Category Archives: #nativeplants

helllo and thank you!

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Dear Friends,

I hope you are doing well. We are all in this together and I just know we will get through these difficult times. I am so proud of my community for the way organizations and individuals are pulling together to help the food insecure, especially The Open Door and Common Crow.

Wildlife stories and dramas continue despite all and I am grateful for that. I’ve only touched very lightly on posting about the amazing fall migration still underway. Look for upcoming stories about a tiny bird with the outsized name, Golden-crowned Kinglet, a pair of sweet Pectoral Sandpipers that stayed for a one-day stopover on their supreme 17,000 -20,000 mile round trip migration, a three woodpecker sighting day, and much more. Aren’t these atmospheric months of September, October, and November wonderful! Stormy weather and high winds sometimes bring not often seen creatures to our shores, only needing a brief respite, before resuming their extraordinary journeys.A male Pectoral Sandpiper – you can see he is a male because males have an inflatable air sac in his chest that he also utilizes to puff out his feathers during mating displays

I don’t think I shared the video about the fabulous four plants for pollinators – The Fab Four Plants for Monarchs (and Bees)! There are still a few Monarchs straggling along, some still even in Ontario. The latest I have ever seen a Monarch in our area was November 4th. It was memorable because it was also the year Barack Obama was first elected president. A note about the Fab Four plants. Common Milkweed can be substituted with Marsh Milkweed, Seaside Goldenrod with Canada Goldenrod or Tall Goldenrod, and Smooth Aster with either New York or Purple-stemmed Asters. The idea is sturdy nectar-rich plants that also provide a convenient landing pad and that bloom late in the season.

I was nominated for the City of Gloucester’s Kindness Campaign by our Ward One City Councilman Scott Memhard, and accepted the award on behalf of our wonderful team of dedicated and kind Plover ambassadors and friends. Please read more here.

November 1st and 2nd are the days Dia de Muertos is celebrated. One of the most evocative locations we were invited to film at during the making of Beauty on the Wing was a small family cemetery in Macheros, a remote village at the base of Cerro Pelon Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.

Honoring our loved ones with offerings on this beautiful Dia de Muertos.
xxKim

The Fabulous Four Plants for Monarchs (and Bees)!

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Plant goldenrods, asters, and milkweeds to provide Monarchs (and as you can see, many other pollinators) all the sustenance they will need during their breeding season and southward migration.

Wildflowers in order of appearance:

Seaside Goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens)

Smooth Aster (Symphyotrichum laeve)

New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

Homegrown National Parks Coming to Cape Ann!

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What are Homegrown National Parks?   HNP is an exciting movement that raises awareness and urgently inspires EVERYONE to address the biodiversity crisis. How can we as individuals and organizations do this? By adding native plants and removing invasives where we live, work, learn, pray, and play.

We all know that wildlife populations are crashing the world over. The statistics are staggering, with approximately one-third of our breeding birds lost since 1970, or about 3 billion birds, and 40 percent of our insects (bird food!) in the past 40 years. HNP is showing people how we can address this crisis, backyard by backyard.

Sunday evening, Doug Tallamy, the esteemed entomologist, author, and co-founder of Homegrown National Parks, presented “The Power of Plants.” The event was hosted by 400 Trees and the Annisquam Village Church, and was followed the next morning by an informal idea-sharing discussion at our newly renovated gorgeous library. The presentation was rich with imagery and case studies of what can be accomplished in our own backyards, from teeny urban lots to suburban homes to substantial acreage. The group discussion was especially thoughtful and interesting, providing a wonderful opportunity to meet people in our community with similar interests, missions, and goals, Many, many thanks to Peter Lawrence and Sara Remsen for organizing the Tallamy talk and discussion.

Visit the Homegrown National Parks website. It is overflowing with super helpful information to get you started on your native plants journey. You can also listen to several of his excellent talks right there on the website. I have been teaching people how to grow pollinator gardens and documenting the wildlife supported by native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and ground covers for over twenty years now. Not a day goes by where I don’t observe and learn some new, vital and fascinating information about the beautiful ecosystems created in a native plant’s habitat. When you plant native they will come!

Join the Movement Now!

1. Plant Native

2. Remove Invasives

3. Get on the Map

Where Shall We Start?

