plains and south Texas, wintering over in southern Mexico and Central America. The Scissor-tailed is the Oklahoma state bird and are not rare in their usual territory. There was one in Truro a few years back (2017) and they are known to occasionally wander far afield. S-tF reportedly make spectacular flocks of 100 or more birds as they gather for their southward migration.
Thank You Plover Friends!
Dear PiPl Friends,
Thank you to all our Piping Plover ambassadors, volunteers, shorebird organizations, film donors, and well-wishers. Your kind support over the years for both our volunteer program and film project is so very greatly appreciated.
We have many people and conservation organizations to be thankful for, especially here in Massachusetts, where we are at the forefront of Piping Plover recovery. Organizations such as Mass Audubon’s Coastal Waterbird Program, Mass Wildlife, Trustees of Reservations, and Essex County Greenbelt Association have created stellar programs to help protect , monitor, and engage in our communities. Nationwide, Piping Plovers were once on the brink of extinction. In 1986, there were fewer than 200 pairs breeding in Massachusetts. Preliminary data from MassWildlife reports that there were 1,196 nesting pairs in 2024, a whopping 500 percent increase from 1986. PiPl recovery is not as bright in other regions as it is in Massachusetts. Plovers are counting on Massachusetts peoples and programs!
We have new and expanded Plover projects and programs planned for the coming year and more good news to share for our forthcoming documentary. If you are interested in becoming a Piping Plover Ambassador, please leave a comment or email me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com.
Wishing us all peace and joy and more conservation success stories in the coming New Year!
Warmest wishes,
Kim
#ploverjoyed The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay Receives Best in Festival!
We are very surprised and delighted to share that The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay received the top award at the Nature Without Borders International Film Festival! The screening event takes place in Delaware sometime in June and and we’ll let you know more as do we know more. This past week we also received the Outstanding Excellence Award for a Wildlife/Nature Documentary at the Women’s International Film Festival – a two award week! I don’t think that will ever happen again. Thank you once again to all our supporters. We would not be this far along in production without your kind and generous help.
Winter Robins in the Neighborhood!
We so look forward to the return each winter of flocks of American Robins and Cedar Waxwings. Currently on our shores we have a mixed flock traveling also with three beautiful Bluebirds and several juvenile Cedar Waxwings!
Juvenile Cedar Waxwing
The Robin photographed here reached on tiptoes to get at the crabapple tree fruit, brandished his wings while almost losing his balance, and then success 🙂 If you have planted your garden with any of the following, including hollies, winterberries, crabapples, Chokecherry, cedars or junipers, you will most definitely be graced with the beautiful winter Robins.
I wrote the following post 10 years ago and it is still very relevant to attracting Robins to your garden –
Birds of New England: The American Robin and Bird Food!
During the winter months Cape Ann often becomes home to large flocks of robins, and we have had the joy of hosting numerous numbers in our garden. I can’t help but notice their arrival. Their shadows descend, crisscrossing the window light, followed by a wild rumpus in the ‘Dragon Lady’ hollies. This pair of hollies is planted on opposing sides of the garden path, alongside my home office. I have learned to stealthily sneak up to a window, as any sudden activity inside startles birds that are investigating our garden, and they quickly disperse. Dining not only on berries of the ‘Dragon Ladies’, but also the ‘Blue Princess’ Meserve holly and winterberry bushes, I find dozens of noisy, hungry robins.
These winter nomads flock to trees and shrubs that hold their fruit through December, January, and February, feasting on red cedar, American holly, Meserve hollies, chokecherries, crabapples, and juniper. Robins traveling along the shores of Cape Ann also comb the shoreline for mollusks, and go belly-deep for fish fry. Depleting their food supply, they move onto the next location. Gardens rife with fruiting shrubs and trees make an ideal destination for our migrating friends.
Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)
Habitat Gardening Tip:
The garden designed to attract nesting pairs of summer resident robins, as well as flocks of winter travelers, would be comprised of trees and shrubs for nest building, plants that bear fruit and berries that are edible during the summer and fall, and plants that bear fruits that persist through the winter months. Suburban gardens and agricultural areas provide the ideal habitat, with open fields and lawns for foraging insects as well as trees and hedgerows in which to build their nests.
The following plants, suggested with robins in mind, will also attract legions of songbirds and Lepidoptera. The list is comprised primarily of indigenous species with a few non-native, but not invasive, plants included.
Trees for nesting ~ American Holly (Ilex opaca), Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida).
Summer and autumn fruit bearing trees, shrubs and vines for robins ~ Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), Blackberry (Rubus spp.), Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), Gray Dogwood (C. racemosa), Red-osier Dogwood (C. sericea), Silky Dogwood (C. amomum), Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), Apple (Malus pumila), Virginia Rose (Rosa virginiana), Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), Wild Grape (Vitis spp.).
Trees and shrubs with fruits persisting through winter ~ Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Mountain Ash (Sorbus americana), Crabapple (Malus spp.), Sargent’s Crabapple (Malus sargentii), American Holly (Ilex opaca), Meserve Hollies (Ilex x meserveae), Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Common Juniper (Juniperus communis), Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra), Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina).
