July’s full Buck Super Moon over Good Harbor Beach
FULL BUCK MOON RISING OVER GOOD HARBOR BEACH
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Category Archives: Good Harbor Beach
HERRING GULL FEEDING ITS YOUNG
Have you ever seen a Herring Gull feed its young? I was experimenting with my new camera and turned it towards this adult and fledgling at the tidal flats. The fledgling was begging like crazy and then helped pull out the mass from the adult’s throat. At first I thought they were fighting over the regurgitated food but perhaps the adult was teaching the fledgling how to break off a bit. Other nearby gulls took notice of the feeding and swooped in to grab the food. Mom gulped the mass back down her throat and quickly departed.
Unfortunately, the camera went out of focus briefly, but you get the idea. Gulls are such a menace on the beach, to both beachgoers and Plovers, but they are still beautiful creatures and it was fascinating to see how they feed their babies.
LIFE GUARD CHAIR FOUND CAUGHT UP IN THE FOOTBRIDGE ROCK PILINGS
This morning we found the lifeguard chair caught in the footbridge pilings. I imagine it is related to July’s full Buck Moon and super high tide. The Creek is still closed to swimming.
PIPING PLOVER TERRITORY DISPUTES
Good morning PiPl Friends!
Thank you Jonathan for the addition of new signs in all these prominent locations, so very much appreciated! And thank you Sally for last night’s lovely evening story, and to all our ambassadors for your thoughtful updates and wonderful information provided throughout the day.
Regarding drones, I was reminded by daily early morning beach walker John Burlingham, a former game warden, and the person who saved the day the other morning with the hostile drone family, that our own sign in the kiosk at the entrance to the footbridge states clearly that drones are not allowed near the Plovers. It gives the distance and I will check on that tomorrow because I don’t recall precisely what it said, but if you have a problem with a drone operator, please feel free to point out the sign in the kiosk.
Regarding the PiPl smackdowns we have all been witnessing –
When Piping Plovers arrive in early spring they begin almost immediately to establish a nesting territory. The males fly overhead piping loud territorial calls and chase and/or attack intruders including songbirds, Crows, gulls, and even members of their own species. The attacks on each other are brutal and can end in injury, or even worse, death.
Typically, the battles subside for a time while the mated pairs are brooding eggs and when the chicks are very young. The exception to that is when an unattached male, or disrupter, is circulating about the beach.
Later in the season, as the chicks are gaining independence and roam more freely, the youngsters will eventually cross into “enemy territory.” The males resume fighting to both protect their chicks and their turf. We are seeing these little dramas play out at Good Harbor Beach. One reason why I think the older pair at #3, our original pair, are so successful is because Super Mom will also often join in the battle (even with her foot loss), putting herself between the attacker and her chicks, and they will both go after the intruder, whether another Plover or a seagull. In the video, you can see Mom has positioned herself on the left, while Super Dad circles the other male, biting him during the scuffles, then leaping over and then chasing him out over the water. This was yesterday’s battle and today finds all six chicks and all four adults present and accounted for, with no visible injuries.
Happy three-week-old birthday to our area #3 chicks. Truly a milestone for the chicks and for the Good Harbor Beach community of Piping Plover friends and advocates. On Thursday, the twins at Salt Island will also be three weeks old. Imagine! I am trying not to get too excited because last year a gull swooped in and flew off with a 24 day old chick. The following day, we lost a 25 day old chick for the same reason. We’ll just keep hoping and working toward fledging all these six beautiful little babies 🙂 And finally, today for the first time, I saw Hip Hop stretch his wing buds! He is still not putting much weight on his right foot. I don’t think it was a problem at birth because in looking at all the early footage, no chicks had an obvious foot deformity.
Hip Hop, 20 days old, with right foot injury
Have a super July summer day and thank you for all you are doing to help the GHB PiPls!
xxKim
THROWN UNDER THE BUS AND GET YOUR “STORIES” STRAIGHT GENTLEMEN!
In response to the “local newspaper writer’s” story, this “local blogger” just got a strong dose of reality. Having been thrown under the bus by local politics, going forward I now understand what we are dealing with. The “local newspaper writer” did not bother to question the source of the information that I wrote regarding the kids being removed from the beach because of a noise complaint. Instead, there was just a great deal of denial and ass covering by all involved. See the highlighted section of the Mayor’s Statement on Student Athlete Good Harbor Beach Workouts below.
I am not going to stoop to their level because what really counts is the kids and the wildlife. The great news is the kids were really lifted by the outpouring of support from the community. They are back on the beach, and the ambassadors will continue to work to keep Good Harbor Beach open for all. As stated often, we Piping Plover Ambassadors are striving to protect the Plovers while working with the community to ensure the beach stays open. Thank you Everyone for your support of Gloucester High School football team practice at Good Harbor Beach and for your continued support of the Piping Plovers!
Beautiful July GHB Sunrise
Mayor’s Statement on Student Athlete Good Harbor Beach Workouts
Some questions have been raised recently regarding our student athlete workouts at Good Harbor Beach.
First, I must mention that the incredible support from the community demonstrates just how much we care about our kids and healthy lifestyles.
I want to clarify a few important facts related to these beach workouts. These workouts have been going on for 36 years. Due to Covid they did not happen the last two years.
