Category Archives: Essex County

Red Maple Tree Giver of Life

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You may have noticed the glowing red tree tops dotting our landscape. What you are most likely looking at are the flowers of the Red Maple (Acer rubrum) tree. One of the earliest trees to come into bloom, the flowers are so small that they are often overlooked.Red Maple Tree in flower

There are countless ways in which this extraordinary tree gives life. Being one of the first trees to bloom in the spring, it is a potent source of nectar for early bees on the wing. Little warblers, like this female Common Yellowthroat, find tiny spiders, insects, and larvae that are attracted to the pollen and nectar found amidst the tree’s blossoms.

Following the tree’s flowering period, pink and green two-toned winged fruits form. Officially called samaras, we mostly know them by self-describing names like helicopters and whirligigs. The wind blows the seeds far and wide where they are eaten by a great variety of birds and small mammals including turkeys, squirrels, and chipmunks.

But it is their yummy foliage that makes Red Maples a critical native keystone species. Somewhere between 200 to 300 species of Lepidoptera feed on the leaves of Red Maples including Giant Silkmoths Luna and Cecropia.

Cecropia Moth CaterpillarsCecropia Moths Mating

To top off the smorgasbord of food for wildlife that this beautiful tree provides, for us humans, autumn brings a gorgeous display of brilliant red foliage.

Red Maples are also called Swamp Maples but that doesn’t mean they only grow in swampy, super wet environments. Red Maples will tolerate average garden soil, just not super dry conditions. Grown in well-drained, loamy and acidic soil, they will thrive. Red Maples are the fastest growing tree in the Eastern US. They may reach a height to 70 feet in the Northeast, adding about 18 inches in height per year. When properly cared for, Red Maples can live up to 100 years.

 

Important Hummingbird Notice for Earth Day!

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Time to get out your hummingbird feeders out. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds have been spotted in Rhode Island and Cape Cod! It won’t be long before they begin to arrive at our Cape Ann gardens. Many of the flowering trees and shrubs they depend upon early in the season are slow to awaken this spring and they sure could use the nourishment provided by the sugar water in our feeders. Happy Earth Day!

Happy Marathon Monday!

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Plovie marathon moves- 

Gloucester’s First Wind Turbine October 2021

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Gloucester’s first wind turbine – photo of the barge wending through the harbor in 2012. I recall how excited the community was when the turbines began to arrive. I don’t think of the turbines as a failure but a teaching moment. Aside from the differing viewpoints on cost effectiveness, going forward, there are more suitable places to build wind turbines than in such close proximity to people’s homes.

The Oh-So Welcome Return of Songbirds and Butt Bouncer Warbler!

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The tail-wagging Palm Warbler that doesn’t behave like your typical warbler!

One of the earliest migrating songbirds that we see along our shrubby, woodland edges is the Palm Warbler. He stands a bit more upright, is slightly bigger, and has the unique habit of wagging its tail. Last November I made a video of a tail-wagging Palm Warbler in non-breeding plumage and forgot to share. Several days ago, I was fortunate to to catch a mini flock of four foraging along the ground and low on the bush, another non-warbler characteristic behavior. I write fortunate because when I checked back the following morning, they had already moved on. Palm Warblers breed further north than do most species of warblers, as far north as the boggy boreal forests of Canada and Maine.

Here you can compare both breeding and non-breeding feathers, from April of this year and from November 2025, respectively. Nicknames for the Palm Warbler include, Butterbutt, Tip-up Warbler, Wag-tail Warbler, and Butt Bouncer. As you can see in the last clip, insects are what they are foraging for in the undergrowth!

 

Urgent – Please Drop a Quick Line to Your Legislator Today to Phase Out the Use of Rodenticides!

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Dear Friends,

On Wednesday, April 15, the State Senate will vote on whether to adopt a proposal to phase out the use of anticoagulant rodenticides that are harming wildlife and pets. 

Adding the bill as an amendment to the Mass Ready Act will help ensure that our state phases out the use of rodenticides that are poisoning thousands of wildlife and pets in Massachusetts every year.

We need them to hear from as many supporters as possible before they vote this Wednesday. Let’s get this amendment passed to protect our wildlife and pets! Please sign the form at the link provided below.

Link to easy-to-fill-out form

​What a difference a few weeks makes compared to the balmy 70 degrees temps today! This ​sleepy pair of Long-eared Owls ​seen in the video are hunkered in​, weathering snow and wind​ during a late season snowstorm. LEOs roost in dense stands of vegetation and are seen in Massachusetts primarily during the winter months. Their diet consists mostly of small rodents including mice, rats, shrews, and voles. LEO’s, along with all birds of prey, are at extreme risk of being poisoned by rat poison. As the rodent ingests the poison, so does the bird, and the consequences are often deadly to the predator.​

Nova Scotian Guest Plover at Good Harbor Beach!