A second very thoughtful and super helpful article about safely viewing Snowy Owls in my inbox today, this from Mass Audubon –
Snowy Owls Are Back in Massachusetts—Here’s What You Need to Know
Mass Audubon December 3, 2024
Every fall, usually in November, enchanted visitors make their way from the Arctic tundra to the (relatively) warmer lands in Massachusetts. With white feathers speckled grey and piercing yellow eyes, the return of Snowy Owls brings joy to birders, photographers, and Harry Potter fans alike. These majestic birds spend the winter in open spaces such as large salt marshes, agricultural fields, and even airports, before heading back to their northern breeding grounds around April.
While their arrival causes excitement among many, there are a few important things to keep in mind before searching them out.
Why Am I Hearing More About Snowy Owls Now?
Snowy Owls (or “snowies”) travel south every winter to hunt and feed in warmer weather, but the number that appear each season varies from year to year. An irruptive species, they respond to changes in the conditions of their home territory by moving elsewhere in search of food. Some of the factors that trigger irruptions include variations in their Arctic food supply, severe snow and ice cover in their usual wintering areas, or a superabundance of owls resulting from an exceptional nesting season.
Snowy Owl swooping on beach dune. Photo by Marilyn Blake
Snowy Owls Face Challenges
Most of the owls found in Massachusetts during the winter are young, inexperienced, and face many challenges. They must master hunting prey and evading predators; avoid being hit by vehicles or getting electrocuted; fend off disease and rodenticide poison; and deal with disruptions by people while roosting and hunting. While some challenges are beyond our control, individual actions can help minimize human disturbances.
Don’t Disturb the Snowies While Viewing Them
As a community of bird-lovers and conservationists, we can avoid making survival any more difficult for these spectacular raptors by giving them plenty of space.
Primarily nocturnal, Snowy Owls mostly roost (rest or sleep) during the daytime to conserve energy. Groups of observers can keep Snowy Owls from resting; birds are often forced to fly and relocate repeatedly if multiple photographers or birders approach them. To protect the Snowy Owls, give them the space they need to survive.
Distance is Key: When observing an owl, stay at least 50 yards (150 feet) away. That’s about half of a football field, or five school buses stacked end-to-end. Bring and utilize your binoculars or a zoom camera lens to keep your distance while viewing.
Manage Your Group: When viewing an owl with a group of people, view from one location and never surround or attempt to approach the owl to get a better view or photograph.
Watch for Behavioral Clues: If the bird becomes alert, extends its neck upright, and eyes become wide open, you have disturbed it and you should back off immediately.
By following these ethical birding and bird photography best practices, you can help ensure a successful breeding season for future generations.
How Mass Audubon is Helping Snowy Owls
Norman Smith Photo by John Cole
Logan Airport has the largest known concentration of Snowy Owls in the Northeast. The airport owls help by scaring away other birds that might endanger aircraft. Unfortunately, they are also large enough to pose a threat themselves. To protect both birds and jets, Mass Audubon’s Norman Smith has been safely capturing and relocating Snowy Owls since 1981. These re-releases allow our team to learn more about the birds’ health, flight patterns, and more. Learn more about the Snowy Owl Project
Explore Opportunities to View Snowy Owls Respectfully
Mass Audubon offers bird walks and Snowy Owl-focused programs, where our expert naturalists will lead the way in observing owls without disrupting their much-needed daytime rest.
Stop at the Blue Hills Trailside Museum in Milton for a guaranteed way to see two Snowy Owls up close without disturbing them. The owls in their exhibit cannot survive in the wild due to injuries and now serves as animal ambassadors.
OWLS NEED SPACE – BRAND NEW SIGNS!!
We can thank Lis Kernan, Sean Riley, and the super caring and dedicated team of wildlife biologists at the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation for the fantastic new signage at north of Boston beaches. They saw a need and without hesitation, immediately erected the informational signs. Great Job everyone! Thank you, and the owls thank you, too!!
A recently arrived Snowy Owls was killed in traffic last weekend. When you have a moment please read or listen to this very well-written and clearly stated article “Our Obsession with Owls is Threatening Them,” by Tina Morris.
Note that the following three Cornell range maps of the three owls that people are hounding the most illustrates that they all breed in areas much further north, represented by orange. The population of these three species is thought to be declining in the Northeast (that’s us!). Blue denotes the owl’s non-breeding winter range. They are here to rest and find food. They are not here for our personal entertainment. Please don’t be one of the persons alerting people to the presence of owls on social media platforms, clicking likes for their posts, or park yourself with one of these Threatened and Vulnerable Species owls all the day long. Take a few photos and please, move on. Thank you!
Snowy Owl Range Map – Considered Vulnerable – population decreasing.
Short-eared Owl Range Map – Threatened or Endangered in seven northeastern U .S.states.