The workouts resumed in late June near the Good Harbor Creek. A noise complaint pushed the operation further down the beach. This move resulted in a complaint that their workout was too close to the Plover area at the beach. This resulted in a return to the Creek area with a goal of reducing the noise level.
Another noise complaint in that area from one neighbor caused the Athletic Director to move the operation off of the beach.
Neither the Mayor’s office nor the Department of Public Works was involved in this decision. Further we have not prohibited the High School beach workouts to be conducted at Good Harbor Beach.
I have spoken with the coordinator of the workout and the Superintendent of Schools office and left voicemail with the Athletic Director to clarify that my office has no objection to the students returning to the beach and we actually urge the swift resumption of the beach workouts.
I commend our student athletes for their outstanding behavior.
Keep up the good work coaches and athletes.
Go Fishermen!
Greg Verga
Mayor City of Gloucester, Massachusetts
978.281.9700
SOARING BACTERIA LEVELS AT THE GOOD HARBOR BEACH CREEK = 140 TIMES THE ACCEPTABLE AMMOUNT
Please, whatever you do on your next visit to Good Harbor Beach, please do not go swimming in the Creek and please keep your kids out of the water. Even toe-dipping is not safe!
The City of Gloucester has been working very hard everyday to find the source of the raw sewage contamination. According to Board of Health Assistant Director Rachel Belisle-Toler, the City has hired an outside engineering firm and are fairly sure the source has been identified. Before they can say for certain, a specific type of rain storm is needed to confirm. When storm drains overflow is the optimal time time to ascertain the source.
The state of Massachusetts’s absolute limit for enterococci bacteria at beaches where people swim is104 CFUs (living colony forming individual bacteria) per 100 milliliters of water. Currently the level is at 14,000 CFUs or approximately 140 times the acceptable level.
From the EPA – Enterococci are indicators of the presence of fecal material in water and, therefore, of the possible presence of disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. These pathogens can sicken swimmers and others who use rivers and streams for recreation or eat raw shellfish or fish.
The official name for the Creek is Saratoga Creek. When my kids were little, I never took them swimming at the Creek because it never smelled right to me. As recently as three years ago, there wasn’t any odor coming from the Creek and I let Charlotte swim there. Last year and this have been a different story. The stench was so bad last Sunday, it was almost unbearable. The nose knows!
HANDICAPPED CHICK, HANDICAPPED MOM: JULY 4TH PIPING PLOVER UPDATE
One of our Good Harbor Beach chicks is not growing as well as the other five. Just like SuperMom, his right foot has sustained some type of injury. I have been keeping an eye on him the past few days and he’s definitely not eating and not growing as quickly as are his siblings at area #3. He doesn’t put any weight on the foot and often does a hop run like his Mom. He is mostly seen straggling behind and spends more time than the others thermo-snuggling beneath the parent’s wings, especially Mom. She appears to be extra nurturing with this one and does not seem to mind providing extra snuggles. Perhaps with her injury, more snuggling gives her additional time to rest, too.
You can see in the photo he’s at least a third smaller than his sibling. Please, if you go to see the Plovers, give them lots of and lots of space to forage and to do their thing. particularly during the morning and late day when the beach isn’t crowded, it’s their time to forage and stock up for the day’s limited access to food and to water. Thank you so very much!
The chick on the left is similar in development to his two other siblings. You can see that the little handicapped chick on the right is smaller and is not putting any weight on his foot.
Happy Two-Week-Old Birthday to our GHB Area #3 Chicks
It’s been crazy busy at GHB and if all six chicks survive this most busiest of holiday weekends, it will be a miracle, and also, largely due to our amazing team of PiPl Ambassadors who have devoted many extra hours over the four day weekend to keeping watch over the PiPls.
A SIX PIPL CHICK MORNING!
Good Morning!
All feeding with great gusto except when a hungry family of Starlings appeared on the scene. Mom and Dad both went after the three with much buzzing and brandishing of wings.
Super Mom, with only one foot, giving the Starlings the business!
We are so thankful to Councilor Jeff Worthley, Mark Cole, Coach Lafferty, and athletic director Byran Lafata for their response in moving the sports teams back to the original footbridge location, where they have been practicing for 36 years. Additionally, Coach Lafferty is having the kids run in groups of three, not thirty across, which will help give chicks the opportunity to scamper away if they get caught in the midst. This was the Coach’s idea!
Several days ago, I met the gentleman who owns the house at Cape Hedge where the Plover family had the nest. He was overjoyed to see our pLover chicks and is super bummed about the CHB family. He is dismayed that the no dogs signs still have not been posted at his end of the beach. We are going to have to provide more assistance to our Rockport friends in helping them get organized for next year.
Thank you Everyone for all your great work! Jennie, I am going to post about your Gloucester Writer’s Center event in a separate post. I am hoping to attend and looking forward to listening to your Plover poems, but if not, congratulations and best wishes for a wonderful event <3
Have a beautiful day,
xxKim
REMINDER: PIPING PLOVER INFORMATIONAL MEETING THURSDAY JUNE 16TH AT 5:45PM
Good Morning PiPl Friends,
A reminder of our Piping Plover informational meeting this Thursday the 16th, at 5:45 pm, at area #3. For new PiPl friends, park in the lot at the far end, near Boardwalk #3. Walk down the boardwalk and turn right towards the footbridge. You will see the symbolically roped off area and we will meet there. I am looking forward to seeing everyone, old and new <3
We are looking for more volunteers. If you know someone who would like to help, please feel free to bring them to the meeting and please share my email.
