Last night’s wild windstorm brought coastal flooding and many downed trees. As the storm was lifting this morning, we experienced fog, brief sun, more rain, and finally a stretch of sunshine. The wind was howling so loudly, it kept me awake all night long. Hopefully, your home wasn’t impacted.
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
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. In its first 50 years, the ESA has been credited with saving fully 99% of listed species from extinction, thanks to the collaborative actions of federal, state, and local agencies, Tribal governments, conservation organizations and private citizens. Read here for some very notable successes.
Bald Eagle Soars Over Gloucester
From the US Department of Interior, “The Act has saved hundreds of species from extinction and continues to protect and preserve some of our most beloved animals and plants. It has also helped to create a better understanding of how human activities can impact the environment and how we can work together to protect it. Perhaps most importantly, this anniversary is a reminder that conservation efforts are essential for stemming the worsening impacts of climate change, protecting biodiversity and preserving our planet for ourselves and future generations.”
Did you know that when the ESA first listed the Piping Plover, in 1985, there were fewer than 4,000 breeding pairs nationwide? Today, in Massachusetts alone, we are currently hosting over 1100 nesting pairs. Our PiPl Friends at the New York City Plover Project were recently featured in “Ten Stories of Hope: The Endangered Species Act at 50” a new report by the Endangered Species Coalition. To read more about Plovers and all of the stories of hope, you can download a pdf of the article here.
Building on the success of Piping Plovers in recovery, please consider making an end of the year tax deductible donation to our ongoing documentary funding efforts for The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay. 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 – 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), and my sweet husband Tom 🙂
The art of camouflage – one-day-old chicks
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
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.
Beth Swan Gloucester 400th commemorative medal
Oh my goodness, what was that fleeting and larger-than-usual red-headed woodpecker doing in our garden? We get lots of Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers but even though the sighting was merely a flash of red, black, and white, the visitor seemed like neither of these two.
The following morning when returning from an early walk, I crept down the garden path in hopes of catching a glimpse and to see what he was up to. Sure enough, the woodpecker was there, perched between the branches of the lilacs and plucking ripe juicy purple fruits from the Pokeberry plant. A male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and what a handsome fellow he is! The sapsucker stayed for a few minutes, long enough to capture some footage.
The songbirds (and we) are relishing in the messy disarray of of our cold weather garden. Fallen leaves provide shelter for birds, insects, and small mammals; the seed heads on the expired stalks of asters offer sustenance; and the fruits of the winterberry, holly, crabapple, and American Pokeweed are filling the little bellies of many.
American Pokeweed, also known as Pokeberry, Pigeonweed, Inkberry, and Poke, is a North American native perennial herb that can grow as tall as 20 feet, although we are more likely to see a four to five foot plant. The stems of the Pokeberry are a striking shade of magenta, but otherwise, it is a rather ungainly plant.
We didn’t plant our Pokeberry. Perhaps the seed of the first plant to colonize our garde was deposited by a bird. Each berry contains 10 seeds. The seeds have an extraordinarily hard shell that allows them to remain viable for up to 40 years.
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds reportedly drink nectar from the Pokeberry’s tiny white/pinkish/greenish flowers and the leaves are also the caterpillar food plant for the Giant Leopard Moth.
According to Cornell, “the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is the only woodpecker in eastern North America that is completely migratory. Although a few individuals remain throughout much of the winter in the southern part of the breeding range, most head farther south, going as far south as Panama. Females tend to migrate farther south than do males.”
Okay, well let’s get going Mr. Sapsucker!
Dear PiPl Friends,
Based on preliminary data from Mass Wildlife’s Endangered Species and Natural Heritage Program, approximately 1,145 pairs of Piping Plovers nested on Massachusetts beaches in 2023. This number is remarkable considering that when conservationists first began monitoring PiPls on Massachusetts beaches, there were fewer than 200 pairs. Because of the dedicated work of coastal waterbird conservation partners, volunteers, and regular beach going citizens, who all care deeply about the fate of these vulnerable little shorebirds, 50 percent of the Atlantic seaboard Piping Plover population now nests on Massachusetts beaches.
The short features two PiPl chicks and Dad Plover crossing handicap mats. The blue roll-out accessibility Mobi-mats have been installed at a number of Massachusetts beaches. They are wonderfully helpful for accessing the beach for wheel-chair bound people, and for families with baby strollers and wagons. I wondered how the Plovers would react. After a few moments of hesitation, our little Plover friends appeared unafraid, striding confidently across, and even stopping to investigate a bug.