Long-eared Owl Range Map – Since 1970, population has declined by 91 percent in North America.
With Thanks and Gratitude to YOU and to the Inspiring Jane Alexander for Generous Contributions to The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay
Dear PiPl Friends,
In thinking about Thanksgiving, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for your generous contributions and tremendous help in our efforts to bring our documentary to public television. We still have aways to go, but are making good headway in the fundraising department. Your gifts have been tremendously impactful and we could not have gotten this close without your help.
After my last post about the continued harassment and heartbreaking death of one of the recently arrived Snowy Owls, I wanted to share with you a much more joyful story for Thanksgiving, a story about a very inspiring person and her gift to our Plover documentary.
Through a mutual friend, Scott Hecker, I have met the actress and wildlife conservationist Jane Alexander. Many of our PiPl friends in Massachusetts will recognize Scott’s name. He has been a resolute force in Atlantic shorebird conservation for decades. Scott led Mass Audubon’s Piping Plover recovery efforts, resulting in the threatened species’ state population increasing from 126 pairs in 1987 to 530 pairs by 2002. He subsequently served as Director of National Audubon’s Coastal Bird Conservation program and currently works with the International Conservation Fund of Canada to manage and develop the organization’s shorebird conservation efforts.
Jane Alexander is the multi-talented Emmy and Tony award winning stage and film actress, producer, and director who you may recall, starred with James Earl Jones in the groundbreaking film, The Great White Hope, political thrillers such as All the President’s Men, and many, many other plays and films that have captured the zeitgeist of our times. She also served as chairwoman for the National Endowment for the Arts under President Clinton.
In addition to her wide-ranging theatrical accomplishments, Jane is also a dedicated conservationist and champion of creatures great and small, and their habitats. She uses her powerful voice to write beautifully thoughtful stories about wildlife. I have loved reading her most recent book, Wild Things Wild Places, Adventurous Tales of Wildlife and Conservation on Planet Earth and think you will love it, too. One of the main themes of the book is documenting the work that field biologists are doing within communities to save the species where the species they are studying lives. She writes about biologists who are helping people understand what they have in their own backyards and to feel pride in their beautiful place, recognizing there is no conservation without inclusion.
Jane is also a Piping Plover guardian at her home in Nova Scotia! She has been monitoring Piping Plovers in Shelburne County for close to 25 years. Jane spoke about her responsibilities in an Audubon article “Bird Talk with Jane Alexander,” “I go out two times a week to check on the nests that we know of on the beaches in the southwest area here in Nova Scotia. If there are people with dogs off the leash, I speak to them. I make sure the signs are still up, and if it’s a beautiful, sunny day and there are many people on the beach, I talk to them about the birds. Lots of people are doing this all over the Maritimes during the nesting season, which began about a month ago and will go rarely past the second week of July.”
In addition to the many conservation organizations she works with, Jane has been deeply involved with the Indianapolis Zoological Society for a number of years. She is an honorary chair and jurist for the Indianapolis Prize, which was explained to me as something akin to the Nobel prize for conservationists. It is the world’s largest individual award given for animal conservation and brings attention to the achievements of Earths greatest conservationists.
As a thank you gift for Jane’s invaluable guidance to the deliberation committee, she was given a $5,000 honorarium. Jane in turn has directed her honorarium to our documentary, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay. Jane’s honorarium will go towards our fundraising efforts to bring the film to public television.
Thank you to Jane Alexander and the Indianapolis Zoological Society. Words cannot express how very deeply touched I am by this incredibly generous gift.
Happy Thanksgiving and thank you my dear friends for your continued support of The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay.
Warmest wishes,
xxKim
With gratitude to the following PiPl friends for their kind contributions – Jane Alexander (Nova Scotia) Lauren Mercadante (New Hampshire), Cornelius Hauck (Cincinnati), Sally Jackson (Gloucester), Cape Ann Garden Club, Brace Cove Foundation (Gloucester), JH Foundation/Fifth Third Bank (Ohio), Janis and John Bell (Gloucester), Jennie Meyer (Gloucester), Alice and David Gardner (Beverly), JoeAnn Hart (Gloucester), Kim Tieger (Manchester), Joanne Hurd (Gloucester), Holly Niperus (Phoenix), Bill Girolamo (Melrose), Claudia Bermudez (Gloucester), Paula and Alexa Niziak (Rockport), Todd Pover (Springfield), Cynthia Dunn (Gloucester), Nancy Mattern (Albuquerque), Marion Frost (Ipswich), Cecile Christianson (Peabody), Sally Jackson (Gloucester), Donna Poirier Connerty (Gloucester), Mary Rhinelander (Gloucester), Jane Hazzard (Georgetown), Duncan Holloman (Gloucester), Karen Blandino (Rockport), Duncan Todd (Lexington), Sue Winslow (Gloucester), Amy Hauck-Kalti (Ohio), JoAnn Souza (Newburyport), Karen Thompson (San Francisco), Carolyn Mostello (Rhode Island), Susan Pollack (Gloucester), Peggy O’Malley (Gloucester), Hilda Santos (Gloucester), Maggie Debbie (Gloucester), Sandy Barry (Gloucester), The Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution, Mary Keys (Madeira, Ohio), Barbara Boudreau (Gloucester), Suki Augusti, Jonathan and Sally Golding (Gloucester), Sue Winslow (Gloucester), Cecile Christensen (Peabody), Marty and Russ Coleman (Dallas, Texas), David Brooks (Troy, Michigan), Karen Maslow (Gloucester), Lisa Craig (Winchester), Menotomy Bird Club (Winchester), Lyda Kuth (Belmont), and my sweet husband Tom 🙂
Hello Rainbow Wood Duck!
