While I was standing very still filming pond scenes, from a tree behind me, this little one started chirping loudly. I turned, expecting to see a bird, but no, it was a very vocal Red Squirrel, perched only a few feet away. He was surprised to see the big-shape-on-the-pathway move and I was equally as startled to come eye to eye with such cuteness!
We know of this majestic creature as the American Bald Eagle, but after reading about eagles I couldn’t help but use the earlier and much more accurately descriptive common form of the bird’s name, a White-headed Sea Eagle.
Haliaeetus leucocephalus Is the eagle’s scientific genus and species name. Haliaeetus comes from Ancient Greek and means sea, or hali and eagle, or aetos.
Leuccocephalus is also from Ancient Greek; white, or leukos and head, or cephalus.
There are four species of Sea Eagles worldwide and they are the American Bald Eagle, Steller’s Sea Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, and Palla’s Fish Eagle.
It takes about 5 years for a Bald Eagle to become a breeding adult. Based on its head and tail feather patterning that you can see clearly in the video, I think this eagle is about 3.5 to 4 years old.
John Audubon’s rendering of the Bald Eagle, titled White-headed Eagle, 1828 – Plate No. XXXI
The Gray Seals in the video are exhibiting a behavior we often observe called “bottling.” They are catching warmth from the sun and in this upright position are able to sleep and rest while still remaining buoyant.
All seals need to thermoregulate to wam up after swimming in cold ocean waters. For Gray Seals, bottling is preferable to hauling out on a crowded or faraway beach. The vertical posture positions their airways above the waterline, lessening the effort to breathe. With their head out of water, they can better hear and smell approaching danger, allowing them to keep part of their brain alert while resting.
A question I am frequently asked when out filming is, “where do all the seals go in summer?” Seals are present year round in Massachusetts but we are more likely to see numerous numbers from the shoreline from autumn though spring.
The two most common species of seals seen in Massachusetts waters are Harbor Seals and Gray Seals. Gray Seals, nicknamed Horsehead Seals (and you can see why in the videos) are the larger of the two, on average twice as big as Harbor Seals. Gray Seals are present all year round, with large breeding colonies especially off the Cape and Islands. We see fewer basking in the summer because they don’t need to; the water and air temperature are sufficiently warm enough. The seals would get overheated if they were to bask in the sun during the summer.
For the same reason, Harbor Seals do not bask along the shoreline as much during the summer months. Additionally, many of our Massachusetts Harbor Seals travel a bit further north to Maine and southern Canada to feed during peek summer months. There are more Harbor Seals off the coast of Massachusetts during the autumn, winter, and spring months.
One sure way to tell the difference between a Harbor Seal and a Gray Seal is that Harbor Seals have V-shaped (or heart-shaped) nostrils and the nostrils of Gray Seals are likened to two vertical and parallel lines. The Latin name of Gray Seals is Halichoerus grypus, which translates to ‘hooked-nosed pig of sea’.
Gray Seals Singing, from several months ago –
Filmed at Brace Cove, Eastern Point
What fun for Charlotte and I to catch a glimpse of this very plump Woodchuck emerging from a woodland edge.
Also known as Groundhogs, Whistle Pigs, and Land Beavers, Woodchucks are fattening up for their winter hibernation. At this time of year they are bodacious eaters and may even double in weight. Come the end of October or beginning of November, Woodchucks will enter their expertly dug burrow. Deep enough that their winter home is below the frost-line, the burrow is a series of side passages and chambers that also includes a separate toilet area. The burrow usually has at least two entrances and may meander for up to 50 feet.
Groundhogs are one of the few mammals that enter true hibernation. How does a mammal survive 4 to 5 months underground we wondered? The Goundhog’s breathing slows from about 16 breaths per minute to as few as two and its heart rate slows from about 80 beats per minute to five. The slowed metabolism allows the Woodchuck to conserve its energy and it will only lose about one fourth of its body weight.
Included in the short is a cute back side shot because he’s sooooo wide. At this time of year, a male can weigh 14 pounds or more!
Look who came indoors with the nor’easter! A sweet Spring Peeper, also known as Tinkletoes. You can see in the video why they are nicknamed after their super grippy, super power.
We know of Spring Peepers for the male’s rhythmic calls, filling the late winter landscape with a welcome chorus of song. Their wetland melodies lend the Peepers their second nickname, that of Pinkletinks.
Like tree frogs, Spring Peepers have large pads on the tips of their toes that secretes mucus. The mucus enables them to grip surfaces as they are moving about in vegetation.
