Category Archives: Life at the Edge of the Sea

Piping Plover Event at the Rockport Public Library!

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Dear Friends,

I hope you will join me Saturday, August 1st, at 11am, at the Rockport Public Library for a public screening of The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay. Following the screening, we’ll have a Q and A and an update about our local Plover populations. Link to register: https://rockportlibrary.assabetinteractive.com/calendar/the-piping-plovers-of-moonlight-bay-film-screening-with-live-q-a/

Here on Cape Ann we can be proud of the excellent work we as a community have accomplished. However, as our local Plovers are once again caught in political crosshairs and being bandied about on social media, I urge anyone who would like to learn more about these vulnerable birds that nest on our Cape Ann beaches to please join us. I created the documentary to help people better understand the life story of the Plovers and why working together to safeguard their nesting habitat is a good thing. So whether you already love Piping Plovers, or take issue with, please come!

 

And, I just discovered buried in my office a box of Plover Lover tees. We will have those available as well!

North Shore Lion’s Mane Jellyfish Alert!

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From Revere to beaches all along the north of Boston coast, Lion’s Mane Jellyfish are turning up in great swaths. Not just north of Boston beaches but the South Shore and Cape and Islands, too. We have been seeing some good sized ones, but this morning’s Lion’s Mane takes the cake and was approximately two feet in diameter. It was glowing fiery orange in the morning sun and that color is what tells you it is a Lion’s Mane. Lion’s Mane Jellyfish are the largest in the world and can grow up to three feet in diameter, with mane-like tentacles that can surpass 100 feet long.Lion’s Mane Jellyfish

In Massachusetts we are most likely to see two types of jellyfish. Moon Jellies, which are saucer shaped and cloudyish transparent white, are virtually harmless. Their tentacles are too weak to penetrate human skin.

Lion’s Mane Jellyfish are found in a wide range of sizes in Massachusetts waters and dead or alive, their stinging tentacles can be very painful.They are not poisonous but the sting of a Lion”s Mane can cause a severe allergic reaction. Tell your kids not to touch the dead ones washed up on the beach and keep on the lookout when swimming.

If stung and any tentacles remain on the skin, remove with tweezers, not your bare hands. Flush immediately in seawater and then rinse with white vinegar. Shower in hot water, or even better, soak in the tub with hot water.  If experiencing an allergic reaction such as dizziness, trouble breathing, headache, nausea, fever, or fainting, call your physician.

When my friend Chris Cefalo finds a Lion’s Mane on the beach, he encircles it to help warn folks to keep away. 

The Very Best Milkweeds for New England Gardens! #plantandtheywillcome

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Dear Friends,

Why we LOVE milkweed!

Over the past few days we have seen more Monarchs in our garden than in the previous several years combined. One particularly feisty Mama  has laid claim to the patch of orange Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa). We usually only see this bossy territorial behavior with males. She however flies at any one or thing that approaches. She spends half her time drinking nectar from the A. tuberosa, then flits over to the patch of Common Milkweed (A. syriaca) to deposit a batch of eggs. She has quite possibly done this routine 100 times.

From a visit several weeks ago by a different female Monarch, we have a minimum of 15 caterpillars on the Common Milkweed, all very teeny weeny. Let’s hope the spiders don’t devour them!

Milkweeds are not only the larval host (caterpillar food plant) for Monarch Butterflies, they also provide a rich source of nectar for myriad other pollinators including bees, hover flies, many species of Lepidoptera, and hummingbirds.

Monarch ovipositing egg on Common Milkweed

The very best native (native to the Northeast) milkweeds for our New England gardens, in order of productivity:

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Aptly named because it is the milkweed we see growing everywhere, from dunes to meadows, backyards to parklands, and even the cracks of sidewalks. It spreads greatly and if you plant, know you are giving that plot of land forever to the milkweed. Common Milkweed has the most wonderful honey hay scent and is especially potent in the evening. At this time of year when lying in bed at night I love how the dreamy scent comes wafting through the open windows.