Feeling thankful that our Charlotte got to see this male Wood Duck on a sunny morning. And, that he was swimming towards us, not away, as Wood Ducks are want to do. She dubbed him Rainbow Boy.
Wood Ducks are named as such because they are one of the very few ducks that perch and nest in trees. Unlike most ducks, Wood Ducks have sharp claws that allows them to perch.
Wood Ducks are another conservation success story; a direct result of the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. By protecting woodland and marsh habitat, enforcing hunting regulations, and erecting nesting boxes, Wood Duck populations have rebounded. Another reason why the population is growing is because of the return of the North American Beaver. Beavers create the ideal forested wetland habitat for Wood Ducks!
You really need to see iridescence in strong sunlight, otherwise the creature’s features just look muddy.
For comparison sake, in the above photo, the female is in the foreground and the male in the background. The male Wood Duck in this photo is in ‘eclipse,’ or mid-molt.
Thank you Beavers!
Turkey Towns – A Conservation Success Story!
Dear Friends,
I hope this Thanksgiving finds you well. Hopefully you have a joyful weekend ahead.
I was speaking over the phone with a dear friend who hasn’t visited New England in many years and misses it very much. I mentioned to her how the Wild Turkeys in our neighborhood look so comical when they take off to roost for the night onto tree branches. She said wait, what, Turkeys in your neighborhood? I said yes, of course, they are everywhere, not remembering that when she lived here there was none. She has never seen a single Wild Turkey nonchalantly perusing a city street, let alone gobbling gangs.
Eastern Wild Turkeys were once widespread. An estimated 10 million Wild Turkeys roamed North America, from southern Canada, throughout the continental US to Mexico. As the nation became colonized, the settlers cut down forests as they went. New England was particularly hard hit. The birds lost not only their food supply of acorns and chestnuts, but also their protective cover. Turkeys became extirpated from Massachusetts (no longer living in the state); the last Massachusetts native Wild Turkey was killed in 1851.
As Turkeys became scarcer and scarcer nationwide, many states tried to reintroduce the birds to their historic habitats. According to Mass Wildlife, between 1911 and 1967, at least 9 unsuccessful attempts were made to restore Turkeys to Massachusetts. At first, they tried to release farm Turkeys, not wild ones, but those birds did not survive. “In 1937, the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act, also known as the Pittman-Robertson Act, provided much-needed funding for wildlife studies and restoration. With the additional resources, wildlife management methods improved and new capture techniques provided a safe and effective means for live-capture of birds (Wild Turkeys) for translocating to new areas.”
Biologists like Jim Carodoza, who led the Turkey Game and Upland Game Project at Mass Wildlife during the 1970s, began to explore the idea of live-trapping Wild Turkeys from southwestern New York. They would sit in their trucks for hours waiting for the Wild Turkeys to follow a trail of cracked corn, oats, and wheat to an open pasture. Once a gaggle of 20 or so had gathered, the biologists fired an enormous 2600 square foot net to capture the Turkeys.
By the early 1970s, 37 Wild Turkeys had been live trapped in the Adirondacks and released in Berkshire County. By autumn of 1978, the Massachusetts Turkey population had grown to about 1,000 birds. Mass Wildlife biologists and volunteers began live-trapping Turkeys from the growing flocks, transporting them to other areas of the state with suitable habitat. A total of 26 releases of 561 birds made in 10 counties took place between 1979 and 1996.
In just over fifty years, the Turkey population of Massachusetts has grown from that first 37 introduced birds to an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 Turkeys!
Turkey was served at the first Thanksgiving although, according to the journals of Pilgrims, it was one of many game birds served that day.
Aren’t the young ones beautiful! Newly hatched baby Turkeys are called poults, juvenile males called jakes, and juvenile females, jennies.
Happy Thanksgiving and travel safely <3
xxKim
‘Loving’ Snowy Owls to Death Part One
A beautiful Snowy Owl arrives after an arduous journey from Arctic lands. The creature wants nothing more than to rest and to hunt. Within a day of its arrival, photos and video of the Owl are slathered all over Facebook and the bird’s location is revealed. The following morning, the Snowy returns to his perch along the river’s mouth, but now there are 30 plus humans staring him down. The Owl, who would much rather stay at rest, finds the audience disconcerting and flies across the river to the opposite side. Soon enough, the gathering of humans has tracked him down, this time surrounding the Owl. Some humans move in even closer, much, much too close, causing the bird to flush yet again. This time he flies deeper into the dunes. The pursuit does not end. The humans are hot on his trail.