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​A​ Bluenoser at Good Harbor Beach – the fascinating world of shorebirds!

At this time of year, we Gloucester Plover Ambassadors are at Good Harbor Beach (trying) to keep track of the comings and goings of the Plovers. Some birds are arriving to set up house while others are passing through on their way to their summer nesting homes. Last week while out on Plover patrol, Super Dad was spotted, along with a sweet pair that we’re fairly certain is a mated pair from last summer, and a new little friend. It wasn’t until I returned home and began looking at the footage that I noticed that this unfamiliar one was banded!

Finding a banded bird at Good Harbor Beach is pretty exciting because instead of wondering where the bird came from, you can learn from just looking at the tag . Several years ago Good Harbor Beach was a stopover for a Plover with a green tag and white letters, which indicated that it was banded by Virginia Tech. He had flown from the southern coast of Georgia to Gloucester in just under five days!

As you can see in the photo, N5’s band is white with a black alphanumeric code, which indicates he was banded in Canada. A quick Google search led to several contacts where to report Canadian banded birds and we sure hit the jackpot of information from these kind wildlife biologists, Dr. Cheri Gratto-Trevor and Hilary Mann.

People are always asking us Ambassadors, where do the birds go after departing GHB in August? The following is not a complete picture, but does provide a tiny widow into the flight pattern of one of these remarkable little travelers.

Cheri writes, “White flag N5 was banded as an adult in June 2024 at Sandy Bay, in southern Nova Scotia.  The bird was seen in Fall (Aug) 2024 at Sunset Beach, Tubbs Inlet, NC.”

Hilary writes the following​, ” In 2024, we put a nanotag on N5. This is a small radio transmitter that helps us track birds, when they fly close to a station that is part of the motus wildlife tracking network. We got a track of N5, which you can see below. The dashed lines show the ‘direct flight’, and if this is no line connecting dots as the plover moved south, it just shows that they may have stopped somewhere along the way. N5 crossed from southern Nova Scotia to Cape Cod in about 10 hours, on the night of August 6, 2024. By August 10, it was down in North Carolina. We do not have any detections past August 10, but there are fewer stations to detect the tags south of North Carolina. The tag is glued on, so it falls off in the winter when the battery dies, and we do not have tracks of its Northbound movements.”

Think about that – In 2024, N5 flew from Nova Scotia to North Carolina in four and half days! After first departing Sandy Bay, N5 flew nonstop to Cape Cod, when it appears he was next tracked at either a Rhode Island or Connecticut beach, across the sound on to Montauk, at the eastern end of Long Island, then a non-stop flight to Cape May, which is also an important holdover location for Monarchs waiting for the ideal wind to carry them over the mouth of the Delaware Bay. He is next hitting locations at Virginia beaches and North Carolina’s Outer Banks before arriving at Sunset Beach, which is just south of Ocean Isle at the southern point of North Carolina. 

And in 2025, N5 returned to Sandy Bay, Nova Scotia and successfully fledged two chicks!

Our deepest thanks and appreciation to Dr. Cheri Gratto-Trevor, research scientist emeritus with Environment and Climate Change Canada and to Hilary Mann, wildlife biologist with Canadian Wildlife Service.

I pulled this map off Google to show what a direct flight it is for Plovers flying from Cape Ann to southern Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia Piping Plover N5 in the foreground. The film clip is in 10 times slow motion so you can see the band placed on the upper right tibia.

Read more about banded Piping Plovers seen at Cape Ann beaches here –

FUN 411 UPDATE ON ETM, THE CUMBERLAND ISLAND BANDED PLOVER

BANDED PIPING PLOVERS FROM THE CANADIAN MARITIMES, BY WAY OF ABACO BAHAMAS, NORTH CAROLINA, AND MASSACHUSETTS!

Many, many thanks to Gloucester Daily Times reporter Bobby Grady and editor-in-chief Andrea Holbrook for the Times​‘s continued coverage of our Gloucester Plovers. The story appeared in Thursday’s Times with a gentle reminder to give the Plovers lots of space as they are establishing their nesting territories.

The coverage the Times has provided since the Plovers first arrived back in 2016 has been invaluable in helping to create an awareness about these very vulnerable, yet valiant, threatened shorebirds. Thank you again Andrea, Bobby, and the GDTimes!