Images courtesy Doug Tallamy “The Power of Plants”

Identify the most productive plants. How to find native plants keystone species –

Native Plant Finder from the National Wildlife Federation: go to the following website and type in your zip code for an extensive list of highly valuable native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, and ground covers specifically beneficial to wildlife in your region. https://nativeplantfinder.nwf.org/

I was listening to Doug’s talk via Zoom in my office, which is also Charlotte’s art room. Charlotte is illustrating a book she is working on, all about the history of Gloucester’s monsters. It’s very imaginative and even includes mini side bars of illustrations of the eggs unique to each monster, along with the monster’s baby pictures (Nessie is well-represented). She was also enjoying glancing over at all the fascinating caterpillar images in Doug’s slideshow, when she overheard the expression ‘keystone species.’ She commented, “just like oysters are a keystone species for the ocean.” We had been to the Seacoast Science Center a week earlier where she had learned about the importance of keystone species in an ecosystem. I just thought how wonderful for her to connect the two and how much like mental sponges are these beautiful curious-minded children of the up and coming generation. I surely never learned at eight years old what a keystone species is, but how easy it was for her to understand the concept. If for no other reason, our beautiful children, and our children’s children, are why we simply can not leave to them a barren, diversity-less world.

 

Winged Wonders Migration!

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The great North to Central to South American magnificent southward migration of wildlife is fully underway. These beautiful creatures do not see borders, religion, nor ethnicities and bind us together in myriad meaningful ways. As birds are taking to the skies by the hundreds of thousands, we are seeing the beginnings of the Monarch migration as well. During these first weeks of September local meadows and gardens are  graced with newly emerged Monarchs. At this time of year, these recently eclosed butterflies are nicknamed the “Super” Monarchs.

You can see the above Monarch has just emerged from his chrysalis as his wing cells are still a bit crumpled. 

A tell tale sign of a male Super Monarch, also called a Methuselah Monarch, is that they are not at all interested in finding a mate. A male Monarch that is not migrating stops only briefly to nectar. For the most part he ceaselessly patrols the milkweed looking for a female and chases away any other winged pollinator. He has evolved with the main objective of reproducing; whereas a Methuselah Monarch takes its time sucking up nectar and is very tolerant of other butterflies it encounters.

Methuselah Monarchs emerge in a state of sexual immaturity, called diapause. They evolved to drink lots and lots of nectar to build their fat reserves for the long journey south and to sustain them through the winter. This super generation of Monarchs are oftentimes larger but will lose some of their body weight by the time they reach the trans-Mexican volcanic forests

The Monarchs rest through the winter, then will break diapause next spring when they begin their journey north.

To help all of our winged friends during the spectacular southward migration please remember Lights Out for Birds

To learn more about the magnificent Monarch migration see our documentary Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly streaming on PBS Passport. To arrange a screening and QandA for your organization, please contact me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com or leave a comment in the comment section.

I hope you enjoy these last glowing days of summer,

xxKim

Female (left) and male Monarch Butterflies, Stone Harbor Point NJ

Love, Love Felix’s Family Farm!

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Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality

Paul Wegzyn and his family have created a most magical family friendly farm event. The theme this season is LOVE and beautiful quotes are placed throughout the fields.

Every season Paul develops new and wonderful experiences for people and this year is no exception. If you do, as do we, have a bunny- and goat-loving youngster in your family, they will be utterly delighted with the very pet-able, softest bunnies and sweetest goats around!

He has created a lovely butterfly garden with Mexican Sunflowers, Zinnias, and Cleome and you can PYO all the flowers on the farm, including Paul’s beautiful dahlias.

A new crop of lavender is almost ready to pick as is a freshly opening field of orange sunflowers with dark centers, which I can not wait to see.

Felix’s Family Farm is open everyday from now until about the third week in September, or as long as the flowers last.

Felix’s Family Farm

20 Lowes Lane, Ipswich, MA

978-229-1071

The following is a list of even more activities Felix’s Family Farm has to offer. To learn more, please go here.

  • Baby Goat Yoga
  • Alpaca Yoga
  • Yoga Yurt with a variety of classes and events
  • Luxury Glamping Experience on The Farm
  • The Ability To Host Private Parties and Events
  • Honey From The Farm
  • Professional Cow Photoshoots
  • Picnics on The Farm

Wing warming

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A newly emerged male Monarch warms his wings before take-off.

