Category Archives: Birds

Happy Earth Day feat. Applied Materials and the Good Harbor Beach Clean-up!

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With thanks and our deepest appreciation to the crew from Cape Ann’s Applied Materials for the awesome cleanup at Good Harbor Beach today!

We’d also like to give a shout out to Cape Ann’s Climate Coalition’s Interfaith Group for the clean up that they did on Saturday.

Truly, Good Harbor Beach has never looked so pristine! We, and the PiPls, thank you!

Meet “Fierce” Dad. He arrived this year shortly after our original Mom and Dad returned. Fierce Dad successfully nested last year at Good Harbor Beach and he is waiting impatiently for his mate to also return. I write impatiently because he and Original Dad like to provoke each other over territorial boundaries.

 

 

 

Happy Earth Day feat. the Carolina Wren and why we LoVe leaf litter!

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Joy in the wild garden- What fun to observe our resident Carolina Wren vigorously tossing leaves around while looking for insects. Just one in a million reasons why we leave leaves on the ground, and don’t cut down expired flower stalks. Leaf debris and stalks create the ideal inset habitat, and insects are the number one food for birds during the breeding season. Songbirds need the extra protein to make eggs and keep their young well-fed. 

 

Happy Earth Day feat. Red-winged Blackbirds!

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A most welcome sign of spring!

Male Red-winged Blackbirds establishing their territory, in flight display and with their wonderfully varied courtship calls. Towards the end is a brief shot of the object of their desire, the elusive female.

Good Harbor Beach Erosion and Piping Plover Update

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Good morning PiPl Friends!

Our PiPl population is returning to GHB! In addition to Super Dad and our footless Super Mom that arrived on March 24th, the male that nested successfully last year and whose mate is the very pale female, has returned, along with two additional males that arrived just after the nor’easter- for a total of five! The morning after the nor’easter also found three Sanderlings and a charming pair of Savannah Sparrows. I think the Sparrows may be sticking around as I saw them again this morning!

Newly arrived Savannah Sparrow

Filming at Good Harbor Beach the day after the nor’easter I felt an odd mix of awe and fear. Awestruck by the atmospheric beauty of the beach in the lifting storm, and also dismayed to see the damage to the dunes and how all the fantastic work the DPW had done in preparing the beach for the coming season had taken a real hit. The tides have been extremely high, I think higher than is usual for these spring storms. Recently, at full high tide, there was no beach. In the past few days the the tides seemed to have receded somewhat and hopefully the shifting sands will continue in that direction.

Sanderlings resting after the nor’easter

The most remarkable thing to see is how the one area that has been roped off consistently for the past eight years, going on nine, that very specific nesting area at #3, has been damaged the least by storms of the past several years. It is a real lesson in dune ecology that when you protect the base of the dune from foot traffic, which allows native flora to take hold, we can give the beach and dunes a fighting chance against rising sea level.

DPW crew at GHB. They are working to restore all that they had done the week prior to the storm.

Update on our PiPl documentary, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay: We are in the home  stretch and still on track to have a final cut ready by May 1st (please keep your fingers crossed with me!). I gave a wonderful local conservation minded organization a ‘test run’  of the first half of the film and was overjoyed to see they were thoroughly engaged. I am working with the amazing team at Modulus Studios, Eric and Shannon, and we are at the finals stages of finessing, finessing, and more finessing!

March was truly a fantastic month for fundraising. My deepest and most heart felt thanks and gratitude to our wonderful supporters.

Please consider making a tax deductible donation to our online fundraiser here at Network for Good. We are also looking for underwriters. If you know of an organization that would like to be associated with themes of nature, bird biology, shorebird and Piping Plover protections, and conservation of beach habitat, along with receiving the benefits of becoming an underwriter — promotions at both the beginning and end of the film for their organization, each and every time the film airs, please contact me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com. Our sister project, Beauty on the Wing, has aired in PBS stations covering 85 percent of US households and is still continuing to stream on public television. As an underwriter, your organization will have the potential to receive tremendous good will from underwriting The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay!