​Happy Spring,

xxKim

PiPl N5 at time of banding provided by Hilary Mann

Viva San Giuseppe <3

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These are joyful, blessed days, preparing for the feast and celebrating Saint Joseph! Thank you dear friends. <3 <3 <3

The first clip is of some of the helpers from pasta-making day. People stop in throughout the day to lend a hand  and some are at their own homes preparing food to bring to the feast. As much as I would like to, it is impossible to get all in one photo! The second batch of clips shows Franco and friends cooking the vast pots of bubbling pasta that is served with both the Feast of Saint Joseph special fava bean sauce and Nina’s marinara, and the last clips are from pasta-making day. 

With love and gratitude to Nina and Frank Groppo. Viva San Giuseppe!

Joyous Saint Joseph Pasta-making Day!

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Each year Nina and Franco Groppo open their hearts and home to the community to honor Saint Joseph, the patron Saint of workers, fathers, and families. The house is full of family and friends coming together to attend the nine day Novena and prepare for the feast to celebrate Saint Joseph, which is always on March 19th, a Thursday this year.

Felicia Sciortino and Nina dedicated the altar to honor the crew of the Fishing Vessel Lily Jean that sank on January 30th. Captain Gus Sanfilippo and six crew members were lost at sea. There is a beautiful model of the ship, made by Felicia’s brother Domenic Di Maio, and the altar is decorated with lovely symbols and handmade artifacts (made by Felicia) representing the hardworking men and women who fish the sea.

It is such a joyous day making pasta with these wonderful friends and I so love photographing and filming the event. A video is coming and in the meantime, here are a few snapshots. It’s baby Julian’s first Saint Joseph and Nina and Franco’s first great-grandchild so there are tons of photos of this adorable little nugget. Julian is the son of Steve and Mikaela LeBlanc, the grandson of Maria Groppo, and Steve and Melanie LeBlanc, and the great-grandson of Nina and Franco.

Fisher Bounding though the Snow

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Lightening in a Bottle x 2 – A second unforeseen and wildly magical encounter with a Fisher!

On a recent evening at dusk, I was walking back to my parked car when a swiftly moving dark shape crossed my path. We had an eye to eye moment before he went bounding off across the snowy landscape.

Note how the Fisher leaps with great power, yet appears to stay on top of the snowpack. Fishers have highly specialized feet that are well adapted to snow. Their five-toed feet are large, distributing the weight evenly, and the soles of the feet are covered in fur; both adaptions creating a “snowshoe effect.”  Anther very cool fact about Fishers is that their ankle joints can rotate nearly 180 degrees, which allows them to descend trees head first, a very rare trait among mammals.

I believe he is a male because he was so large and his fur appears somewhat coarse. The females are smaller, with glossier fur.

Here is another video of a Fisher that I filmed several years ago, where you can see him descending the trees head first:

LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE – AN UP CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH A FISHER!

 

 

Happy Valentine’s Day from Nichols Candies!

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Valentine’s Day would not be Valentine’s without delicious treats for my family from Nichols Candies. Nichols is celebrating it’s 95th year in business, if you can even imagine that! And today when I stopped by the founders Margaret and Walter Nichols daughter-in-law, Barbara, mentioned she celebrated her 89th birthday recently! So many congratulations to Barbara <3

Maggie Whitman, Barbara Nichols, Theresa Whitman

True to its rich legacy, Nichols continues to be a family business.The photo is of Barbara and her great-granddaughter Maggie and granddaughter Theresa. And there are more generations working behind the scenes 🙂  To read more about the history of Nichols Ocean House Candies, go here.

Nichols Candies is located at 1 Crafts Road/Route 128, Exit 55 Gloucester, MA 01930
978-283-9850

You can also shop online at info@nicholscandies.com

Open: Mon. Wed. Fri . Sat. 9-3 Sunday 10-3

FV Lily Jean Catastrophic Shipwreck Fundraiser

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

Dear Friends,

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

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

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

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

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

Memo Line: “Lily Jean Fund”

With gratitude, thank you for any help given.

xxKim

Obituary for Captain Gus Sanfilippo


Heartrending memorial to the fishermen

 

Swan Alert!

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

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

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

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

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

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Dear Friends,

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

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

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

Grow Native and They Will Come!

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

Iceboating in Gloucester!

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

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

 

Looking to 2026

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Dear Friends,

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

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

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

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

Power On Friends,

xxKim

 

A Great Day for Gloucester!

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

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

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

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

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

Wild Turkey in the Wolf Moon

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

Good Morning Cape Ann!

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

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

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Dear Friends,

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

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

 

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

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

xxKim

 

Where you would more typically see Ross’s Geese. 


Map courtesy Cornell.

Spellbinding Woods Walk with a Young Buck

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

 

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

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

Gloucester Firefighters Rigging the Star to the Lobster Trap Tree!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Great Horned Owl Rescue

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

900 LOBSTER TRAP TREE BUOYS!!

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

 

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

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