 

Finding Monarch Cats in the Garden!

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We’ve been graced with Monarchs and fat healthy caterpillars this summer. Please write and let me know if you are seeing Monarchs (or not) in your garden <3

Milkweed is the Bees Knees!

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This vibrantly hued milkweed is most commonly known as Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa). Orange Milkweed, Pleurisy Root, Chigger Flower, and Chiggerweed are a few of its other common names.

Butterflyweed blooms in a range of hot colors from buttery yellow to Spanish orange to fire orange red and is a welcome source of nectar for butterflies and bees.

Thank you Miss Ladybug!

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In the garden experimenting with my new camera and I came across Ladybugs devouring aphids on our Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) buds.

What a love and we so appreciate your appetite for all things aphids <3

 

Beaches Ravaged by Late May Nor’easter

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Dear PiPl Friends,

First the bad news – our Super Mom and Dad’s nest was washed away during Thursday’s nor’easter. We are very sad about this especially as chick hatching was imminent.

Our Original Pair have never before lost a nest because of a storm however, several years ago, a pair at GHB did lose their nest due to wash out as it was in a very unsafe place, smack dab in the middle of the beach. That pair successfully renested.

We are much more fortunate than some beaches. Our Plover ambassador friends at Hull lost a total of 25 nests and the high tides have destroyed miles of their symbolic shorebird protections.

Super Mom and Dad after the nor’easter

Fierce Dad catching breakfast after the storm

For the good news – Piping Plovers often renest, especially when this early in the season. One pair was documented renesting a total of seven times in one season.   And it appears as though Super Mom and Dad are preparing to do just that. After a day of looking lost and forlorn, Dad is making scrapes in the sand and calling to Mom. Producing a new batch of eggs is very taxing for the female and our Super Mom is already very vulnerable due to her loss of one foot. A gentle reminder that when you see Plovers on the beach, please give them lots of space to forage, and hopefully, make new eggs.

Despite the extremely high storm tide going all the way to the base of the dunes, Good Harbor Beach survived the storm fairly well and looks better after this nor’easter than any nor’easter that I can recall. Why you may wonder? As a direct result of the symbolically roped off areas in place for the Plovers, beachgoers and pets are restricted from recreating  right up to the base of the dunes. This has allowed native vegetation to take hold, and in some areas, to thrive. This vegetation, such as beach grass and Sea Rocket, holds the sand in place and is our very best defense against rising sea level and the ravaging effects of the highest of tides and gale force winds.

The photos tell the story best

 

Compare the above photos from storm damage in 2018 and how the dunes look in 2024. Note how far back is the dune, the sheer drop off, and complete lack of vegetation. I recall a time when people were so very worried about how much beach we were losing each year to severe storm damage. That is no longer the case!

Click on the above photos from 2018 to enlarge and get a sense of how much the beach has filled in and how much healthier are the dunes.

Good Harbor Beach 2021, 2024, and 2025 – vegetation gradually taking hold and the sand is filling in.

A plethora of Atlantic Surf Clams tossed ashore by the sea

What are these peculiar mounds dotting the beach after the nor’easter? The photos are included to show how much the sand shifted during the storm and how vegetation helps keep sand in place

Soooo much seaweed at Brace Cove! The insects attracted to the drying seaweed is fantastic for wildlife, but get ready for super smelliness!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend,

xxKim

Thoughts About Leaf Blowers and How We Can Possibly Find a Solution Working Together :)

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Whether or not to ban gas-powered leaf blowers sure is creating a maelstrom of divisiveness in our communities. Everyone who has an opinion feels strongly, very strongly, that their viewpoint is the correct pov. Let’s think of the pros and cons and perhaps there is a solution. If I missed a pro or con, please feel free to write so we can include your point of view.

PROS of Gas Powered Leaf Blowers

Landscapers and homeowners appreciate the lower cost associated with gas-powered leaf blowers.

GPs are more powerful than electric, saving time and money.

Many landscapers and homeowners already own gas powered blowers.

CONS of Gas Powered Leaf Blowers

Gas powered leaf blowers are very loud particularly when multiple blowers are in use simultaneously.  The noise pollution is disruptive and unpleasant to neighbors.