What is meant by “productive” is that from studies comparing which species of milkweed produces the greatest amount of caterpillars, Common is first, followed by Marsh Milkweed.

Common Milkweed

Marsh Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)

What Marsh Milkweed lacks in fragrance, it surely makes up for with its deep rosey pink florets. And it is much better behaved, growing in clumps rather than spreading vigorously. Don’t worry about planting in a marsh or wetlands, Marsh Milkweed grows beautifully in average garden soil There is also a pretty white cultivar named ‘Ice Ballet.’

Marsh Milkweed

Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

The most brightly colored of our New England natives, Asclepias tuberosa flowers in shades of tangerine, yellow, and reddish orange. Whereas Common and Marsh are somewhat shade tolerant, A. tuberosa needs a sunny spot with well draining soil.

Butterflyweed

Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)

Although native I have never seen a caterpillar on the Whorled Milkweed in our garden, and only very seldomly, a Monarch drinking nectar. The leaves are delicate and finely pointed as you can see from the photo below. Our little patch is growing in full sun and the plant only spreads mildly, not invasively.

Whorled Milkweed

To learn more about milkweed and the life story of the Monarch Butterfly, see our film on PBS at Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly

Please write and let me know of your Monarch sightings. Thank you!
Happy July!
xxKim

Save the Date! Saturday August 1st for The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay Film Screening

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On Saturday, August 1st, I will be presenting a film screening of The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, followed by a QandA, at the beautiful Rockport Public Library. With many thanks to Osha Rose for organizing this screening!

For more information and if you would like to register, please go here

The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay.

Discover how we can all become stewards of these pocket-sized, threatened shorebirds.

The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay is a one-hour nature documentary that tells the life story of these captivating and endangered birds. The film features a pair of courageous Plovers and the adventures of their blended brood of chicks. Raising tiny, marshmallow-sized baby birds on a crowded urban beach is a perilous occupation and the family overcomes many life-threatening obstacles.

Piping Plovers are a bellwether species that speaks to how successfully wildlife and people interact with one another, especially in light of the growing threat of habitat loss. These remarkably resilient birds are well adapted to life on the beach however, without adequate protective measures, Piping Plovers will fail in the face of pressure created by people and predators.

We are inspired by the beauty of the Plover’s life story and also highly aware of the formidable challenges these valiant little birds face at every stage of life.

 

Happy 250th Gloucester!

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Gloucester firework’s finale from Smiths Cove

The Beautiful Fiesta

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Sorting through photos and footage from the 99th Saint Peter’s Fiesta and I can’t help but think – Beautiful Fiesta, Beautiful Community.

Buona Festa <3 See you at the 100th!

Why the Homeowners in Newbury Have it all Wrong!

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The homeowners are not being asked to remove the flags because of some anti-American, unpatriotic agenda. In 2009, the residents received many thousands of dollars in federal assistance as part of a replenishment project to save their homes from coastal erosion. At that time, the town and property owners entered an agreement to manage the beach to protect endangered shorebirds.

The agreement is still in place. The reason flags, or any aerial display, are disallowed in shorebird habitat is because the nesting adult birds perceive the flags as an avian predator. The parents will leave the nest to protect the chicks from flags, drones, kites, or whatever the aerial threat. When the Plover parents are away from their eggs, nestlings, and chicks is when the little ones are the most vulnerable to actual avian predators such as gulls and Crows. Because the agreement is in place, the flags, or placing any flag in protected shorebird habitat, is in violation of state and federal law.

Love this image of the visual history of the flag found from the Encyclopedia Britannica

 

Summer Sunrise Sequence

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Trying out a different dedicated video camera, which has an amazing image sensor. The sensor is twice as large as what I am familiar with and it is going to be fantastic I think for scenes with low light.

 

Beautiful Strawberry Moon Over Gloucester

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Last night’s full Strawberry Moon, at Brace Cove.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron(s)!