Returning male, mate of very pale Mom

With gratitude to the following PiPl friends for their kind contributions – Lauren Mercadante (New Hampshire), Sally Jackson (Gloucester), Brace Cove Foundation (Gloucester), JH Foundation/Fifth Third Bank (Ohio), Jane Alexander (New York), 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),and my sweet husband Tom 🙂 

Surfer Salvatore Ruvolo at GHB morning after the storm, with music by Peter Dayton  – “Perfect Wave”

Happy Easter!

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The best kind of Peeps – Plover Peeps. Happy Easter, Happy Spring Friends!

Piping Plover chicks one-day-old

SUPER MOM AND SUPER DAD RETURN TO GOOD HARBOR BEACH #ploverjoyed

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Good morning PiPl Friends!

We are overjoyed to share that handicapped Mom and Super Dad have returned for their ninth year nesting at Good Harbor Beach!!! The pair were spotted by Tom on Sunday, the 24th. I raced over to meet him and we watched with delight as they foraged hungrily at the Creek shoreline. This is a record for Mom and Dad, by one day. We have been checking daily and know for certain that they flew in sometime the night before. At first I thought it was not handicapped Mom because the two were running so vigorously along the water’s edge but I was mistaken and it is our Mom!  Plover pairs don’t always arrive on the exact same day, together. We know from banding programs that pairs don’t necessarily share the same wintering grounds; it’s wonderfully mystifying when they do share the same arrival date.

Second bit of good news is that the DPW crew is at the beach now as I write this, installing the roping. Unfortunately, we do not yet know if Audubon is going to be working at GHB this summer. Trying to obtain a clear answer has been challenging.

I apologize for the delay in letting you all know and thought it best to wait until the symbolic fencing went up and they had a safe zone.

If you would like to join us this summer volunteering as a Piping Plover Ambassador, please leave a comment in the comment section or email at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com.

I am working non stop on the PiPl documentary through Friday, when it goes back to the film finishing editors in Boston. I won’t be able to respond to emails until Saturday, unless it’s a PiPl emergency 🙂

Happiest of Springs <3

xoKim

P.S. I just dropped off a batch of cheery Plover Peep yellow tees and onesies at Alexandra’s if you are in need of an Easter gift 🙂

Turkey Mating Season!

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Turkey boys in full display, with their stunning feathers and faces only Mama’s could love <3

 

More from the Industrious Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Time to Hang Your Hummingbird Feeders!

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Despite that our little woodpecker friend has an injury under her right wing, the extraordinarily industrious Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has, for the past five days, worked on, and dined from, her sapwells. She arrives each morning at sunrise, departing around noontime. The timelapse video shows only one hour of her morning, compressed into one minute.

Dubbed Miss Featherton by Charlotte, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker arrived bedraggled and injured but I think is becoming rejuvenated from the sap. Insects, too, are beginning to appear at the wells. I read that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds often follow the migration of sapsuckers as they too will imbibe on the sap and insects attracted. We usually hang our Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeders out at the end of March, but with all the sap flowing, we hung our feeders a few days ago.Notice the red wound under her right wing from the still taken from the video

Sap-licker!

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Friday evening’s International Women’s Day event at the UUChurch was beyond fantastic – Cape Ann women authors reading Cape Ann women authors. I kept the program with the list of authors and can’t wait to dive in to the books shared by the authors.  JoeAnn Hart did a simply stellar job organizing the event, held in conjunction with the Gloucester Writers Center.

I was so inspired after being with these wonderfully gifted women and listening to the poignant words of so many inspiring Cape Ann authors, I wrote a poem that night about the weary female Yellow-bellied Sapsucker that has suddenly appeared in our garden. I’ll keep working on it but here is the beginnings –

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.