GP blowers emit a strong odor of gas fumes, harmful to the environment and to the person operating the leaf blower.

Some observations – our home is located in a middle class neighborhood where leaf blowing does not occur regularly, if at all, whether gas or electric. I do however have clients in more affluent neighborhoods where the use of leaf blowers is much more prevalent. People are correct, the noise level is extremely loud. A crew of men, typically Latino, will disembark from company pick-up trucks, with gas powered blowers strapped to their backs and ear phones snugly wrapped over their ears. The crew of half dozen or so will spend a good part of an hour blowing the leaves off a driveway that won’t even be driven on again until the summer resident homeowner returns the following year. Not only does it seem like an utter waste of time, it concerns me that the employees are breathing the fumes. This is also the same crew that I see spraying pesticides around the base of the homeowner’s foundations, also not wearing protective covering. I am wondering if protective masks and clothing can be provided to the employees that are required to use gas-powered leaf blowers and pesticides.

Do homeowners need half a dozen men blowing leaves off driveways and the street in front of their homes? Perhaps with less demand for an immaculate leaf-be-gone landscape, one gentleman wearing a mask, as opposed to six maskless men, could do the work. If a homeowner is having considerable work done and a leaf blower is needed to assist in clean-up, that seems to me like a reasonable use. Or if a pathway is covered with wet leaves creating an unsafe situation for an elderly person, that too seems like a reasonable use.

In my own landscape design firm, I encourage clients and friends not to remove leaves and the expired stalks of flowering plants. To my way of thinking, leaves on lawns and in flower beds is a beautiful thing! Not only are the decaying leaves providing a protective layer and adding nutrients to the soil, leaves also provide habitat for all manner of insects. I think at this point in our shared awareness about the environment, we all understand that insect populations the world over have plummeted.  We homeowners and landscapers can help insect populations by leaving leaf litter in our gardens. The most delightful benefit of a garden that supports insects, is that the insects attract a host of beautiful songbirds that in turn conveniently eat the insects <3

For the benefit of insects, especially native bees, we also do not cut down the expired stalks of flowers until the end of April. In the late summer and early fall, native bees and other insects burrow into the stalks. When we do eventually cut down the stalks, we leave them in a pile for several weeks before discarding, hoping our little pollinator friends have wiggled out of their winter home.

Perhaps if we can change people’s mindsets about what constitutes a healthy landscape, the fashion of blowing leaves will become mush less problematic.

The song of a Carolina Wren chortling from a treetop has to be one of the sweetest songs you can imagine hearing in you garden. They love to rumple about in the leaf litter, foraging for insects. Insects are an important part of a songbird’s diet, especially during the breeding season when the females are producing eggs.

Carolina Wren nest with eggs tucked under our porch eaves – 

Later in the season, a Carolina Wren fledgling is perched on the back fence. She was made fat and healthy from a diet rich in your average garden variety insects – 

 

National Learn About Butterflies Day

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In recent years, March 14th has been designated National Learn About Butterflies Day. Butterfly populations, as are many species of insects, plummeting around the globe. Climate change, loss of habitat, and the use of pesticides are at the top of the list as to why we are losing our insects.

What can we do as individuals, and collectively with like-minded friends? I have been writing about the plight of butterflies for nearly 30 years and at the risk of sounding repetitive, the following are easy to follow guidelines:

Refrain from Using ALL Pesticides and Herbicides. 

Do Not Spring Into Spring Cleaning!

For the sake of all pollinators, and many songbirds, do not do a spring garden clean up too early. When is a good time? Wait until your grass is growing tall and needs to be mowed and ideally, apple and pear trees in your area have finished blooming. You can also clean-up some spots and leave others unkempt for an even later season clean-up.

Grow Native and Not Invasively

Plant native species of trees, shrubs, vines, wildflowers, and ground covers. Only plant non-native species (such as tulips and zinnias for example) that do not spread outside the area in which you wish them to grow.

American Copper, Bee, and native aster

Provide Continuous Blooms from Early Spring Through November 1st

Create a landscape that provides nourishment for pollinators and songbirds, from the earliest days of spring though the last hard frost. Include colorful nectar plants and equally as important, grow native larval host plants for butterfly caterpillars.