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\What exquisite breeding plumage – don’t you love the blue-gray feathers edged in white? We’re more likely to see Black-crowned Night Herons in Gloucester Harbor so when a friend texted with a photo of a Yellow-crowned Night Heron I set out the following morning at dawn to see if it was still here. I was on my way to film a segment of the series on “pond babies” that I have been working on and wasn’t expecting the YCNH would still be there. Imagine my delight when finding three all lined up in a row in the beautiful pre-dawn light.

Listen for their exceptionally loud quarking call as the three head out for the morning.

Yellow-crowned Night Herons eat mostly crustaceans (crayfish and crabs) including Fiddler, Marsh, Blue, and Green Crabs. They also feed on mussels, snails, insects, worms, lizzards, snakes, small rodents, eels, pipefish, worms, and even small birds.

According to the survey taken during Mass Audubon’s Breeding Bird Atlas II, the only confirmed record of Yellow-crowned Night Herons breeding in Massachusetts were in Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard so we are probably looking at a trio of migratory birds. There is also an adult at one of my pond locations and a number of recent sightings on Cape Cod.

So many thanks to my friend John S. for letting me know the YCNH were at the Harbor!

Compare and contrast –

Yellow-crowned Night Heron 

Yellow-crowned Night Heron Juvenile on Cape Ann

Black-crowned Night Heron Gloucester

Several years ago, this Black-crowned Night Heron juvenile did not migrate and stayed on Cape Ann for an entire winter.

Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctannassa violacea) and Black-crowned Night herons are the only two night herons in the genus Nyctannassa. BCNH are found around the world whereas YCNH are only found in the Americas.

Yellow-headed Blackbird Rarely Seen in Massachusetts

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On a recent overcast morning while out filming wildlife for the pond film, a strange little character caught my attention. She was feeding in the seaweed like there was no tomorrow. Her conical shaped bill made me think she was some type of blackbird but she was considerably larger than the brownish female Red-winged Blackbirds I typically see foraging in the seaweed. The Red-winged Blackbirds are usually stuffing a bunch of insects in their beaks then flying off to their nests. Not this one, she appeared as though she had not eaten for days and days. Her plain brown feathered back was camouflaged beautifully in the seaweed. She suddenly turned and faced in my direction and I got to see her very cool feather patterning, a vivid yellow breast and yellowish/rusty mottled head. I lingered and filmed her for quite awhile but the footage is not that as exciting as i would have liked. She only very occasionally paused her feverish foraging to preen for a brief moment.

What fun to return to my desk and discover she is the Yellow-headed Blackbird and a very rare visitor to Massachusetts, to the entire eastern half of the country for that matter.  I checked in on her over the next several days and again she was eating non-stop, even while it was raining. She departed during Friday night’s storm and I hope so much she finds her way back to the central part of the country.  Please write and let me know if she lands in your neighborhood.

Photo of male Yellow-headed Blackbirds, from wikicommons media.

Photo credit:  USFWS Mountain-Prairie – Yellow-headed black birds at Cokeville Meadows, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48171686

Yellow-headed Blackbird range – blue = breeding range; red = wintering grounds

Joyous Earth Day!

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Treasuring our wild creatures and wild spaces <3

When you’re standing stone still focused on filming a territorial Big Fight between Red-bellied Woodpeckers and a Great Blue Heron in gorgeous full breeding plumage swoops across the water, landing mere feet from where you are perched. Treasuring our wild creatures and wild spaces <3

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

Happy Easter, Happy Spring!

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Dear Friends,

I hope so much you are doing well. Spring weather hasn’t quite sprung here in our region, nonetheless we know warmer days are just around the bend.  I haven’t been writing lately, managing health hurdles but they are manageable and things are looking better.

The wonderful good news is that Piping Plovers have been returning to their breeding grounds all along the Great Lakes and Atlantic Coast nesting locations and ours are no exception. The first PiPl arrived on March 26th, one of our females from last year, and Super Original Dad has returned for the ELEVENTH year to nest at Good Harbor Beach. He only landed several days ago and is wiped out from the migration. Super Dad is staying close to his territory and seems to be waiting patiently. Waiting I think for the return of his love, handicapped Super Mom. It will be nothing short of a miracle if she returns, too, as maneuvering with a missing foot takes a great deal more energy. The average lifespan of a Piping Plover is 3 to 5 years. Our Original pair is at least 12 years old and has far exceeded that statistic. Despite the fact that Plover pairs may winter over in two entirely different locations, last year Mom and Dad returned on exactly the same day, March 19th.