PiPl Update and Save the Dates!

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Good Morning Piping Plover Friends,

Much to catch up with but I first wish to thank everyone who is contributing to our Piping Plover film project fundraiser. Thank you so very much for your generous contributions and very kind comments on our fundraising page.

Not wanting to count our eggs before they have hatched, but we have interest from PBS! and are hoping to have a fine cut ready to submit to film festivals by May1st.

With gratitude to the following PiPl friends for their kind contributions – Lauren Mercadante (New Hampshire), Sally Jackson (Gloucester), Janis and John Bell (Gloucester), Jane Alexander (New York), 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, MA), 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 (Goucester), and my sweet husband Tom 🙂

Can you believe it’s that time of year already – Piping Plovers will begin returning to Cape Ann at the end of the month. We hope so very much that Super Dad and our amazing, disabled Super Mom will return for their ninth year nesting at Good Harbor Beach. Typically Plovers only live for five to six years however some, like “Old Man Plover,” lived, and fathered offspring, through his fifteenth year. If you would like to join our group of incredibly dedicated Piping Plover Ambassadors, please email me at kimsmitghdesigns@hotmail.com.

Some upcoming events and screenings – I am honored to write that I am being presented with the Conservation Award at the 130th annual March Conference of the Massachusetts DAR. And will also be giving a Piping Plover presentation to our local Cape Ann chapter of the DAR on April 6th at 11am, which I believe is open to the public. On Thursday evening at 6:30, please join me for a public screening of our documentary Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly as part of the Essex County Greenbelt 2024 Film and Lecture Series. Last, but not least, this coming Friday, I am joining a group of talented Cape Ann women writers. We will be reading excerpts from books by Cape Ann women writers of note, in celebration of International Women’s Day.

As the weather warms, please think about purchasing one of our awesome Plover Besties decals, tees, or onesies at Alexandra’s Bread. We have a pretty cerulean blue in stock, some pink, and I am planning on printing yellow tees and onesies for spring. They are a really great quality, pure cotton, a little longer than is typical, and printed locally at Seaside Graphics. Alexandra’s Bread is located at 265 Main Street, Gloucester.

Thank you again for your kind support.

Warmest wishes,

xxKim

Upcoming Events for March

March 8th, Friday at 7pm. In Celebration of International Women’s Day Women – Women Authors of Cape Ann. Presented by the Gloucester Writers Center at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 10 Church Street, Gloucester.

March 14th, Thursday, at 6:30pm. Essex County Greenbelt 2024 Film and Lecture Series. “Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly” documentary film screening and Q and A with Director Kim Smith. HC Media, Studio 101 at 2 Merrimack Street, Haverhill.

March 15t at 12noon, Friday. Massachusetts DAR 130th March State Conference and Luncheon. Kim Smith honored with the Conservation Award. Wellsworth Hotel Conference Center, Southbridge, MA.

April 6th, Saturday, at 11am. Cape Ann DAR . Kim Smith presentation  “The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay.” Veteran’s Service Building 12 Emerson Avenue, Gloucester.

Now you see me, now you don’t –

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Is the coast clear?

Nope!

The featured photo above shows an Eastern Screech owl pair, both the gray and red morphs. The Screechie in the nest box is a gray morph

Happy World Wildlife Day! #WWD2024

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Every year on March 3rd, United Nations World Wildlife Day (WWD) is celebrated  The purpose of the celebration is to recognize the unique roles and contributions of wildlife to people and the planet.  Read more here.

A special event for World Wildlife day is being held at the UN tomorrow, March 4th, that anyone is welcome to tune into. Here is the link and more information:

https://www.linkedin.com/events/worldwildlifeday2024uncelebrati7163493005688041473/comments/

#SaveTheDate 📅 🌱 Tune in online to watch the hashtag#WorldWildlifeDay 2024 UN Celebration!