Although these lovely pink Korean Daisies are not native, they are not invasive and bloom until the first hard frost. They are especially welcome to late migrating scragglers such as the Monarch pictured here.

Plant in Clumps and Drifts  Whenever Possible.

Butterflies and bees love to drink nectar at a buffet where they can flit easily from one floret to the next. Allow perennials to spread into drifts and clumps. Panicle-shaped flower heads (think goldenrods) and aster-type flowers, with their ray flowers conveniently arrayed around a center disk of florets, provide a convenient landing pad onto which butterflies can land while they are sipping nectar.

Monarchs and Seaside Goldenrod

Plant and They Will Come!

 

 

PLover and Monarch News, Full Wolf Moon, and Barred Owl in the Snow

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Dear PiPl Friends,

I hope you are doing well. We are keeping our family and friends in our hearts as they struggle to return to a normal way of life after the tragic LA firestorms. I hope the winds die down soon so recovery can begin in earnest. Our daughter shares that she and her boyfriend are bringing supplies to firehouse donation centers and she is keeping her hummingbird feeders well-filled as there are more birds than ever in her garden.

Thursday night I am giving a screening and Q and A of our Monarch film, Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly for the Carlisle Conservation Foundation at the Gleason Public Library. We have super good news to share regarding the Monarch film – the contract has been renewed with American Public Television, which means our documentary will be airing on PBS for another three years! We will have two nature documentaries simultaneously airing on public television 🙂 Our film about the magnificent migrating Monarchs provides a wealth of information not only about the life story of the butterfly, but also suggestions on what to plant to support the Monarchs throughout their time spent in their northern breeding range.

We had a beautiful snowfall this past weekend. Snow storms and snowfalls have become so few and far between over the past few years in our area that I hopped in my car before sunrise and headed north to film what I could, hopefully before the snow stopped. There was hardly a soul about. A wonderful variety of songbirds was foraging in the falling snow and also a very hungry Barred Owl was zooming from tree to tree surrounding an adjacent field. I pulled myself away before she caught her prey because I didn’t want to have any part in preventing her from capturing her breakfast. Fortuitously, the very next day, a friend shared a post on how to tell the difference between a male and female Barred Owl. You can read the post here. I concluded the BO flying to and from her tree perches was a female. It was magical watching her in the falling snow. Link to video of her flying –https://vimeo.com/1047197766 or you can watch it on Facebook or Instagram.

The deadline is fast approaching for underwriting opportunities for our documentary, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay. We need to have all the names of underwriters in by January 20th to fulfill our contract with American Public Television. If you would like to join our underwriting pod with a contribution to our film and have your name or your organization’s name included in our underwriting credit pod please email me asap. An example of an underwriting pod  – This film was brought to you by the Apple Tree Foundation, The Shorebird Conservation Fund, Lark and Phoenix Bird, …, and viewers like you (these are just sample names). Please note that every time the film airs and streams on PBS over the next three years, possibly six years, the name of your organization will be acknowledged. Of course, we gratefully accept all contributions to our documentary at any time, but if you would like to be recognized in this way, please let me know.

Common Grackle Eating Plover eggs

I can’t believe that in only two short months Plovers and shorebirds will be returning to our beaches. Please contact me if you would like to join our Plover Ambassador team. Research from scientists in the Michigan Great Lakes region made Plover news this past week. Common Grackles were documented foraging on Piping Plover eggs. This is very noteworthy but not too surprising to our Cape Ann Plover Ambassadors as we have seen our Plovers defending their nests from Grackles. There is a very large roost of Common Grackles on Nautilus Road, opposite Good Harbor Beach. The Plovers distract the Grackles with their broken wing display and tag-team attack behavior. We wondered, were the Grackles posing a real threat or did the Plovers behave this way because Common Crows and Grackles look somewhat similar? Crows notoriously eat Plover eggs at every stage of development, from newly laid to near hatch date. We now know definitively the answer as to why our Good Harbor Beach Plovers are on high alert around Grackles!

Stay safe and warm and cozy,

xxKim

Winter Robins in the Neighborhood!

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We so look forward to the return each winter of flocks of American Robins and Cedar Waxwings. Currently on our shores we have a mixed flock traveling also with three beautiful Bluebirds and several juvenile Cedar Waxwings!