Super Dad March 2026

Plovers typically arrive at their northern breeding grounds needing plenty of R and R so if you see them on the beach, please give them lots and lots of space. If they pipe in your direction, you know you are too close. A gentle reminder to all our beach friends – the earlier Plovers can court and mate undisturbed on the beach, the earlier they begin laying eggs, and the sooner the chicks will have fledged. Although Good Harbor Beach is now closed to pets for the season, Wingaersheek is open until May 1st, and Crab Beach, which is downtown adjacent to the dog park, is open all year round

Hats off to our incredibly hard working DPW Crew. Thank you to this great group of guys for placing the symbolic roping and threatened species signs up prior to April 1st. And thank you to the DPW Crew for taking such care and pride of our City beaches.

More good news for Plovers is that we are again partnering with Mass Audubon to watch over the Plovers. The Audubon team of young biologists are some of the most conscientious and caring individuals you will meet and we are so delighted to learn from, and work with, Mass Audubon. If you would like to be a Piping Plover ambassador this summer, please contact me. We would love to have you!

Happy Easter, Happy Spring!
xxKim

A short video of our newly arrived and very loveable, sleepy Super Dad –

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!, ¡Feliz San Valentin!, Bonne Saint-Valentin!

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This morning while at a local shop I was greeted in the most lovely manner, with ¡Feliz San Valentin! So here is my annual Plover Valentines but this year in English, Spanish, and French. Thank you Elizabeth for the Spanish Valentine’s wishes!​

Piping Plovers (like a great many shorebirds) are a link that binds the Americas, especially in our shared goals of protecting this very vulnerable species. Piping Plovers winter over in the Caribbean and along both the Gulf of Mexico and lower Atlantic United States. They breed in the mid- and northern Atlantic states and maritime provinces of Canada, as well as the Great Plains and Great Lakes regions.

The photos are of the sweetest Plover family that miraculously hatched from a nest smack dab midway in the sand of a popular urban beach, with absolutely no camouflaging vegetation, stones, shells, no nothing!  This very vulnerable nest of three made it through to hatch day and all three chicks went on to thrive and eventually fledge. Miracles do happen <3

Plover chicks begin walking within hours after hatching but they are adorably klutzy for the first day or so, with many face plants, tumbles, and stumbles as they are learning to navigate the varied terrain. The chicks hatched on a boiling hot day and the very excellent Dad you see here was protectively trying to help the chick up on its feet and push back under his wing to shield from the midday sun.

 

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.

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

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.

Loving Tribute to Ann Margaret Ferrante

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Several thousand people were in attendance at Ann’s funeral mass this afternoon. Friends and colleagues, including Governor Maura Healy, State Senator Bruce Tarr, and Ann’s chief of staff Dru Tarr, spoke in loving memory, with Reverend Jim leading the mass.  Ann’s profoundly positive impact on the life of so many in our community will be felt for generations to come The service was live streamed by Streamography and you can watch here. The mass starts at about 21 minutes into the video.

Bruce Tarr ended his tribute to Ann with these transcendent words from Emily Dickinson –

Unable are the Loved to die
For Love is Immortality,
Nay, it is Deity—

Unable they that love—to die
For Love reforms Vitality
Into Divinity.

The photo of the Snow Moon setting behind Saint Ann’s steeple is for Ann. Despite her wonderfully full life, every now and then she would write to say how much she liked a photo I had shared, usually a harbor scene with a fishing boat or some beautiful Cape Ann building.  She loved this photo, and another Moon one with Our Lady of Good Voyage, and I will try to locate that one too.

On the back of Ann’s program was the poem “On Children,” written by Kahlil Gibran –