Mini-update on our GHB nesting pairs. Both Moms were on the nests this morning while both Dads were foraging at the tidal flats and in the wrack. Everyone looks healthy and ready for chicks! There was hardly any trash on the beach, which was wonderful to see. Thank you Gloucester’s DPW beach crew!
#3 Dad eating a Painted Lady Butterfly
#3 Mom on the nest, well-camouflaged in beach grass
There are many tracks in Area #2 and I am hoping perhaps, if Cape Hedge Mom is still alive, we will have a renest there, but there are no nest scrapes, only footprints. We’ll keep checking.
Thank you to all our PiPl friends, old and new. We’ll see you Thursday!
Warmest wishes,
xxKim
#1 Mom on the nest, next to a shoot of Sea Rocket
#1 Dad preening
IF YOU GO TO GOOD HARBOR BEACH AT SUNRISE BE SURE TO…
Take in the wonderful fragrance of the flowering Black Locust trees adjacent to the footbridge entrance. The air is redolent with the scent of orange blossoms and honey, along with the Rosa rugosa blooming nearby.
The stand at Good Harbor Beach has been increasing in size and I don’t ever recall the scent quite as potent as it is this year. You can smell the flowers halfway down Nautilus Road!
Black Locust are native to the Appalachian Mountains. The leaves are a host to over 67 species of Lepidoptera, including Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Mourning Cloak, Red-spotted Purple, Viceroy, Giant Leopard Moth, and the Elm Sphinx Moth. A host plant is a caterpillar food plant. And they offer nectar to pollinators, including Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
THE FINAL GRAND TOTAL OF PIPING PLOVER EGGS!
Dear PiPl Friends,
Happy Memorial Day. I hope you are spending the day with family and friends <3
We have a whopping new grand total of Piping Plover eggs for Cape Ann’s eastern shore and it is an even dozen! This morning when I stopped by for PiPl check in, Salt Island Dad popped off the nest to reveal a fourth egg. All three Cape Ann PiPl families are brooding nests with four eggs in each. We are so blessed to see their beautiful life story unfold!
An added note about the nesting pair at #1, the Salt Island side of Good Harbor Beach – The pair first had a nest of three eggs up in the dune grass. We think it was predated, possibly by a seagull. There were no tracks near the nest and the only evidence found was one crushed egg.
#1 Salt Island original nest
After the first clutch of eggs disappeared, the pair immediately began setting up house away from the grass and closer to the wrack line. Piping Plovers will attempt to re-nest up to five times. The pair eventually settled on a scrape behind a mini mound of dried seaweed, albeit a more vulnerable location than the first.
Salt Island renest
As of today, the Salt Island pair have a nest of four, for a total of seven eggs laid over the past several weeks. Egg laying takes a toll on the Mom. At Good Harbor we now have handicapped Mom at #3 and over extended Mom at #1. When you see Plovers on the beach resting and foraging, please give them lots and lots of space and let them be to do their thing. Thank you!
Tired Mama at #1
Handicapped Mom at #3
GRAND TOTAL CAPE ANN PIPING PLOVER EGGS IN NEST COUNT
Good Morning PiPl Friends,
Joyful update to share from Cape Ann PiPl nest check-up this morning –
Cape Hedge
The Cape Hedge Plover parent’s are doing an excellent job guarding their clutch of four eggs, the most well-camouflaged nest in Massachusetts, as our state coastal waterbird biologist Carolyn Mostello refers to the nest. There was a Coyote scavenging around the wrack line near the nest but Mom and Dad went into full protective mode trying to distract. The “broken wing” display wasn’t too necessary though as the second the Coyote saw me, he/she hightailed into the marsh.
Area #1 Salt Island
Essex Greenbelt’s Dave Rimmer installed the exclosure at #1 (Salt Island end of the beach) yesterday afternoon and there are now three eggs in the nest! The Salt Island pair are not yet brooding full time and still continuing to mate. Quite possibly, we’ll have a fourth egg at #1. This little Mama has up to this point laid a total of six eggs, three in the first nest, which we think was predated, and three currently.
Area #3 Saratoga CreeK
In saving the best for last, our amazing handicapped Mom and ever vigilant Super Dad at #3 now have FOUR eggs in the nest. Mom popped off for a brief moment and I was “ploverjoyed” to see a fourth egg. I am not sure when this last egg was laid. It’s going to be a challenge to gauge when is the hatch date but I am working on that this weekend. *Borrowing the expression #ploverjoyed from our PiPl friends at Conserve Wildlife New Jersey 🙂
GHB #3 Mom well-camouflaged on the nest this foggy, foggy morning
Cape Ann’s current grand total of eggs in nests is Eleven (with a possibility of one more).
Yesterday morning, City Councilor Jeff Worthley and I met at Good Harbor Beach. He was very interested in learning about the Plovers and their history at GHB. Jeff agreed that Martha’s idea to speak before the next City Council meeting was a good plan; the next full council meeting is June 14th. He also suggested we do a brief presentation before City Council. The presentation has to be pre-planned and approved by City council president, Valerie Gilman. I don’t know if it’s either/or, or if we would be able to do both. What are your thoughts, PiPl friends? I think also we should definitely plan a “lessons learned” meeting at the end of the season, per Jonathan’s suggestion.