Only an inch or so in length, these minuscule frogs nonetheless survive extremely cold temperatures handily because of a special fluid they produce called cryoprotectants. Similar to to antifreeze, cryoprotectants allows them to survive tucked away for the winter in places like leaf litter or loose bark.
Dear Friends,
I hope you had a lovely end of summer and Labor Day. I feel so very grateful to have our home here in Gloucester, a home where our family wants to gather to share wonderful dinners, fun times, and explore all the beauty Cape Ann has to offer. We’re lucky that I love to cook, our son loves to cook, and husband Tom likes to grill, so there is no shortage of happy meals here. If I had to choose, September and the first half of October I think have to be the most exquisite time of year on Cape Ann, and this first week of September has proven to be true.
So much to catch up with. I want to first share about an outstanding organization, the American Oystercatcher Working Group, which is a co-operative network of biologists, researchers, and resource managers that is dedicated to the conservation of American Oystercatchers. Members work across the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of the US, the Caribbean, and parts of Central and South America. The thing is, anyone can join! 
American Oystercatcher and 14 day old chick
I was recently contacted by Debra Reynolds, who is on the AMOY Working Group steering and leadership committee. She requested to share my short film about AMOY on their website. Here is the link: Award Winning Filmmaker Kim Smith Delights in American Oystercatchers. You can also find a fantastically detailed species account from Birds of World on their website here.
Methuselah Monarch
I don’t recall if I sent this link for a most impressive insect spotted while filming pond stories, Ammophila nigricans, a species of thread-waisted wasps. Their common name describes them to a tee! I am seeing many more butterflies this summer than in the previous several summers, including just this past week, a Orange Sulphur, Common Wood Nymph, and a first for me, a Yellowjacket attacking a butterfly. Yesterday Charlotte and I saw our first Methuselah Monarch of the season, one of the super generation of Monarchs migrating to Mexico. We have had so many Monarchs on our Common Milkweed, lots of good rainfall, warm days, and no super storms. I hope this all portends of a strong migration along the Atlantic. We can Hope!
Those green eyes and pink legs! Orange Sulphur
Every Labor Day weekend, Gloucester also celebrates Schooner Festival and this year was the 42nd! Here is a link to a time lapse video of the beautiful, beautiful Parade of Sail.
Friends have recently written requesting how to subscribe to my blog, where I can share more photos and videos than in emails. I’ve posted instructions here in case you’d like to subscribe. Please let me know if you encounter any problems.
I hope you enjoy these last few weeks of summer.
Warmest wishes,
xxKim
While finding wildflowers and discovering new (to me) pollinators to feature in my Pond film, this most elegant looking thread-waisted wasp caught my attention. She was spotted foraging in the Joe-pye.
Ammophila nigicans is one of 69 species of thread-waisted wasps known in North and Central America. She is a large wasp, up to 1.5 inches, and is a velvety gun-metal blue black with a reddish orange band across the abdomen. All thread-waisted wasps feature a very narrow waist, called a petiole, which is actually part of the abdomen. It’s interesting to think about because all bodily functions must go through that very narrow petiole.
Ammophila wasps are also called “sand wasps” which derives from the Greek for “sand lover.” To feed its young, a female first digs a hole in sand or clay. Once the single-cell nest is excavated she sets off to find a large caterpillar. The female paralyzes the caterpillar with her stinger then drags the caterpillar to the excavated hole. She lays an egg in the nest and buries caterpillar and egg together. The developing larvae will have all the food it needs to grow into a robust wasp. The caterpillar overwinters underground, emerging the following year. You can see A. nigircans on the wing in Massachusetts from mid-June through September.
The thread-waisted wasp is a solitary wasp, as opposed to the social family of wasps. Social wasps are what we typically associate with when thinking about wasps. Social wasps include Yellowjackets, Paper Wasps, and Bald-faced Hornets and they share the characteristic of building papery nests that they will defend very aggressively. Solitary wasps are just that and considered relatively benign. They only sting if you pick one up and handle it or step on one.
A note about Joe-pye –
Joe-pye (Eupatoriums) must have the sweetest nectar. I find so many species of insects attracted to the clusters of of tiny florets. After many wildflowers and garden favorites have finished blooming for the summer, Joe-pye begins its flowering period and often finishes up right around the time New England Asters and Seaside Goldenrod begin blooming. The broad flower heads also act as a refueling station for Monarch Butterflies. We’ll find hummingbirds, native bees, and myriad species of butterflies, including Tiger Swallowtails, drinking nectar from the florets. Additionally, scientists have identified over 32 species of Lepidoptera that use Joe-pye as a host plant for their caterpillars.