When: 4 March (10AM-1PM EST)
Where: webtv.un.org

This year, we are exploring digital innovation and highlighting how digital conservation technologies and services can drive wildlife conservation, sustainable and legal wildlife trade and human-wildlife coexistence, now and for future generations in an increasingly connected world. 📱💻🐟🐯🌳

Meet our organizing partners: UNDP, ifaw, Jackson Wild, and WILDLABS Community

hashtag#WWD2024 hashtag#ConnectingPeopleAndPlanet hashtag#DigitalInnovation hashtag#TechForWildlife

 

Our favorite bandits, the Cedar Waxwings

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Don’t you just love the gorgeous wing patterning of the Cedar Waxwing!

Cedar Waxwings dining on multiflora rose hips at Niles Pond

Long-eared Owl Plumicorns

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Did you say plumicorn!?

If you are in any way related to a four- or five-year-old, you have most decidedly been educated on the difference between a unicorn and an alicorn (alicorns are flying unicorns in case you were wondering). My new favorite science word is plumicorn, from the Latin for feather and horn.

The large protruding tufts of feathers on this pair of Long-eared Owls are not ears, despite the owl being named for the protuberances. An owl’s ears are hidden at the sides of its head, next to the eyes, and are covered in feathers.

The tufts atop the head are called plumicorns and they are display feathers. Scientist aren’t exactly sure why plumicorns are there and what purpose they serve but they do have several hypothesis –

  1. The plumicorns may serve as camouflage by breaking up the owl’s outline and making it appear more like a broken branch.
  2. They may help other Long-eared Owls recognize other LOEs.
  3. The plumicorns may enhance the owls ability to mimic a mammal and appear more frightening to predators.

The Long-eared Owls seen here were exquisitely camouflaged. The plumicorns black inner feathers, freckled with white, did look to me like a second pair of eyes- a black eye with light reflecting. See in the photo below if you can see how the Owl appears to have two pairs of eyes, one set atop the other. When the plumicorns are pointed upward, it looks as though the bird’s eyes are open, even though its real eyes may be closed. This would allow the bird to sleep ‘with its eyes wide shut;’ resting to restore its energy for the nightly hunt.

I learned in reading about LEOs that they form pair bonds during the winter. Females LEOs are larger than the males. One was clearly larger than the other although that could be because the least camouflaged Owl of the pair was also super fluffed for warmth. It was gift to see these infrequent visitors to Massachusetts out briefly on a rainy afternoon.

Most of the clips in the video are of the larger sleepier LEOwl, perhaps the female. The second to last clip is of the smaller Owl. I quickly skeedadled as he was aware of my presence and I did not want to disturb him during what should be their peaceful time of day.

Long-eared owls are amongst the most slender of all owls

Well camouflaged! You can see in the above photo that the black inner feathers of the plumicorn looks like an open eye.

 

Long-eared Owls in the rain. Royalty free music from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center “Chansons de Bilitis” Debussy

Hooded Merganser Catches a Whopper!

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Cinnamon Girl catches a large Yellow Perch! Her fellow female Merganser chased her around the pond as she tried to position the fish head first to swallow whole.

Female Hooded Merganser

Rock Envy

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Just minding his own business! I don’t think it’s personal towards Quinnie as the gulls also continually push each other off the rocks.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY FROM HUBBA HUBBA BOY AND CINNAMON GIRL!

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With the warmer than average temperatures this past week, our winter resident ducks were in courtship mode.  The spunky Hooded Merganser drake seen here positioned himself at the edge of the reeds. He threw back his head, exhibiting his striking crest, while calling repeatedly to his girl.

Listen to the Hooded Merganser’s distinct courtship call, which sounds more frog-like than duck-like.  She, with her richly hued cinnamon colored crest, after a time appeared, and they then drifted off together to forage in the shallow waters of the pond.

Quinnie the Harlequin Catches a Crab!