The Good Harbor Beach pre-reservation parking system goes into effect today. Some of the issues will be alleviated with the DPW and parking crew present, restrooms open, and end-of-the school-year high school senior parties behind us. We will still have issues with intoxicated persons tromping through the protected nesting area, but not the sheer numbers as the past two weeks, and hopefully we will see stepped up police enforcement on the beach.
A very brief Monarch update – Monarchs are here (first sightings by friends MJ on the 21st and Patti on May 23rd!) We see them in gardens, meadows, and dunes. Many other species of butterflies, too, have been sighted, including Tiger Swallowtails, Painted Ladies, American Coppers, Common Ringlets, and Spring Azures. May 23rd is early in the season for Monarchs. About every ten years or so we have an extra wonderful year with butterflies. The last was 2012. We are due and perhaps 2022 will be one of those years 🙂
Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly has been invited to screen at the Essex National Heritage Pollinator Week Program on the evening of June 22nd. For more information go here. Also, Beauty on the Wing is an official selection at the Santa Barbara Film Awards.
If anyone stops by GHB or CHB this weekend, please let us know. I feel fairly confident that the nests at GHB are safe, ensconced in their exclosures, but we like to check regularly nonetheless.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend with friends and family,
xoKim
Pair of Snow Egrets at Saratoga Creek
MOM COMING IN FOR A LANDING!
Please share your Monarch sightings. We would love to hear from you <3
This Mama Monarch photographed yesterday was zeroing in and depositing eggs on the freshly emerging shoots of Common Milkweed sprouting in the grassland meadows at Cox Reservation.
On May 21st the first Monarch was spotted; this is the earliest many of us have seen Monarchs in our gardens, dunes, and meadows. MJ observed one on the 21st in Lanesville, Patti in East Gloucester on the 23rd (she has tons of milkweed), Duncan spotted one at Brier Neck, they are in the dunes at Good Harbor Beach in the Common Milkweed patches, in my garden (also lots of milkweed), and have been seen at several Greenbelt sanctuaries, both Castle Neck River Reservation and Cox Reservation.
The butterflies at Cox Reservation were drinking nectar from the Red Clover
The Marvelous Magnificent Migrating Monarch – share with kids!
Please join us Wednesday, June 22nd at 7pm for a free in-person screening and Q and A of Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly at the Salem Visitor Center, as part of Essex National Heritage Pollinator week-long series of events.
POLLUTION, URINATION, AND THE UNDERAGE DRINKING CRISIS AT GOOD HARBOR BEACH – AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR COMMUNITY
Dear Friends,
Hopefully by writing and discussing we can come up with creative solutions to problems that have been plaguing the City for a number of years.
In 2016, myself and a group of volunteers began working toward creating a safer habitat for nesting Piping Plovers at Good Harbor Beach. As a community working together we have made great strides, including changing the ordinance to ban pets on the beach beginning April 1st, rather than May 1st. This action has proved to be not only instrumental in helping to minimize disruptions to nesting Plovers, but our dunes are improving in part because of the symbolically roped off area, which helps keep dogs out of the dunes and has allowed stabilizing vegetation to regrow. We are proud to work with, and proud of the work done by, Gloucester’s Department of Public Works in roping off nesting areas in a timely manner.
The biggest hurdle we have yet to overcome at Good Harbor Beach is adequate enforcement of people breaking the laws, whether it’s consuming vast amounts of alcohol, openly using the dunes to relieve themselves, or people running through and disrupting roped off federally protected nesting areas that are in place to protect threatened and endangered nesting birds. Each year we watch thousands and thousands of people come to Good Harbor Beach on warm spring weekend days and holidays. Not a penny of revenue is collected. Year after year we are told that there is not enough money to support enforcement on the beach towards law-breaking teens drinking themselves to oblivion, yet year after year we see potential money collected squandered. We wonder exactly how much additional revenue it would cost for two officers to walk the beach several times a day during peak drinking hours.
Beachgoers Sunday at noon waiting in line to use the portable bathroom before the restrooms were opened.
This past weekend and last weekend there were large groups of anywhere from 50 to several hundred kids in each group of teens on the beach. Quite literally, thousands of intoxicated kids. We see how much they are drinking because only a very few pick up their trash. We pick up their piles of nips, sweet ciders, beer cans, and gallon-sized bottles of hard liquor. Watching teens from out of town drink themselves into oblivion is not entertaining. It’s frightening, imagining them driving on Rt. 128 to return home. A serious car accident occurred on Saturday afternoon with teens leaving the Good Harbor Beach parking lot, after a day of collective alcohol and marijuana consumption.
The lack of enforcement creates a chain reaction of problems. Massive alcohol consumption causes the teens to have to urinate frequently. The lines are long at the bathrooms, if they are even open. The kids invariably begin using the dunes to relieve themselves, both to urinate and to defecate. For the past several summers the Creek has been closed to swimmers because of an unknown source of fecal contamination.