The footage is from the forthcoming film, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay. We are finessing, finessing, and finessing. With each edit, the film grows stronger. I am so proud of the work we have accomplished so far and in January we will begin submitting to film festivals!
Although Piping Plovers are slowly returning to the shores of Massachusetts, the Atlantic Coast Plover population as a whole remains at tremendous risk. Climate change, loss of habitat, vandalism, and predation are the primary challenges impeding the birds’ recovery. These same challenges are affecting not only Piping Plovers, but nesting shorebirds from coast to coast. I am thinking about the Western Snowy Plover, a closely related species that nests along the coast of California. Our documentary features the conservation policies and protocols of Massachusetts organizations. Whether a beachgoer recreating on the Atlantic Coast, shores of the Great Lakes, or Pacific Coast, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay will be tremendously valuable in helping communities better understand why these protocols are in place, precisely how the policies help Plovers, and how we can collectively, and individually, help plover species recover nationwide. And, I think too, you will be smitten by the loveable Plover family featured in our film.
Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our online fundraiser to help complete our documentary. Filming is finished, however, post-production and festival costs have sky-rocketed; they are much greater than when we released our sister film project about species at risk, Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly. Working with the community to produce Beauty on the Wing was by far the most meaningful way to launch a film and we could not have done it without your help.
Please donate here to our Network for Good online fundraiser .
Feel free to call or write with any questions. We are deeply appreciative of any gifts given. Thank you.
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), Sally Jackson (Gloucester), Marion Frost (Ipswich), Cecile Christianson (Peabody), Donna Poirier Connerty (Gloucester), Mary Rhinelander (Gloucester), Jane Hazzard (Georgetown), 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
This morning’s gentle snowfall on the harbor.
“Purple Snowflakes” by Marvin Gaye
The Lobster Trap Tree is located at Solomon Jacobs Park, at Harbor Loop, in between the Coast Guard Station and Maritime Gloucester. Youth from around Cape Ann are painting buoys to decorate the tree with. The tree lighting takes place this coming Saturday, December 9th at 4:30pm, after the Middle Street Walk.
For a complete list of events for the Middle Street Walk, please click here.
To celebrate Gloucester’s 400th anniversary, 400 brand new lobster traps were donated by Riverdale Mills. Read more about the background of the Lobster Trap Tree and Three Lantern Marine Supply’s program that will allow youth to obtain student lobstering permits at the Gloucester Daily Times.
An all too brief encounter with a young Bald Eagle, possibly 3.5 years old. You can tell by the tail feathers that are edged in brown, not yet fully white; and the amount of brown streaking around his eyes and the back of his head.
He flew in and out within a matter of minutes. What a beautiful scene though, despite being short lived.
Lucky chance encounter this Thanksgiving morning!
Turkeys at daybreak, doing what Turkeys do when it’s not mating season. The males were foraging and preening in one group, while the females were across the way. The girls were very interested in the milkweed seed pods. I don’t think they were eating the seeds, but finding insects around the pods. The brilliant iridescence in the male’s feathers was extra beautiful in the morning light. 
Not a creature we see at Niles Pond everyday! The young Ibis stayed for awhile, resting, floofing its magnificent iridescent feathers, and drinking water before heading back out over the ocean. I used to see them only over on the west side of Gloucester, but this year there was a very large flock at pastures in Essex, and a beautiful flock foraging in the tidal marsh at Good Harbor Beach, too.
According to Cornell, “Glossy Ibises are found throughout the world. In North America, populations increased by an estimated 4.2% per year between 1966 and 2015 (indicating a cumulative increase of nearly eightfold over that period), according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. In 2002, the North American Waterbird Conservation Plan estimated 13,000–15,000 breeding Glossy Ibises in North America and listed it as a species of low concern.”
The Glossy Ibis breeding territory is indicated in orange and the coast of Massachusetts is part of that territory.
Our summer resident Ruby-throated Hummingbirds stayed at our Cape Ann garden well into the fall. Daily, and frequently throughout the day, they made their rounds from the back borders to the front borders, making brief stops at each nectar station. But the backyard was clearly their personal fiefdom. Here they spent a great deal of time splashing in the bird bath and preening while perched in the ancient pear trees.
The Monarchs and other late summer butterflies mostly stay in the sunnier front border however, whenever a Monarch ventured to the New England Aster patch round back, a hummingbird was sure to harass. The attacks were seemingly not vicious; the RTH would simply fly to and from the butterfly until it departed. I wondered if this was a juvenile RTHummingbird checking out a never-before-seen-butterfly-equal-to-its-size, or a more experienced female defending her territory.