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Dear Friends,

I had to take the week off from posting wildlife stories as I am in the home stretch of getting our Piping Plover documentary back to the film finishing editing studio. The film is coming along beautifully and we are already getting requests from communities to schedule soft screenings (unofficial screenings). One of the primary goals of the film is to help beachgoers better understand why we want to protect these valiant little shorebirds that are nesting in our midst and I think/hope/pray it will be successful in that regard <3. I can’t wait to share it with you all!

Although I haven’t been posting, I am still filming on early morning walks and am getting a backlog of wonderful wildlife scenes to share. There just are not enough hours in the day!!

With thanks and deepest appreciation to everyone who has so generously contributed to our film. If you would like to make a contribution, please go here to our tax deductible online fundraiser. All contributions go to the film finishing studio and to applying to film festivals.

With gratitude to the following PiPl friends for their kind contributions – Lauren Mercadante (New Hampshire), 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), and my sweet husband Tom 🙂

If you do not see your name listed above, please, please let me know. I absolutely do not want to leave anyone off. My computer crashed again and am working like crazy to recover all the data lost. Thank you!

Stay safe in the pending storm, and have lots of fun, too!

Warmest wishes,

xoKim

The handsome drake Harlequin we nicknamed Quinnie is finding a veritable feast while staying the winter on the shores of Cape Ann. He dives into the fast moving incoming tide, surfaces with a crab, then heads to a nearby rock to floof and digest his lunch.

VERY COOL – KINGFISHER CASTING A PELLET FROM THE GOOD HARBOR BEACH FOOTBRIDGE!

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The amazing things we see! I have been observing from some distance a male Belted Kingfisher foraging at the Good Harbor Beach Creek. I write ‘some distance’ because he absolutely does not like it when people notice him and he will immediately depart the area.

While filming him on the footbridge and only hoping he would fly so I could see his beautiful wings, he also cast a ginormous pellet!

According to Cornel, Kingfishers “live mostly on a diet of fish including sticklebacks, mummichogs, trout, and stonerollers. They also eat crayfish and may eat other crustaceans, mollusks, insects, amphibians, reptiles, young birds, small mammals, and even berries.” I typically see them hovering over the water when foraging and they also hunt by looking from a perch overhanging water. Baby Kingfishers do not cast pellets, only the adults. By the time a King Fisher leaves its nest, it can no longer digest fish skeletons and invertebrate shells, and instead, begins disgorging pellets of undigested matter.

Kingfishers are one of the few species of birds where the female is more brightly colored than the male. We can see this is a male as he is minus the belt of rusty red feathers the female displays. Kingfishers have a handsome crest atop their heads and seemingly disproportionately large dagger-like bill.

We can usually find the Kingfisher by listening for their piercingly sharp rattling call, which I tried to capture but it was always way too windy. Kingfishers remain in our region year round, although this is the first Kingfisher I have seen foraging at Good Harbor Beach. He hasn’t been seen now for several weeks but I do hope he returns!

FATAL ATTRACTION – ROBIN TRAPPED IN BIRD NETTING

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Over the weekend I came upon a sweet American Robin trapped in green bird netting and fighting for it’s life. I waited several moments before approaching, hoping it would set itself free but the more the Robin struggled, the more tightly he became enmeshed. I approached cautiously so as not to stress the bird any more than it already was and was able to very carefully untwist the netting and release.

I was grateful for this easy extraction. Once before Charlotte and I had found a Robin wrapped tightly in bird netting. It took the farmer and I half an hour to carefully cut away the netting digging into the birds flesh and choking the life out of him.

Bats, birds, turtles, frogs, and small mammals all too often become entangled in the green netting draped over trees and shrubs. I could write more about the fatal attraction in planting an ornamental shrub with brilliant red bird-attracting berries, and then covering it with deadly dangerous netting, but what is the point of that?

Instead, the following are just only a few suggestions to help prevent deer browsing:

Wrap in burlap.