How does this end for the Snowy? I do not know. I was hoping to find Snow Buntings and seals this morning but had to leave as I did not want to stay to watch the hunt of the Snowy Owl .
There were very few Snowy Owls in Massachusetts last year and I believe there will be much pent up desire to view them this year. Additionally, I think people have developed ‘Owl Fever;’ they just can’t leave these beautiful creatures alone. Perhaps if people understood their needs they would less selfishly pursue the Owls.
A Snowy at rest along the water’s edge or in the dunes is just that, resting. The Owl needs to sleep and to conserve its energy for hunting and to keep warm. Snowy Owls are unique in that they are more acclimated to hunting during daylight hours than other owl species. They hatched and matured in regions where there has been continuous daylight for much of their young lives. That being said, they occasionally hunt during the day, but are mostly crepuscular and nocturnal, hunting at dawn, dusk, and during the night. Gatherings of humans have been known to park themselves for hours upon hours, waiting for the Owl to take off for its early evening hunt.
Human caused disturbance is not the only reason Snowies are struggling to survive. Like all raptors, they can become deathly ill from the widespread use of rodenticide. I am reminded of the story of the amazing Snowy Owl, Seabrook, who was rescued from death’s door by the photographer Jonathan Herrick and On the Wing wildlife rehabilitators. Seabrook was found by Jonathan as he lay dying on the beach, unable to fly from the rodenticide poison coursing through his body.
How can people help the Snowies?
As human stewards of these magnificent creatures, we are responsible for putting their needs ahead of our own desire to see them or photograph them up close. When you are out and about and happen to see a Snowy, take a few photos, and move on. The owls are completely and fully aware of your presence. Parking yourself for any length of time brings attention to the bird and will surely draw a crowd.
If you are able to capture a few photos, please, please please do not post them on Facebook and other social media platforms until the Owl has departed the vicinity. I have learned the hard way. For example, with other birds that are vulnerable to disturbance, nesting Piping Plovers for instance, I wait until the birds are fledged before sharing photos or footage of the chicks.
Most importantly, give them lots and lots of space, standing a minimum distance of 200 feet away.
A few more tips –
Stay low and hide behind a shrub, tree, or car if possible.
Move slowly, and if with a friend, speak softly.
Again, please don’t park yourself for hours near a Snowy. Take a few photos and MOVE ON.
And, of course, never use rat poison (rodenticides).
On the Wing wildlife rehabilitator Jane Kelly and USFWS biologist Bri Benvenuti set Seabrook off on his flight for freedom.
Our Beautifully Industrious Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Has Returned!
Last spring I wrote about a female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that stayed in our garden for over a month. We were fascinated watching her daily activities; so much so that I was inspired to write a poem and Charlotte nicknamed her Miss Featherton. We are excited beyond measure to see the return of our beautiful YBSS. Just as she did in the spring, Miss Featherton perches in the Dragon Lady Holly throughout the day. She cautiously guards, and continues to maintain, the sap wells that she so pertinaciously dug. The sap is not flowing as vigorously as during the spring months but there is enough for her to take in a bunch of licks and the wells continue to attract insects. This morning I filmed her snatching a Yellowjacket that had stopped by to investigate the sweet sap.
We read that YBSS drill holes in unhealthy trees and were concerned our tree may beginning to decline. No need to worry though as you can see in the film clip, the holly is absolutely loaded with plump cadmium red berries.
My Yellow-bellied Sapsucker poem –
Sap-licker
Startled songbird silently flings
from approaching steps.
Behavior not usually seen by the insouciant
feathered friends that call our garden home.
Why so timorous?
Neatly arranged squares and holes
riddle the bark of the Dragon Lady Holly.
The masterfully drilled, cambium pierced checkered grid is glistening
in the sun – with deep wells and narrow streamlets of sweetness.
A sap-lick!
I wait to see her, half hidden and as
quiet as the owl after a long night
Weary and bedraggled, the Sapsucker returns
An arduous migration, no doubt.
She pauses guardedly
No one must know of her creation
with its treasured life fluid seeping down branches.
Her soft yellow belly and stippled feather patterning
Mirrors the spotty bark.
Her camouflage is not blown. She dives in with tender gusto
Delicately excavating the holes with brush tongue.
Wind rustles through leaves and she flings off
Only to return again and again and again
To her life-giving channels of gold flowing through tree veins.
YBSS are the only woodpeckers that are completely migratory. They breed further north and west of eastern Massachusetts and spend the winter months in warmer climates; some females traveling as far south as Panama. I wonder if we will see the return of the male this fall as well. It was just a year ago in December that we had our first ever Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a male, and he was eating the fruits of the Pokeberry bush. It was also the first year with a Pokeberry. The plant is rather ungainly and I had some trepidation about allowing it to take hold but if a bit of awkwardness is the price to pay for a garden inviting Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, I’ll take it!