Beyond providing nectar and food for wildlife, Joe-pye is essential to protecting water quality at ponds, streams, and wetlands. The plant’s deep roots help to reduce erosion and flooding by stabilizing the soil. The roots also act as a natural filter by absorbing excess storm water run-off and fertilizers. Although Joe-pye is typically found growing in wetlands, it does well in average garden soil, too.
Good Sunday morning Friends,
I hope you are having a lovely summer. Unlike the rest of the country, we in the northeast are experiencing cooler temperatures and I am taking advantage of these cloudy days to write and to get caught up. This is a glorious time of year to capture wildlife and wildlife habitat for my pond film and also, I have been getting some beautiful captures for the Saint Peter’s film.
The link is for a short film that I have been slowly working on (what’s new about me being slow with my film projects!) about the wonderfully quirky and charismatic American Oystercatcher, which is making a comeback. I am planning to add narration at some point but in the meantime here is the link: American Oystercatcher. To learn more about American Oystercatcher conservation and to read about a number of other uplifting stories, I highly recommend the latest book by Scott Weidensaul, The Return of the Oystercatcher: Saving Birds to Save the Planet. Scott is an extraordinary conservationist and you can learn more about him and his many fields of interest here on Scott’s website. He’s also very generous with his time. When I was working on the Snowy Owl Film Project, Scott was very kind in providing advice on the text.
My family is here for the next two weeks but I am going to try to find the time to provide an end of the season GHB PiPl recap and post some fun pond videos including one about butterfly butt bubbles, heron “bait fishing,” and a fascinatingly dramatic looking wasp (she’s also harmless).
Relishing this last week of August and I hope you are, too!
Warmest wishes,
xxKim
Have you noticed so many more Monarchs this summer than in a very many previous years? Not just Monarchs, but the Ladies, both Painted and American, Tiger Swallowtails, Pearl Crescents, and Summer Azures, too? Our milkweed and zinnia patch has half a dozen Monarchs daily and at every pond that I am filming at for my Pond film, winged beauties grace the water’s edge, sipping nectar from wildflowers growing along the banks of the ponds.
The past few years I had gotten away from raising butterflies but this year Charlotte really wanted to. So we brought indoors a few eggs, which quickly blossomed into a dozen and a half caterpillars as I had forgotten to check for eggs tucked into the buds on the sprigs of milkweed. Each time we cut fresh milkweed to feed the caterpillars, we discovered more eggs. Note- You have to separate out the leaves with eggs and teenies so that the caterpillars that are older do not inadvertently devour them.
Newly eclosed Monarchs
We were hoping to have a butterfly release day with Charlotte’s friends but the last two batches have emerged so early in the morning that they are ready to fly before breakfast. All in all, including the five remaining chrysalides, we have had fifty or so Monarchs emerge from eggs and caterpillars in our garden.
I think perhaps hot weather spells interspersed with some good amounts of rainfall have awakened our local butterfly populations, and steady winds coming from the west are moving traveling Monarchs in our direction.
Notice below that included in the captions along with the names of the butterflies are the wildflowers that are providing loads of nectar and they are all wonderfully garden worthy plants. #plantandtheywillcome!
Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) and American Lady Butterfly
The tiny Summer Azure butterfly with a mere 7/8 inch wingspan, drinking nectar from Joe-pye
Monarchs and Ironweed
Monarch and Joe-pye
American Lady and Joe-pye
Pearl Crescents
Dear Friends,
Recently I spent an exceptional morning filming an ongoing project to save Horn Pond. As many of my readers know, I am making a documentary centered around ponds. One of the most interesting and beautiful of my pond locations is Horn Pond in Woburn. Approximately 110 acres, surrounded by roughly 500 acres of protected conservation and recreation area, Horn Pond is a wonderfully popular place where visitors love to fish, stroll, ride bikes, photograph, and walk the several miles of trails. The Pond is also vitally important to wildlife. Alongside Horn Pond are the Woburn Community Gardens, where the gardens too support a host of wild creatures.
Very unfortunately, as is happening at a number of ponds, lakes, and rivers across Massachusetts, the Water Chestnut infestation has grown exponentially. The invasive, non-native European Water Chestnut (Trapa natans) was first introduced to the US at Harvard University’s Asa Gray Botanical Garden in Cambridge around 1877. In only two years, it had escaped cultivation and was found growing in the Charles River.T. natans now thrives throughout the Northeast.