Despite repeated attempts on my part, this was extremely hard to capture on film. I was looking at footage from this past season and was delighted to find a very few brief seconds of both beauties together.
The Merlin seen perched atop the birch tree was spotted from a distance. I crept ever so cautiously toward her, expecting her to fly away at any second. I usually only see Merlins on the hunt, a dark silhouette torpedoing through the air. She was surprisingly very tolerant of my presence, allowing me to stand quietly under a tree observing her fierce beauty as she continuously scanned the surrounding landscape.
Merlins are a small falcon with a distinct robust shape. They are sometimes confused with Sharp-shinned Hawks for their similar feather patterning but Sharpies are more gangly in shape than Merlins. The Merlins small frame belies that fact that they are powerful, yet deft, hunters and can snatch songbirds mid-air. While filming the Merlin, two Bluejays took note of her. One even alighted on an adjacent branch. Not a good idea as Merlins regularly hunt Pigeons and have even been known to hunt small ducks.
Like so many species of raptors, Merlin populations are rebounding since DDT was banned in 1972. DDT interfered with the bird’s calcium production, which had the devastating effect of weakening their eggshells. Since the pesticide was banned, Merlin numbers are bouncing back in North America.
We are currently experiencing a wave of beautiful creatures migrating through and stopping over at our shores. Merlins travel through New England in the spring and fall. Fortunately, the Merlin’s breeding areas don’t overlap with Plover nesting sites along the Atlantic Coast. We don’t see Merlins on Cape Ann during the summer months. Why do I write fortunately? Because, like Peregrine Falcons, Merlins find nesting shorebirds easy prey (see article here).
The Merlin’s worldwide range is widespread.
Last of the season’s Monarchs from our garden eclosed, despite being so late in the year and the big dent in her chrysalis. Happily, Charlotte was home when she emerged. The butterfly attached itself to Charlotte’s hair, and to her great joy, stayed there while she skipped around the garden collecting flowers and food for her fairies.
Monarchs that emerge late in the year, when some are already arriving to Mexico, migrate nonetheless and have a good chance of reaching their destination.
Fairy Tree House
What a thrill to see the Eagle close-up, and to see it fly by our City skyline!
After a great morning filming local wildlife and as I was heading home, flying down the road overhead was a large brown bird with an entourage of Crows and gulls in tow. Wow. That’s weird I thought, Crows don’t usually dive bomb Turkey Vultures. To everyone walking down the road’s utter delight, it was not a Turkey Vulture, but a gorgeous Bald Eagle.
The not yet fully mature Eagle hovered over Niles Beach at one location for some time, circling back several times. I couldn’t figure out what he/she was so interested in. Perhaps it was the giant fish head that had washed ashore several days ago. After a bit, the Eagle flew off to the tippy top of a pine tree overlooking the water.
Eagles are superb hunters and fishers, and also love to scavenge carrion.
I think the Eagle is a sub-adult, about 3 and a half to four and a half years old. The above photo is of a mated adult and a sub-adult, taken in Gloucester last spring.
We now have PINK onesies (and a matching pink tee for Mom, Auntie, Grandma!).
Thinking about the current rage for Barbie and all things pink, we ordered six onesies and six tees in the pink to see if there is interest. The onesies are adorable and I hope so much everyone likes them! The pink tees are available in S, M, and L. The onesies are available in sizes 6-12 months and 18-24 months
Alexandra also has a brand new batch of unisex cerulean blue tees, in sizes small through extra large.
You can pick up your Plover tees, onesies, and stickers at our wonderful local bakery and home goods shop, Alexandra’s Bread, located at 265 Main Street in Gloucester. 
Alexandra also carries super cute Twin Lights onesies, too!
As we are building inventory and navigating our way through selling T-shirts, the sales from the tees/onesies goes to ordering more. Eventually, we hope that $13.00 from the sale of each T-shirt will go towards helping to fund our documentary, The Piping Plover of Moonlight Bay. To read our most recent progress update and learn how you can help support the Piping Plover Film Project, please go here.
The recent whoosh of wind from the north brought a new batch of migrating songbirds. They are loving the great insect, seed, and berry feast found at Cape Ann woods, marsh sides, and roadways.
I am often puzzled about which species of warblers when out filming our local wildlife, especially at this time of year when many songbirds are in their non-breeding plumage and there are many juveniles on the wing. After I have a chance to look at the images at my desktop, it’s simpler to id, but not always.
This warbler is easier to identify than many. Is it a:
1) Magnolia Warbler
2) Yellow-rumped Warbler
3) Nashville Warbler
Clue – stay til the end of the clip and you can see why this warbler is named as such.