Male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Pokeberry – note the male has a red chin as well as a red cap.
Timeline of Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Pokeberry –
Summer 2023 – Newly seeded Pokeberry bush grows six feet first summer (most likely the seed was deposited by a bird).
December 2023 – First ever male YBSS. Stays for several days eating Pokeberries.
March – May 2024 – Female YBSS created striking grid pattern of sap wells on both the Holly and Magnolia trees, concentrating her efforts much more on the Holly. She spends many weeks drinking the sap, digging more wells, and eating insects attracted to the sap flows. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds discover the sap wells.
Summer 2024 – Ruby-throated Hummingbirds daily drink nectar from the small pinkish whiteish flowers of the Pokeweed.
October 2024 – Female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker returns, with daily visits into November. How long will she stay?
Grow native and they will come!
Beautiful Autumn
Autumn scenes from around Cape Ann
Super Update on Banded Peregrine Falcon
Over the weekend, I wrote to our Massachusetts State Ornithologist, Andrew Vitz, about the banded Peregrine Gloucester that I had seen running on the beach. Andrew wrote back right away with lots of terrific information. The beautiful loping falcon is referred to as PEFA 71/CD. She was banded as an adult female after being rehabbed at Tufts Wildlife Clinic. She was released in May 2023 in Hingham. PEFA 71/CD was re-sighted on November 2023, in Hull.
Andrew ccd Dr. Maureen Murray, who is the Director of the Tufts Wildlife Clinic at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Maureen wrote back that she and her team are delighted to know that one of their former patients is doing well and provided even more details. “A Peregrine Falcon was brought to Tufts Wildlife Clinic at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University by Hingham Animal Control back in March 2023 with a fracture of the right ulna. The injury was bandaged and the falcon responded well to treatment. Eventually the bird was moved to a small outdoor enclosure to begin strengthening the wing. By late April, the falcon was showing good flight in the smaller enclosure, and the bird was moved to a larger flight cage for final flight reconditioning. The falcon was released in Hingham on May 8, 2023.”
We are so grateful for the expert care given to local wildlife by the caring staff at Tufts Wildlife Clinic and Massachusetts Wildlife rehabbers, including our own Jodi at Cape Ann Wildlife Inc.
Wondering where a falcon’s ulna is located, a quick Google search came up with the diagram of a Peregrine Falcon’s wing structure. You can see from the short video of Miss PEFA 71/CD that her wings are working perfectly!
Peregrine Falcon Running on the Beach
Peregrine Falcons may be the fastest animals on Earth, attaining speeds of 250 miles per hour, but they sure do have a goofy hop-along bow-legged manner of running! Perhaps because of their enormous talons.
I believe the banding code on this bird is black over green which means the falcon was banded in the Eastern US. The black band I think says 71, the green band, CD.
Banded Peregrine Falcon, Essex County
Pocket-sized Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Only weighing about as much as a quarter, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet’s tiny stature belies its vigorous foraging habits. The Kinglet flits and forages along the pond’s muddy edge, energetically snatching insects, all the the while flicking its tail. He leaps from stem to stem then takes off to hover mid-air, simultaneously pecking spiders from slender stalks.
The Kinglet’s ruby crown is well-hidden and mostly seen in spring during courtship display. RCKinglets are so incredibly fast; I was just hoping to capture some tiny bit of footage/documentation and was absolutely delighted when one flew to an adjacent bush only several feet away. He began floofing after his bath, with brilliant vermilion crown on full display.
We are at the tippy northern range of the Ruby-crowned Kinglets wintering grounds. Perhaps with the warming weather trend, we will see more and more.
For comparison sake, two years ago (November 2022), a flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets graced our eastern most shores, staying for about a week.
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Mute Swan and Cygnet
Rose-breasted Grosbeak in the Hood!
A very curious bird looking back at me! He emerged through the dense shrubby understory with breakfast in mouth. With a proportionately oversized beak, strong-white eye-stripe, and feathers that looked like half-female, half male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, I wasn’t sure what interesting creature was in our neighborhood this morning. Then he flashed his red under wings in take-off and I knew it was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak in some stage of development. This little guy is a male hatch year stopping over during his long migration south. Perhaps he will spend the winter in Cuba, or Panama, or even further south to Ecuador.
From Cornell – “Most Rose-breasted Grosbeaks fly across the Gulf of Mexico in a single night, although some migrate over land around the Gulf. Grosbeaks that winter in Panama and northern South America tend to be from eastern parts of the breeding range, while those wintering in Mexico and Central America tend to be from western parts.”
The second video is of a male Rose-breasted Grosbeak that stopped over at Niles Pond for a few days last spring.
The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay Receives Best Environmental Documentary at the Chicago Women’s Film Festival!