For new plantings, consider using individual cages. Paint white as wildlife can see that best at night. Please inspect exclosures regularly to ensure no little wild friends are trapped within.

Hang bars of the strongest smelling deodorant soap you can find, Irish Spring comes to mind.

On a positive note, the ‘winter’ Robins are here, dining on every berry in the neighborhood they can locate. One of the most joyful sights in winter is the criss crossing of Robins through our landscapes as they devour the fruits. For over a month, I have been filming them eating the following:  winterberry, which must be the tastiest as it was the first to go, sumac, crabapples, privet, rose hips, euonymus, and cedar berries.

Many, many thanks to the home owners of the hollies with the green mesh. I knocked on their door to let them know what had happened. Shortly after that, they cut away the green netting. Thank You!

 

Quinnie the Harlequin, the Most Beautiful of Ducks!

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In mid-December, my friend Jill sent a snapshot of a Harlequin Duck that was foraging inshore. He was easy to re-find and surprisingly, this beautiful male seaduck has not left the area. It seems unusual for a Harlequin Duck to remain so close to shore. During the winter months, I mostly see them congregating further from people, forming mini tribes on rocky outcroppings in Rockport.

Charlotte suggested the nickname Quinnie. We have been keeping a close eye on him over the past month as I think he is recovering from a foot injury. He favors his left foot and does not put much weight on the right. And in all these weeks of filming, I have never seen him fly!

Harlequin Ducks often suffer injury as they breed in roaring whitewater mountain streams and forage on the roughest rocky shores. I was supremely worried about Quinnie during the recent spate of wild wind storms and extreme tides. Despite his foot injury, our little Quinnie is managing. He loves deep diving, as the tide is coming in and the waves are roughly splashing against the jutting rocks, but he also does quite well foraging on days when the water is crystal clear and as smooth as glass.

Bright days are best for observing the magnificently beautiful feather patterning of the drake Harlequin

Drake Harlequins have to be one of the, if not the, most strikingly beautiful ducks to grace our shores. Rich rusty red, graphite gray, and brilliant blues, accented with slashes of white make a sharp contrast to the plain subdued brown and gray of the hen. Only weighing about a pound and a half, Harlequins are about half the size of Mallards.

Harlequin ducks are monogamous. Initially,  I thought we had a pair of Harlequins, but what I mistook for a female Harlequin was actually a female Long-tailed Duck. The two hung out together for about a week before she departed.

Quinnie appears to be all alone but unfazed by his predicament. He forages with great gusto and holds his own, even against the gulls who occasionally dive bomb him for what appears to be no other reason than “rock envy.”  The gulls also displace each other over choice rocks so I don’t think (or hope), it’s not personal towards Quinnie.

 

HAPPY BLUE JAY, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Happy New Year! Wishing you much joy and positivity in the coming year.

While standing stone still filming the ‘winter’ Robins in the garden this morning, our elusive Blue Jay friend stopped by for his usual breakfast of black-oil sunflower seeds. He’s very camera shy and always skedaddles off if he sees me trying to film him. I was standing so still he did not notice me this time and I was able to capture more than just his little butt flying away.

I associate Blue Jays with positivity and think of them as a good omen. Thank you Mr. Blue Jay for making my New Year’s Day. And now you’ll have good luck, too 🙂

 

So interesting, I read that the pigment in a Blue Jays feathers are melanin, which is brown. The blue is caused by scattering light through the surface of special cells on the feather barbs.

Blue Jays at my friend Paul’s sunflower field, at Felix’s Family Farm in Ipswich

WONDERFUL WILD CREATURES 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW!

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Saying goodbye to 2023 with a look back at just some of the magnificent creatures and scenes we see all around our beautiful North Shore.

The slide show begins with January and runs through December. When clicking through, you can see the photos are captioned and dated. If you would like more information, all the photos are from posts written throughout the year, and most of the posts have short videos featuring the animal.