Photo courtesy of Jill Ortiz
Traditionally, the parking lot at GHB did not officially open to collect revenue until Memorial Day weekend but the year is 2022, not 1972. There is 7 percent more moisture in the air than there was only fifty years ago. Because of global climate change we are seeing an increase in warm weather days earlier in the season. When these days land on a weekend or holiday during the spring we can expect to see droves and droves of people. We absolutely love to see people enjoying Good Harbor Beach. What we find very troubling is large groups of people trashing the beach. When these warm days land when high school seniors are nearing graduation we can expect to see huge gatherings of out of town kids with zero respect for our beloved Good Harbor Beach. The missed revenue collected in April and May could most assuredly be used to pay for a special police detail or beach ranger to control the dangerous underage substance abuse taking place at Good Harbor Beach.
The mountains of trash left behind by the large groups of teens drinking openly on the beach is simply astounding. The garbage sits overnight until the DPW can get to it the following morning. But the problem is the garbage does not exactly stay stationary. The plastic is blown into the marsh, washed into the ocean, and covers our beach. Some mornings when I arrive before the DPW has been there to clean, the entire beach shimmers and sparkles, not in gold, but in plastic refuse backlit by the morning sun and left in the sand. We monitors do our fair share of beach clean up but it’s disheartening to see such huge quantities of garbage left behind by young persons. It’s all well and good to have a Carry In Carry Out policy but if no one is enforcing, then CICO isn’t really a policy but a free for all.
Most Massachusetts beaches have trash and recycling barrels. My good friend has a sister who lives on the beach in North Carolina with a CICO policy. But the difference is that once a week an officer comes to the beach and tickets litterbugs. The weekly ticketing gets everyone back on track to remember to carry out.
This past weekend of May 21st to 22nd was truly the worst we have ever seen, especially Saturday. Sunday was an improvement because the majority of beachgoers were families. However, because I decided to station all Ambassadors at #3 to protect the eggs there, we could not also monitor federally protected area #1 where we also have a pair actively creating nest scrapes. Unfortunately, without an Ambassador stationed at #1, we had groups of beachgoers actually recreating in the nesting area at #1. This is against federal and state laws and puts Good Harbor in serious jeopardy of closing down the beach. Isn’t it better to allocate some funds for a police or ranger detail as it is needed rather than risk shutting down Gloucester’s most beloved beach?
Photos courtesy of Duncan Todd of multitude of tracks in nesting areas #1 and #2, May 22, 2022
We would be very interested to learn the community’s opinion on better beach enforcement. How was it at Wingaersheek Beach this weekend? Did you have the same parking bottleneck, damaged vehicles, teen drinking, and trash issues as occurred at Good Harbor Beach? Any suggestions on how to prevent debacles as was the past weekend would be tremendously appreciated. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Kim
Good Harbor Beach May 22nd, 2022
Tracks in #3, despite three Ambassadors present, it became a game for the teens to try to get past us to use the dunes to urinate.
OUR BEAUTIFUL MOM HAS LOST HER FOOT
A story of patience, fidelity, resilience, and hope
You may recall that last year our Piping Plover Mom’s foot became entangled in what appeared to be both dried seaweed and monofilament. Mom visibly struggled with her foot entanglement. Although initially she could still thermoregulate the chicks and stayed nearby, we began to see less and less of her. Much of the parenting of chicks was left to Dad as she was infrequently seen lying low in the tall beach grass. We wondered if she even made it through the summer.
Mom’s very painful looking injury caused her to behave as though she was trying to adapt to the awkwardness of carrying a ball and chain. Sometimes the chicks would get caught in the seaweed and monofilament entanglement and she was continuously pulling at it, trying to remove.
Fast forward to April of this year. For a month we have had a new pair of Plovers attempting to nest, first at area #3, the original pair of Plover’s original nesting site (beginning in 2016), and then I believe shifting further north up the beach, toward Salt Island. I checked on that pair on Wednesday morning, the fifth, just before leaving for Ohio and despite the unseasonably cool temperatures and rough winds, everything was as it should be in Ploverville.
Upon our return Monday morning all had turned upside down in the world of Plover nesting. It took me a day to understand what had taken place. Miraculously, our original Mom and Dad have returned to #3. We are overjoyed to see them both, Mom especially, but the bittersweet of it is that she has lost her foot.
Dad is clearly eager to mate but, for lack of a better word, is being extraordinarily patient with Mom. She spent the first few days after arriving quietly lying in the grass, so much so we were becoming concerned. But Mom has rallied and is showing interest in Dad and his nest scrapes. He is very attentive, staying nearby and defending her against real and imagined intruders. We all got a laugh when Assistant Library Director Beth Pocock’s commented, “Not very Darwinian of him.”
Dad in one of his nest scrapes
The pair are approximately five weeks later in arriving than the past several years. It’s not entirely unexpected that Mom’s foot has been amputated by the monofilament and seaweed wrapped so tightly that it was cutting off her circulation. Plovers historically have survived with one foot/leg. One of the most common reasons for loss of foot or leg is when debris becomes caught in a leg band on Plovers that have been banded. The thing is, it is taking double the amount of effort for Mom to do things that Plovers ordinarily do daily. Her gait step is twice as many steps as compared to Dad’s. She is spending a good amount of time lying down, rather than standing.
Piping Plovers show tremendous fidelity to each other and to their nesting site. Our Good Harbor Beach Original Plovers are fantastically resilient — recalling just one of their many trials and adventures — the year they nested in the parking lot, driven to this measure by the plethora of dogs allowed off leash by their owners; dogs running and prancing through the Plover’s roped off area disrupting their nesting.