Lately there has been a pod of Gray Seals just off shore. I counted five one morning. Mostly they yawn and doze but the other day, two were sort of “frolicking,” if you can call it that.
I read Gray Seals mate and pup at this time of year. I guess we’ll have to wait and see what their next moves are. They’re official name is Gray Seal, but I love one of their nicknames, the Horsehead Seal, because it is aptly descriptive. The bulls especially have large heads.
One of the ways to tell the difference between a Harbor Seal and a Gray Seal is by looking at their heads. Harbor Seals have the large round “puppy dog” eyes, heart-shaped nostrils, and proportionately smaller heads.
Harbor Seal
Gray Seals have proportionately large heads and flaring nostrils.
Harbor Seal head shape left, Gray Seal head right
Harbor Seals have a concave shaped forehead, with a dog-like snout. The head of a Grey Seal is elongated, with a flatter forehead and nose.
Dear PiPl Friends,
A huge shout out to our newest contributors to our Piping Plover film project fundraiser. My deepest thanks and appreciation to 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), Sally Jackson (Gloucester), 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.
Progress update – We are currently working with the stellar editing staff at Modulus Studios in Boston. Eric Masunaga and his assistant Shannon also worked on our sister film project, Beauty on the Wing. Keeping my fingers crossed and not wanting to jinx our progress, but the hope/goal is to have a cut ready to begin submitting to film festivals by the end of 2023. We have also received exceptionally helpful content advice from both Carolyn Mostello, the Massachusetts Coastal Waterbird Biologist and Todd Pover, Senior Wildlife Biologist for Conserve Wildlife New Jersey.
Thank you so very much again for your kind help.
Warmest wishes,
Kim
To contribute to The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our online Network for Good fundraiser DONATE HERE
To learn more about The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay documentary please go here.
HipHop
“Get a room,” my friend Lauren laughed when we arrived at the Pond, noticing within moments dozens upon dozens of bluet damselflies readying to mate. The little pond is surrounded by a magnificent variety of vegetation however, the damselflies were only interested in perching on the cattail blades, in some instances three pairs per blade!
During mating, the male clasps the female by the neck while she bends her body around to his reproductive organs, forming a “mating wheel.” The damselfly photos here show the damselflies in the initial stages of mating.
There are no fewer than twenty different species of bluet damselflies in Massachusetts. One quick way to tell the difference between a damselfly and a dragonfly when out in the field is to look at the eyes. Dragonfly eyes are large and spaced very close together, whereas the eyes of damselflies are smaller and separated.
Cattail flowers are not bright and showy because they do not need to attract pollinators. Multiple tiny florets grow on the cylindrical-shaped stalk and are pollinated by wind. After releasing pollen, the flowers fall off leaving behind the spikes. The spike falls apart eventually to release the fluffy seeds, which are also disseminated by the wind. Clearly, the blades of Cat-O’-Nine-tails are useful to damselflies. The fluff is also wonderfully beneficial to songbirds, such as Red-winged Blackbirds, for lining their nests.
Tiny Piping Plover chicks weigh about as much as a nickel at the time of hatching. Although capable of running about within a few hours after pushing out of their eggshells, one-day-old chicks are extraordinarily vulnerable. They are also adorably funny as they learn how to navigate the varied beach terrain and to forage for food. The hatchlings study their out-sized feet, stretch tiny wing buds, fall into mini fox holes, and tumble over even while only trying to scratch themselves. It’s not easy being one-day-old!
Mom and Dad spend a great deal of time helping the chicks to regulate their body temperature, especially in the earliest days of the chick’s life. In the last clips, Dad calls to the four siblings to warm up under his downy soft underwing feathers. And by the way, Plover Dads are truly super heroes in the life story of the Piping Plover, co-parenting equally, and even then some.
The footage in this short is from the forthcoming film, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our online fundraiser to help complete our documentary. Filming is finished however, post-production and festival costs have sky-rocketed; they are much greater than when we released our sister film project about species at risk, Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly. Without our community’s help, we could not have launched Beauty on the Wing. Working with the community to produce Beauty on the Wing made it far more meaningful.
We are deeply appreciative of any gifts given. Thank you.
Please donate here to our Network for Good online fundraiser https://filmmakerscollab.networkforgood.com/projects/55077-filmmakers-collaborative-the-piping-plovers-of-moonlight-bay
A huge shout out and many, many thanks to Jon and Alexandra for distributing our Plover tees and stickers. Yesterday I dropped off the last few from the initial order and am placing a re-order with Seaside Graphics today!