Some of the highlights were a Northern Lapwing blown far off course, Barred Owls, flocks of Snow Buntings, successful Gray Seal rescue by Seacoast Science Center, the return of handicapped Super Mom and Super Dad to Good Harbor Beach, Great Blue Herons nesting, Rick Roth from Cape Ann Vernal Pond team helping me find frog’s eggs for my pond ecology film, Bald Eagle pair mating, Earth Day Good Harbor Beach clean-up, Osprey nesting,Creative Commons Collective native plantings at Blackburn Circle, mesmerizing encounter with a Fisher, Mama Dross Humpback and her calf, Beth Swan creating PiPl logo, PiPl chicks and Least Terns hatching, Pipevine Swallowtail pupa, PiPl t-shirts and decals selling at Alexandra’s Bread, rare Nighthawk, Spring Peepers, chicks fledging, trips to Felix’ Family Farm with Charlotte, Monarchs in the garden, Merlin, juvenile Glossy Ibis, and a  flock of Horned Larks.

Perhaps the very most memorable moment was a wonderfully close (and extended) encounter with a Fisher. Read more about that here: Lightning in a Bottle

 

Happy New Year Friends. We’ll see what 2024 brings our way <3

Good Morning Sweet Chick!

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Dear Piping Plover Friends,

I hope you are having a joyous holiday season. If you live in the area, please be sure not to miss Gloucester’s Lobster Trap Tree. It’s extra magnificent this year, with 400 traps to honor Gloucester’s 400th anniversary. The tree is fancifully decorated with hundreds of buoys hand painted by local kids. Very generously, the traps for the tree were permanently given to the community by Jim Knott, CEO of Riverdale Mills, with the labor for making the traps donated by Brooks Trap Mill. Every year the tree is built by David Brooks, Shawn Henry and a fantastic group of local volunteers.

The clip is of a young Plover chick and his Dad. I love watching the little ones pop up from the warming wings of an adult. You never know what direction they are going to zoom off to but often enough, they stretch their tiny developing winglets and give a yawn after emerging from thermo-snuggling.

This is just one of hundreds of clips from our forthcoming documentary. Film finishing editing is going beautifully and we are planning to have a cut ready to submit to festivals in January.

Please consider making an end of the year tax deductible donation to our ongoing film funding efforts. Your contribution goes directly to the cost of finishing the film and is absolutely invaluable!

Donate here to our Network for Good online fundraiser .

We are deeply appreciative of every gift given, small and large. For large contributions, your name and organization’s logo is prominently displayed at the beginning and end of the film, with opportunities for up to 30 second promotional spots.  Please feel free to call or write with any questions regarding sponsorship. 

With gratitude to the following PiPl friends for their kind contributions – 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), and my sweet husband Tom 🙂

Thank you so very much for your support and for seeing the tender beauty in the life story of the Piping Plover.

Very best wishes,

xxKim

https://filmmakerscollab.networkforgood.com/projects/55077-filmmakers-collaborative-the-piping-plovers-of-moonlight-bay

PIPING PLOVER DECALS MAKE GREAT STOCKING STUFFERS FOR YOUR PLOVER LOVER!

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Our sweetly fun “Besties” Piping Plover logo was designed by Beth Swan, who also designed the exquisite Gloucester 400th commemorative medal. The stickers are printed locally at Seaside Graphics and are super quality, holding up perfectly in all kinds of weather! 

Our unisex tees, too, would make a perfect gift for your Plover Lover and they are also printed at Seaside Graphics, on a beautiful soft long staple cotton. Tees are currently stocked in cerulean blue and pink.

Decals, tees, and a limited supply of matching pink onesies are available at Alexandra’s Bread, located at 265 Main Street, Gloucester.

Follow this link for a quick glimpse of just some of the wonderful home goods and whimsical Christmas gifts found at Alexandra’s.

Beth Swan Gloucester 400th commemorative medal