The non-profit group Friends of Horn Pond have partnered with the Woburn Conservation Commission, Earthwise Aware, and the Mystic River Watershed Association to hand remove the plants from the pond as part of a five year program. The lagoon area of the pond is approximately 14 acres and of that 14, five and half acres are currently smothered in suffocating mats of floating Water Chestnuts. Year one was completed on June 28, 2025, when over 100 volunteers hand pulled more than 15,000 pounds of invasive water chestnut plants. Year two began on June 24-27, 2026, when over 150 volunteers hand pulled more than 46,000 pounds of invasive water chestnut plants. On July 18, 50 volunteers hand pulled 21,000 pounds of plants in 2.5 hours. Saturday, the 25th, the day I was filming, there were over 90 volunteers working two hour shifts throughout the day. Volunteers of all ages joined the scientists and organizers. I didn’t stay the entire day and will try to get the final tally. The work is incredibly challenging, difficult, and dirty but that was not at all daunting to the enthusiastic volunteers.
Dense mat of Water Chestnuts
What will happen to Horn Pond if the Water Chestnuts are not removed? “The plants have no natural predators. Left unchecked, the plants will consume the entire water body, deoxygenate the water, kill the fish including River Herring, before turning it into a marsh.” The lagoon at Horn Pond is an important breeding area for River Herring. A new fish passage is being built at Scalley Dam, which will potentially give the River Herring renewed access to 100 plus acres of spawning habitat.
Friends of Horn Pond was founded in 2022 by Jim Joyce, Patty Sears-Joyce, and Jeanne Bohan, and the Friends are doing incredible work to conserve Horn Pond. While at the event, I was able to speak briefly with Bill Lee, a very active member of the Friends group, along with co-founder Jim Joyce. Here’s Jim, describing in detail, Water Chestnut morphology (structure of the plant).
Please visit the Friends of Horn Pond website to learn more about the stellar (and very inspiring) programs offered by the Friends including Reel-In and Recycle Program to reduce monofilament fishing line and fishing tackle waste; Protect Wildlife Habitats through debris reduction, habitat restoration, trail maintenance, and invasive species management; and Operation Woburn Wildlife, which is focused on robust rodent prevention methods, environmentally safe controls, and stronger policies targeting the root causes of rodent activity without the use of anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARS/ FGARS) within the city borders.
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!
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.
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
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
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
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
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
Please write and let me know of your Monarch sightings. Thank you!Happy July!xxKim
It seems like every other year or so, Plovers get tangled up in the crosshairs of people’s personal issues and agendas. Disinformation then becomes widely shared and treated as fact. The latest round of misinformation resulted because of the facts that were reported in the GDTimes about the City investigating how to mitigate flooding on Thacher Road. I can’t speak to that project, which I know nothing about other than what was reported in the Times. I can however try to correct all the tall tales that have subsequently been written on social media sites regarding the Piping Plovers at Good Harbor Beach.
Piping Plovers began nesting at Good Harbor Beach in 2016. At that time, the beach was in a deplorable state due to severe storms and lack of ecological management. Here is a photo from around that time. Please notice the exposed rebar which was all that remained from failed dune fencing. People recreated right up to the base of the dune, behind the rebarb, and thought nothing of traipsing through. Each year the dunes receded further and further.
That first year they nested, the Plovers tried a number of times and each time the eggs and chicks were either squashed or predated. You can read more about the history of Plovers at Good Harbor Beach here Plover Love Story for the Ages #ploverjoyed
I am not going into the entire history here but I would like people to really understand exactly how Gloucester’s citizens have benefitted from helping to protect a threatened and endangered species. We, like many coastal towns across the Commonwealth, are part of a several decades long effort to prevent an animal from going extinct. When you stop to think about that it’s really remarkable that because of these grand efforts, the Plovers are making a comeback in Massachusetts. That is not the case in all of its breeding range but we are succeeding in helping the Plover population recover here in our state.
If the PiPls recovery alone is not enough, think about the dramatic change that has taken place at Good Harbor Beach. Notice in the photo below where the rebar you see in the above photo is nearly buried, you can just see the tips. People ask all the time how can that be in under ten years? Because the dunes want to be healthy. They ask well maybe we should plant beach grass plugs at our beach to help restore the habitat. NO, you don’t need to do anything other than provide a modicum of protection from foot traffic and pets. Now look at the next photo and see how lush and sturdy the dunes at Good Harbor Beach have become.