Knowing of Chicagoans great love for the Montrose Bay Piping Plovers Monty and Rose (and their offspring Imani and Nagamo), I applied to several festivals in the Great Lakes region. We are delighted to post that last week The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay was accepted to the Chicago Women Film Festival. I was planning to share that when we just received notice that The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay has been awarded the Best Environmental Film at the CWFF. In case you have PiPl friends in the area that may be interested in attending, as soon as we know when it is going to screen at the festival, we’ll let you know.
Thank you for this tremendous honor Chicago Women Film Festival!
We are also very excited to share that we have been nominated to the Montreal Independent Film Festival.
The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay is an official selection and/or award winner at the following festivals:
Boston Film Festival – Eco Film Award
Chicago Women’s Film Festival- Best Environmental Documentary
F3: Queen City Film Festival – Best feature Documentary
Cine Paris Film Festival – Best Family Friendly Film
Boston International Kids Film Festival
Montreal Independent Film Festival
Dumbo Film Festival
San Diego International Kids Film Festival
Berlin Women Cinema Festival
France USA International Film Festival
Toronto International Film festival
Nature Without Borders Film festival
International Motion Picture Awards
Documentaries Without Borders Film Festival
WPRN Women’s International Film Festival
Newburyport Documentary Festival (withdrawn due to scheduling conflict)
United Nations World Migratory Bird Days!
In honor of World Migratory Bird Day, yesterday I visited the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences. The Center is located in Manomet, a seaside village of Plymouth. Special free programming included a presentation by the Center’s bird banding experts, children’s activities, and a bird-a-thon. I was especially interested in learning how the Center bands songbirds. Banding takes place annually from April through November. Some days the Center bands as few as 10, on other days, upwards of 200. Manomet has records on migrating and resident birds dating back over 50 years and it was fascinating to learn about their banding protocols and population trends.
Juvenile Carolina Wren – The Carolina Wren population is growing in Massachusetts
while the Blue Jay population is in steep decline.
The theme of Wold Migratory Bird Days 2024 is insects and the importance of insects as a critical source of protein for migrating birds.
Insects sightings at Manomet on included Autumn Meadowhawk damselflies, American Lady Butterfly, skipper of unknown species, a variety of bees, and several Monarchs. Unlike Cape Ann, the Seaside Goldenrod is still blooming on Cape Cod. 
Monarch Butterfly and Seaside Goldenrod
The public is welcome from dawn to dusk to walk the trails, enjoy the view from the bluff and bird watch.
Address:
125 Manomet Point Road
Plymouth, MA 02360
(508) 224-6521
Overview of the Bird Banding Lab
At the Trevor Lloyd-Evans Banding Lab, we use science and education to create opportunities that connect people to nature. Migratory and resident birds have been banded at our Manomet’s Plymouth, Mass. location since 1966. Manomet’s Founding Director Kathleen (Betty) Anderson banded the first recorded bird – a Black-capped Chickadee.
For more than 50 years, Manomet has maintained a spring and fall migration bird banding program. Bird banding is an effective method of research that helps answer important questions on issues from conservation to climate change. Manomet’s banding lab, one of the first bird observatories established in North America, focuses on areas including:
- Migration: When and where birds arrive can tell us about habitat and food availability. This information can be used to inform habitat management and land use strategies.
- Population: With the data we collect in the lab, we can produce estimates on changes in population and notate trends over time.
- Life history: Banding contributes valuable information on longevity, habitat, diet, and other physiological trends across species.
- Productivity: Banding helps us detect shifts in age or sex ratios that would otherwise go undetected.
Manomet staff has recorded over 1,000 plant, animal, and fungus species on site, showing the value of our coastal forest and shoreline as a rich laboratory for research.
Why band birds?
Migratory bird banding operations represent an underutilized source of data about bird migration. Long-term data sets in ecology, like ours, may lead to discoveries often missed in shorter-term studies, and are critical for establishing baselines and tracking changes in the natural world. Because birds are widely surveyed by professional and amateur observers alike, and their natural histories are often well-understood, wild bird populations can be useful sentinels of environmental change and ecosystem condition.
Check here for weekly summaries of current and past banding seasons.
The banding team operates 50 mist nets on the property surrounding Manomet headquarters in southeastern Massachusetts along Cape Cod Bay. Nets are kept open during daylight hours, Monday through Friday, in the spring and fall. Banders walk the net lanes, safely removing trapped birds and returning them to the lab where their species, age, sex, weight, and fat content are measured and recorded. We have banded over 250,000 birds and handled over 400,000 since banding began on the property in 1966. We band around 2,500 new birds each year.
As Manomet’s longest-standing program, the banding lab has helped train hundreds of prospective researchers, educators, and conservation advocates since its inception. We educate about 1,000 visiting school children, volunteers, and college students every year. We strive to engage people of all ages with nature and to measurably increase people’s understanding of environmental change.
In 1993, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center created International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD). This educational campaign focused on the Western Hemisphere celebrated its 25th year in 2018. Since 2007, IMBD has been coordinated by Environment for the Americas (EFTA), a non-profit organization that strives to connect people to bird conservation.