Jon shares that customers are loving the positivity of the stickers and tees. Thank you community for supporting our Cape Ann Piping Plovers <3
Tees and stickers are available for sale at our wonderful local bakery and home goods shop, Alexandra’s Bread, located at 265 Main Street in Gloucester.
There are several ways in which readers can help support our forthcoming documentary, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay. Approximately $12.00 per each T-shirt goes toward the film project, the rest goes toward making more tees.
To contribute a larger gift, please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our online Network for Good fundraiser DONATE HERE
To learn more about The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay documentary please go here.
Over the weekend while out filming I met a gentleman who was just finishing up an all-nighter of night fishing. He was wearing scuba gear, a night head lamp, and was using a rod and reel. In the foggy distance, i wondered, what new creature is this?
Kevin had landed a Very Large Striped Bass but was trying to revive it to return to the sea. He didn’t mind that I wanted to take a few photos and while I was photographing he explained that all Striped Bass at this size are great breeders, and that you don’t really want to catch one this big.
According to Kevin, Striped Bass come out at night and can be found around rocks, where they like to hunt for small fish. We noticed a tag on the side of the bass. As I was curious, I called the number. It’s the USFWS line for reporting bass. I didn’t make the report as it was Kevin’s fish but I would love to know how old is this huge Mama.
Following mating, a female Monarch will be ready to begin ovipositing her eggs after only several hours. She travels from leaf to leaf and plant to plant, typically depositing no more than one egg per leaf and only one or two eggs per plant. It is thought that when the female lands on a leaf she is testing the plant for suitability with the sensors on her feet that are called tarsi. She curls her abdomen around, ovipositing a tiny golden drop that is no larger than a pinhead.
In the short video, in the second clip, you can she she ‘rejects,’ the leaf. She first tests it with her feet, then curls her abdomen, but does not leave an egg. In the third and last clip, success! She finds a leaf to her liking and leaves behind a single egg.
The female continues on her quest to find milkweed, possibly returning to the same plant, but more likely, she will go on to the next patch of milkweed. In the wild, female Monarchs deposit on average between 300 to 500 eggs during her lifetime.
It’s a very different story for Monarchs that are captive bred. The attendant will walk into the enclosure where the frantic males and females are kept, with a handful of milkweed leaves. The female is so desperate to oviposit her eggs, she will dump a whole load on one leaf, without even testing it with her feet. I have observed this behavior at breeding locations and it is really quite disturbing, knowing how wholly unnatural it is for Monarchs to deposit eggs in large clusters.
The Xerces Society, Monarch Watch, Journey North, Monarch Joint Venture, and the petition to list Monarchs as an endangered species all recommend the following:
How can I rear Monarchs responsibly?
Captive breeding and captive raising Monarchs in the hundreds, and in some cases thousands, is not the way to help the butterflies. You may feel you are taking positive steps, but we have learned over time that captive breeding and rearing in large numbers spreads disease and weakens the species. Captive rearing hundreds of Monarchs is HARMFUL. The following is a science based and thoughtful article published by one of the foremost authorities on Monarchs, the Xerces Society.
The thrust of the article is that captive rearing no more than ten at a time is educational and worthwhile, if the guidelines provided below are followed to a tee. If you are one of the folks that are rearing hundreds/thousands of Monarchs, please read the following –
Many of us have been there: Finding a monarch caterpillar, collecting it in a jar, raising it on milkweed, and then waiting patiently for a butterfly to emerge and take flight. Helping a child (or an adult) learn about this captivating, up-close example of metamorphosis can be incredibly rewarding. Unlike many wild animals, monarchs are easily reared, so it is no wonder that bringing caterpillars into the classroom or home has been used by teachers and parents for decades as an educational tool—or just for the pure enjoyment of it. Rearing monarchs also has been a part of monarch research: From the tagging efforts started by the Urquharts in the 1960s to the multiple tagging programs of today. These programs, as well as other community science projects, have greatly expanded our understanding of migration paths.
Because rearing a butterfly in captivity enables people to share in the amazing transformation from a caterpillar to winged adult, it deserves a place in the future of monarch education and research efforts. However, we need to approach it thoughtfully and responsibly. Like any wild animal, we have to make sure that our interest in rearing monarchs does not harm the butterfly’s populations. This is particularly important today, with monarch populations down by 80-97%. These levels are so low that the migratory phenomenon to Mexico and coastal California is at risk. In an attempt to help reverse the monarch’s population free-fall, many people are attempting to save the species by rearing and releasing monarchs on a large scale. There are, however, serious concerns about this approach.
For more about how you can help the magnificent migrating Monarch, visit my documentary’s website here – Beauty on the Wing
How can I rear monarchs responsibly?