Will Mom be able to breed and take care of chicks this summer? Only time will tell. But because she is now “handicapped,” it’s imperative that we eliminate all disturbances.
Mom is able to use her peg leg to scratch an itch
On Saturday, we had a serious problem with several very large groups of teens drinking, creating a mountain of trash, playing in the nesting area, and running through the area to use the dunes as their bathroom. Their complete disregard of the clearly marked off area destroyed the Plover’s nest scrapes, which are the potential possible sites for eggs. The police were called. The officers were very patient with the teens. One girl in particular was extremely rude to the officers, barely coherent and nearly falling down drunk. It took more patience than you can possibly imagine for the officers to de-escalate as they did. It wasn’t until the police appeared that the teens began attempting to clean up their trash, which without the officer’s insistence that they clean up, surely would have resulted in the more than one huge trash bag that I filled this morning.
These were not local kids but we have to do better than this as a community. There must be a way to have some authority figure patrol the beach on warm spring and summer afternoons. These teens were completely smashed and the amount of trash from alcoholic beverages was astounding. As soon as the officers appeared on the beach, the teens began to clean up their behavior, language, and garbage. But I don’t believe it should have gotten to this point.
We’ll keep an eye on the weather and we Ambassadors will mobilize on the next warm beach day but frankly, we have very little authority. None of us feel safe approaching a group of 30 or 40 unruly and intoxicated (and foul mouthed as was the case Saturday) teens. Truly, the ideal solution is to assign an officer or ranger to patrol the beach on warm afternoons and evenings.
If anyone sees people rough housing in, playing in, or repeatedly entering the roped off areas, please call the police and explain what you are seeing. If a nest with eggs or an adult or a chick is harmed in any way or killed by this kind of behavior, that is considered a “take” by both state and federal regulations. The City and the individuals responsible are liable for thousands of dollars in fines and potential closure of Good Harbor Beach. Our mission is to keep our beautiful GHB open for everyone and to keep our Plovers safe.
From Saturday – how people treat our beautiful beach – trash on the beach brings crows and gulls, which eat Plover eggs and chicks
PIPING PLOVER UPDATE AND PLEASE JOIN ME SATURDAY FOR A FREE IN-PERSON PIPL PRESENTATION
Good afternoon PiPl Friends!
We returned Monday from a trip to visit my husband’s dear family in Ohio. If you can imagine, we were celebrating my father-in-law’s 97th birthday!! He is simply amazing and boasts his doctor told him he has the legs of a 70 year-old! We also squeezed in a trip to the butterfly exhibit at the Krohn Conservatory, the Cincinnati Zoo, and visited the old homestead located at the Hauck Botanical Gardens. And had the BEST BBQ at Eli’s Riverside. The Hauck Botanical Gardens, set in downtown Cincinnati, is a relatively small public park created decades ago by my father-in-law’s father (husband’s grandfather) and is richly planted with a collection of rare and North American native trees. Photos coming in a future post 🙂
A week away from Cape Ann’s Plovers and much has been taking place. The GHB PiPls are getting off to a slow start nesting this year and three solid days of fierce wind from the northeast is not helping matters. Yesterday morning there was a great deal of flying and piping at each other, but the funny thing was, they would take periodic breaks from skirmishing and huddle close to each other to get out of the wind.
The Cape Hedge Plover pair are settling in and I will have more on the CHB family towards the end of the week. The photo of the CHB Dad was taken Tuesday. He spent the better part of the time Charlotte and I were there trying to distract dogs that were running off leash.
Please join me Saturday at the Sawyer Free for a presentation about the Plovers (see below). Please feel free to wear a mask and please practice social distancing. Covid cases are on the rise in Gloucester (and everywhere) and I think I will be wearing a mask when not speaking.
I hope to see you there.
Warmest wishes,
Kim
Please join me at the Sawyer Free Library on Saturday, May 14th, at 2pm for a FREE in-person all ages presentation about the life story of the Piping Plover –
Why Give a Peep for Plovers?
The Piping Plover is one of only a handful of birds that nests on North Atlantic beaches. By learning about this tiny but most resilient of shorebirds, we gain a deeper understanding on how best to protect Piping Plovers and our shared coastal habitat.
Told through the lens of Kim Smith’s photo journal work, the Piping Plover’s life story is presented from migration to nesting to fledging. We’ll also cover the current status of the bird’s population, learn about where Piping Plovers spend the winter, and how communities and conservation organizations can work together to help Piping Plovers flourish for generations to come.
If you are new to or have ever considered joining our Piping Plover Ambassador group, this presentation is a great way to become introduced to Piping Plovers. Please come and learn more about these most lovable and charismatic shorebirds.
We hope to see you there!
PRETTY SILVERY WAVES AND PIPING PLOVER AFTER STORM UPDATE
The howling winds of the April 18th overnight storm brought super high tides, downed trees, downed power lines and poles. We lost one of our beautiful ‘Dragon Lady’ hollies, one of a pair planted when we first moved to our home, and a tree that gave the birds many tree-fruits over the years.
The wind also carried in a somewhat befuddled Great Egret, clinging to a shrub and still trying to gain his bearings when photographed at mid-day.