The vast, vast majority of our GHB beachgoers are delighted with the Plovers and could care less about the seaweed on the beach. Thank you good Citizens of Gloucester for being excellent Plover Protectors!
The following are several of the questions we Plover Ambassadors are often asked —
In all the photos below you can see at every stage of life how beautifully the Plovers are camouflaged in their natural habitat, and why they haven’t evolved to nest in lush green dunes.
Nodding off to dreamland – for my friend Claudia <3
This footage was shot when the cygnets were ten days old. Today they are one month old!
Here we have five one-day-old cygnets. One fluffball wiggles his tail but is a little too vigorous and tumbles backward. We held our breath and hoped/prayed he’d be able to climb back into the nest.
Dear Friends,
Happy May! I hope you are enjoying this glorious change of weather! I am (very) slow to share lately and apologize for being slow in responding to emails, too. It’s largely because May is so magnificent for filming wildlife that I just can’t put my camera down. And also because I had two huge deadlines for grant applications. One proposal for Saint Peter’s Fiesta film and one for the pond film. Now that both are written it will hopefully be easier applying in the future. The time spent is so enormous and for me it is truly the most challenging part of filmmaking.
Warblers, orioles, vireos, shorebirds, herons, raptors, and more — so many beautiful winged beauties have arrived this past month. One of the families I am following for the pond film is a pair of Swans. I wasn’t planning to feature swans and realize they are controversial however, when I saw how close the nest was to a path, and how acclimated the pair are to people, I think they will be a part of the film. Most often swan’s nests are impossibly invisible deep in the reeds and the males will go after anyone coming near the nest. Not the case with this pair!
The female is usually on the nest. Very occasionally the male provides relief and he is always nearby playing the part of the protector. He takes off several times a day to patrol the area for other swans and will vigorously go after any waterfowl in his territory that he perceives is a threat. He’s very no-nonsense!
These short clips are of the parents readying for hatch day. Mom is sitting on the nest while you can see Dad clearing a path through the reeds. Since the pair began nesting, the reeds have grown in and the cygnets will need to get to the water. In the last clip, you can see Mom rotating an egg. The eggs are a pretty pale blue gray and one appears slightly speckled. They are difficult to see all at once as they are well-hidden deep within the nest but there appears to be six, possibly seven, eggs.
Swans (and most birds) turn their eggs during incubation for several reasons. Biologists believe they rotate their eggs to be sure that the developing embryo gets enough albumen, which is the mix of water and protein that makes up the egg white part of an embryo. The albumen provides nutrients to the developing chick. Other theories include periodically rotating and rearranging the eggs helps the shell membrane from adhering to the shell, ensures equal heating, and creates optimal air exchange through the microscopic pores in the eggshell. We can see the swan using both her feet and bill to rotate and rearrange the eggs.
Happy May, Happy Spring!
xxKim
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 Caterpillars
Cecropia 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.
Dear Friends,
Last week I had the chance to go visit a wonderfully innovative and tremendously effective ‘trash interceptor called a “Crap Trap.” The Crap Trap is photographer Roberto De Souza’s invention and can be found stationed at Fowle Brook, one of the waterways that flows into Horn Pond. The Crap Trap intercepts trash before it enters the pond.
Outfitted in waterproof boots and coveralls, Roberto can be found nearly every day wading in the brooks and streams, collecting the trash that accumulates in the Crap Trap, as well as the trash found along the banks of the Pond.
The trash comes from visitors to the pond and also from the city. All manner of plastic, especially soda bottles and nips, are carried by storm drains, eventually making their way into the Pond’s waterways.
Roberto is a passionate advocate for wildlife. His photos are beautiful and stunning while his images of wild creatures entangled in fishing lines and lures profoundly disturbing. The photos drive home the urgent need for we all to be better stewards of our environment.
People began taking notice after Roberto began displaying the trash as art. There is a temporary exhibit of just a fraction of the trash collected at the pond, adjacent to the interceptor. Roberto’s Trash Interceptor also prompted the city to place trash barrels around the pond.
The Crap Trap is located on Fowle Brook, near marker 7
The Crap Trap is made of recyclable materials. Two of Roberto’s sculptures made from recycled trash are on display at the Woburn Public Library, along with lots more more information about the Horn Pond Trash Interceptor.
Courtesy Photo
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
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!
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.
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.
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:
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
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.