In 2018, EFTA joined the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) to create a single, global bird conservation education campaign, World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD). Continuing our tradition with IMBD, WMBD celebrates and brings attention to one of the most important and spectacular events in the Americas – bird migration.
This new alliance furthers migratory bird conservation around the globe by creating a worldwide campaign organized around the planet’s major migratory bird corridors, the African-Eurasian flyway, the East Asian-Australasian flyway, and the Americas flyway. By promoting the same event name, annual conservation theme, and messaging, we combine our voices into a global chorus to boost the urgent need for migratory bird conservation.
EFTA will continue to focus its efforts on the flyways in the Americas to highlight the need to conserve migratory birds and protect their habitats, and will continue to coordinate events, programs, and activities in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean at protected areas, refuges, parks, museums, schools, zoos, and more. As many as 700 events and programs are hosted annually to introduce the public to migratory birds and ways to conserve them.
Blue Jay Caching Acorn!
What a treat to observe the half dozen or so Blue Jays zooming around the garden, caching acorns for the winter. They’d perch with nut in beak, carefully eyeing the ground for an ideal spot. Once located, the Jay would swoop down. I didn’t want to move from my perch and risk being noticed so I couldn’t see exactly how they were hiding the acorn but when they resurfaced, no nut!
Some interesting notes about Blue Jays – Research has shown Blue Jays making over 1,000 trips in one day to hide food. They mainly select undamaged nuts that are viable, meaning if the bird does not recover the nut, it will grow. The record a Blue jay traveled to hide food is 2.5 miles. This behavior has greatly helped helped the the range of expansion of oak trees and now over 11 species of oaks are dependent upon Blue Jay dispersal of acorns. The rapid expansion of oaks after the ice age may be a result of the northern transport of acorns by Blue Jays.
Welcome to the Garden of Dissipating Beauty
The seeds of both Zinnias and Sunflowers are Goldfinch favorites. No dead-heading in this garden!
ECO FILM AWARD! Thank you BFF and Supporters!
Dear PiPl Friends,
I hope you are enjoying these fleeting days of mild weather. Our local and migrating wildlife surely are! As many of you are aware, while developing the Piping Plover film, I have been filming the third documentary in the trilogy (loosely referred to as The Pond Film). Filming is taking place at area freshwater locations; ponds and marshes of every kind at a multiple of Massachusetts sites. Yesterday I was back at Niles Pond and saw a first at the Pond, a migrating Bobolink! He/she surfaced for a brief moment while foraging in the reeds, long enough to capture a few seconds of footage. During the spring and summer, we can see Bobolinks at a number of Greenbelt properties that manage their sites for grassland nesting birds. Bobolinks are one of the longest distance migrating songbirds, traveling about 12,000 miles every year. When migrating, they are usually seen in flocks and hope this lone Bobolink finds his way.
I want to again thank all who attended our premiere at the Boston Film Festival, and to everyone who couldn’t come but have championed the Plovers along the way. If you receive these email updates, you have been a supporter in one way or another and we are so grateful for your help. I am honored to share that we received the Eco Film Award from the Boston Film Festival! We are so appreciative of the tremendous gift provided by Robin Dawson and the BFF team for filmmakers to share their stories with the public. The Boston Film Festival is a stellar organization, in every way, and we are so proud to have been a part of the 40th annual festival. Congratulations to all the films and filmmakers for your beautifully crafted outstanding films!
We had a fantastic houseful and I was beyond delighted that the audience saw both the humor and the vulnerability of our tiny feathered shorebird neighbors. Thank you also to Michelle Akelson and her fantastic team at Rockport Music for sharing the stunning Shalin Liu. And a very special shoutout to Cape Ann’s incredibly dedicated Piping Plover Ambassadors, and an extra, extra shoutout to the Ambassadors who were at the Shalin Liu lending a hand. Thank you Deborah Brown, Jennie Meyer, Jill Ortiz, Paula Niziak, Barbara Boudreau, Kim Bouris, and Sandy Barry.
More good news to share for the film. We have been accepted to two festivals in Ontario, one headquartered in Toronto, and the other Brooklin. I have also applied to several additional festivals in eastern Canada as Plovers breed along the coasts of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, PEIsland, New Brunswick, the Magdalen Islands of Quebec, and on both the US and Canadian sides of the Great Lakes. I was so hoping there would be interest in our documentary from our PiPl Friends in Canada and there very definitely is!
We are currently raising funds to bring The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay to public television. If you know of an individual, organization, business, or foundation that may have a particular interest in Massachusetts, wildlife, birds, conservation, eco/environmental films, and would like to be an underwriter, please let me know. In our funding presentation deck, we provide a great deal of information showing how it works and the extensive benefits to the underwriter.
And please write and let me know of any interesting and unusual wildlife sightings you encounter during this beautiful fall migration.
Happy Sunday!
Warmest wishes,
Kim