Super high tide to the base of the dunes
Mom and Dad foraging in the intertidal zone
Mom
Dad
The highest tide during the storm went up and a bit past the base of the dunes. Our nesting pair of Plovers appeared relatively unfazed and, despite the continued high winds at day’s end, were busy courting and foraging at the newly washed over beach scape.
Churned-up
#savesaltisland CONSERVATION MEETING POSTPONED ONCE AGAIN
Save Salt Island Friends Jayne and Andy write,
Hello protectors of Salt Island,
The agenda for the Conservation Commission meeting tonight, Wednesday April 20th, has been updated and the proponents of RDA-1703 Salt Island have requested a continuance to May 4, 2022. The administrative record for this application has also been moved from April 20, 2022 to May 4, 2022.
Andy and I are still planning to attend to observe the vote of the request for continuation, but based on all of the past meetings, it will likely pass. We are letting you know since your time is valuable and it would be unfortunate to have you attend unnecessarily. Of course, if you still want to attend… GREAT! We will continue to watch for any changes to the application between now and May 5th.
Thank you again for your patience and perseverance.
Warm regards,
Jayne and Andy
Martignetti’s plan drawing for Salt Island McMansion (Martignetti Family now called Salt Island LLC)
EASTER SUNRISE
Easter sunrise over Good Harbor Beach Salt Island
THANK YOU MAYOR VERGA, AC OFFICERS JAMIE AND TEAGAN, MARK COLE, JOE LUCIDO, AND THE GLOUCESTER DPW CREW!
Speaking on behalf of the Piping Plover Ambassadors, we would like to thank Mayor Verga, Mark Cole, Joe Lucido, and the Gloucester DPW Crew, and Animal Control Officers Jamie and Teagan for helping to protect our Cape Ann Plovers. We are grateful and so appreciate their very timely efforts.
The many recent actions we are grateful for –
All the roping is now in place at areas #1, #2, and #3. Hooray!! Why is this action so important? It gives the Plovers safe space to court and to nest. Plovers will rebuild their nest up to five times. If they have safe spaces from the get go, chances are they will nest earlier in the season and be on their way before the beach gets crazy busy with people enjoying the beach.
DPW Crew installing the symbolically roped off area on Wednesday, April 13th
We are grateful that Officers Teagan Dolan and Jamie Eastman are daily patrolling the beach at varying times. For the same reason the roping needs to go up early, the earlier in the season the dogs are off the beach, the safer it is for Plovers, along with the many shorebirds stopping over at Good Harbor Beach on their annual northward migration.
We are so appreciative of the signs now in place, both the endangered species signs on the cordoned off areas and the No Dogs signs at entrances to the beach and parking lots.
If you are heading to Good Harbor Beach, you can’t help but notice the blinking sign in the road near the intersection of Beach and Nautilus Roads. The sign will greatly help the AC Officers who often hear, “I didn’t know”, or “I didn’t’ see the (large screaming yellow) sign at the footbridge. The fine is $300.00 for each dog off leash and doubled if the dog charges through the clearly marked nesting area. Why the hefty fine? Because the City will be held accountable by state and federal agencies for any threatened or endangered bird that is killed or injured at Good Harbor Beach. A fine of $25,000.00 or more could be levied against the community if a bird listed as threatened or endangered is killed by a dog, person, or stray ball.
Again, we can’t thank enough Mayor Verga, Mark Cole, Joe Lucido, Gloucester’s ACOs, and entire DPW crew for their consideration and kind help protecting the Plovers!
Piping Plover love stories update –
The very pale female that was the first to arrive only stayed for a few days. She was followed by the Three Bachelors. A Bachelorette joined the scene over the weekend and paired up with Bachelor #3.
We now have one sweet couple attentively courting and nest scraping.
We’ve temporarily lost sight of Bachelors #1 and #2 but the precocious and Interfering Sanderling is still on the scene. The situation is fluid and we expect more PiPls will be arriving in the coming days.
If you would like to be a Piping Plover Ambassador, please contact me by either leaving a comment or emailing at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com.
Today’s Pea Soup Fog
Beach House construction underway – don’t you think this dried grass will add greatly to the decor honey?
CALLING ALL BACHELORETTES!
Good afternoon PiPl Friends,
Currently we have three male Piping Plovers positioned for action at Good Harbor Beach at respective territories. The bachelors are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the bachelorettes, marking their turf with nest scraping and the calls for which Piping Plovers are so well known, all accomplished with chests a-puff.
Meet the three candidates-
Bachelor #1
Bachelor #2
Bachelor #3
#1 chasing #2 off his turf
The head count can change on a dime overnight. Let’s hope the ladies will soon be arriving.
If you would like to be a Piping Plover Ambassador, please contact me by either leaving a comment or emailing at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com.
Exciting news, we have three new wonderful recruits! We’ll have an informational meeting later this spring, once we have an actively nesting pair. I am so looking forward to working with you all, both our super experienced and dedicated volunteers, along with our new members!
Jennie and Deb, I received your requests to continue in your last year’s time slots and we will also work on getting more coverage at peak times.
xxKim
WONDERFUL PIPING PLOVER NEWS!
Good Morning PiPl Friends,
Happy news to share – the first of our little friends arrived overnight Friday. We found him/her feeding with great gusto at the intertidal zone Saturday morning. After foraging she moved to the roped off area at #3 to find shelter from the wind. Not sure yet if it is a male or female and we’ll know once courtship starts, but I am leaning towards female.
And, a reader shared that she saw several PiPls Sunday!
Finding mini mollusks in the intertidal zone
Please, If you see Plovers, stay a good distance away and give them some space as they are very worn out from their journeys (from where I wish we knew.)
We are looking for volunteer Plover Ambassadors. The volunteer season begins when the Plovers chicks are close to hatching, which is not for approximately another two months. We are a wonderfully dedicated group and if you are interested in joining, please leave a comment in the comment section or email me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you!
Happy Spring!
xxKim
Windy, windy morning
GOOD MORNING! AND A HUGE SHOUT OUT TO MARK COLE, JOE LUCIDO, AND THE GLOUCESTER DPW CREW!
Good Morning Friends of Cape Ann’s PiPls!
I hope so much everyone is doing well. Another crazy winter for us all with Corona fortunately waning but then the terrible war in Ukraine began. We are so very blessed here on Cape Ann and I am grateful to you all and your outstanding teamwork in helping to protect one of our most vulnerable of creatures. The Plovers bring us joy (and frustration, too), but mostly joy and I am looking forward to working with you all again. I’d love to get an idea of what you are thinking regarding whether or not you want to keep your time slot, etc. but it’s a little early in the season so we can put that off a bit.
I did want to share that we had a great PiPl meeting with the City on Tuesday. Mark Cole, who is an assistant director at the DPW, is our new liaison with the City. We met with Mark, Joe Lucido, AC Officer Jamie Eastman, GPD Officer Quinn, Mike Hale, and Adrienne Lennon. Mark and Joe are already doing an outstanding job. The Piping Plover symbolic fencing was installed on Tuesday, the first time this has ever happened before the Plovers arrived. It’s perfect, too, just the right distance from the dunes to help the Plovers get established. Our deepest thanks and appreciation to Mark and Joe!
My husband Tom and I have been checking daily for the Plovers. There has been one unconfirmed sighting but I doubt it was a PiPl or if it was, not one of ours because once they are here, as we all know, they make their presence known. A number of Plovers have arrived at beaches south of us, so we can surely expect to see ours any day now.
Freshly arrived male and female Piping Plovers with eyes shut tightly against the March wind, Boston
If I am slow to respond to emails, I am so sorry and please forgive. I am in the midst of sorting through, converting, and building the rough cut for my next film project. Huge chunks of time are needed to tell the story of the Plovers in the true and beautiful light that I imagine. Aside from taking care of Charlotte and my family, I am in hermit mode. Usually I’ll respond within a day, but if not, please feel free to email again, no problem. Once we get on the other side of this rough, rough cut (another week or two), I’ll be much more available. Thank you for your understanding <3
Happy Spring!
xxKim
If you no longer wish to receive Plover updates please write and let me know 🙂
OH JOYOUS SPRING!
Happy Spring dear Friends!
Please forgive me if I am slow to respond to your notes, emails, and kind comments. I am so sorry about that but am spending every spare minute on the Piping Plover film project, creating the first rough cut while converting six plus years of footage. And uncovering wonderful clips of these extraordinary creatures, some I am just seeing for the first time since shooting! Not an easy task but I am so inspired and full of joy for this project, trying not to become overwhelmed, and taking it one chunk at a time, literally “bird by bird,” as Anne Lamott would say.
From daily walks, a mini migration update –
Gadwall female
Gadwall and American Wigeon pairs abound. Both in the genus Mareca, they share similar foraging habits when here on our shores and can often be seen dabbling for sea vegetation together. The Orange-crowned Warbler was still with us as of mid-week last, as well as the trio of American Pipits. The very first of the Great Egrets have been spotted and Killdeers are coming in strong. The first Ruby-throated Hummingbirds will be here any day now; at the time of this writing they have migrated as far north as North Carolina
Have you noticed the Weeping Willows branches are turning bright yellow? In the next phase they will become chartreuse. For me it it one of the earliest, earliest indicators that trees are starting to emerge from dormancy. And our magnolia buds are beginning to swell, too. Please write with your favorite early signs of spring and I’ll make a post of them.
xxKim
Male and Female Gadwalls, American Wigeons, Black Ducks, and Buffleheads foraging for aquatic vegetation
More spring scenes
Eastern Screech Owl in camo, possibly brown morph
Owl on the prowl
White-tailed Deer at Dusk
Orange-crowned Warbler
Orange-crowned Warbler preening
THE PBS PASSPORTS LINK TO WATCH BEAUTY ON THE WING!
Hello Friends,
We are are receiving many wonderful comments from viewers who have seen the film on their local public television channel, viewers from coast to coast! For we in Massachusetts (and everywhere), if you are a member of PBS Passports, here is the PBS.org Passports link to watch Beauty on the Wing:
https://www.pbs.org/show/beauty-wing-life-story-monarch-butterfly/
Note about the photos – I took a bunch of these Monarch and Buoy photographs as there were several flying around the buoys one day (only on Cape Ann = Monarchs + buoys!). They were taken during this year’s autumn migration on a hazy October afternoon. I didn’t put two and two together until finally having a chance to look at the images several days ago, that one of the buoys was painted orange and black 🙂
Thank you Friends for your continued support and for your love of Monarchs!
Warmest wishes,
xoKim
Monarchs and Buoys, Cape Ann