Juvenile Cedar Waxwing

The Robin photographed here reached on tiptoes to get at the crabapple tree fruit, brandished his wings while almost losing his balance, and then success 🙂 If you have planted your garden with any of the following, including hollies, winterberries, crabapples, Chokecherry, cedars or junipers, you will most definitely be graced with the beautiful winter Robins.

I wrote the following post 10 years ago and it is still very relevant to attracting Robins to your garden –

Birds of New England: The American Robin and Bird Food!

During the winter months Cape Ann often becomes home to large flocks of robins, and we have had the joy of hosting numerous numbers in our garden. I can’t help but notice their arrival. Their shadows descend, crisscrossing the window light, followed by a wild rumpus in the ‘Dragon Lady’ hollies. This pair of hollies is planted on opposing sides of the garden path, alongside my home office. I have learned to stealthily sneak up to a window, as any sudden activity inside startles birds that are investigating our garden, and they quickly disperse. Dining not only on berries of the ‘Dragon Ladies’, but also the ‘Blue Princess’ Meserve holly and winterberry bushes, I find dozens of noisy, hungry robins.

These winter nomads flock to trees and shrubs that hold their fruit through December, January, and February, feasting on red cedar, American holly, Meserve hollies, chokecherries, crabapples, and juniper. Robins traveling along the shores of Cape Ann also comb the shoreline for mollusks, and go belly-deep for fish fry. Depleting their food supply, they move onto the next location. Gardens rife with fruiting shrubs and trees make an ideal destination for our migrating friends.

Winterberry (Ilex verticillata)

Habitat Gardening Tip:

The garden designed to attract nesting pairs of summer resident robins, as well as flocks of winter travelers, would be comprised of trees and shrubs for nest building, plants that bear fruit and berries that are edible during the summer and fall, and plants that bear fruits that persist through the winter months. Suburban gardens and agricultural areas provide the ideal habitat, with open fields and lawns for foraging insects as well as trees and hedgerows in which to build their nests.

The following plants, suggested with robins in mind, will also attract legions of songbirds and Lepidoptera. The list is comprised primarily of indigenous species with a few non-native, but not invasive, plants included.

Trees for nesting ~ American Holly (Ilex opaca), Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Red Maple (Acer rubrum), Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum), Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida).

Summer and autumn fruit bearing trees, shrubs and vines for robins ~ Black Cherry (Prunus serotina), Blackberry (Rubus spp.), Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), Gray Dogwood (C. racemosa), Red-osier Dogwood (C. sericea), Silky Dogwood (C. amomum), Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), Apple (Malus pumila), Virginia Rose (Rosa virginiana), Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum), Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium), Wild Grape (Vitis spp.).

Trees and shrubs with fruits persisting through winter ~ Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Mountain Ash (Sorbus americana), Crabapple (Malus spp.), Sargent’s Crabapple (Malus sargentii), American Holly (Ilex opaca), Meserve Hollies (Ilex x meserveae), Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana), Common Juniper (Juniperus communis), Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), Smooth Sumac (Rhus glabra), Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina).

Hello Rainbow Wood Duck!

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Feeling thankful that our Charlotte got to see this male Wood Duck on a sunny morning. And, that he was swimming towards us, not away, as Wood Ducks are want to do. She dubbed him Rainbow Boy.

Wood Ducks are named as such because they are one of the very few ducks that perch and nest in trees. Unlike most ducks, Wood Ducks have sharp claws that allows them to perch.

Wood Ducks are another conservation success story; a direct result of the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty  Act of 1918. By protecting woodland and marsh habitat, enforcing hunting regulations, and erecting nesting boxes, Wood Duck populations have rebounded. Another reason why the population is growing is because of the return of the North American Beaver. Beavers create the ideal forested wetland habitat for Wood Ducks!

You really need to see iridescence in strong sunlight, otherwise the creature’s features just look muddy.

For comparison sake, in the above photo, the female is in the foreground and the male in the background.  The male Wood Duck in this photo is in ‘eclipse,’ or mid-molt.

Thank you Beavers!

Beautiful Autumn

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Autumn scenes from around Cape Ann

 

 

United Nations World Migratory Bird Days!

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In honor of World Migratory Bird Day, yesterday I visited the Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences. The Center is located in Manomet, a seaside village of Plymouth. Special free programming included a presentation by the Center’s bird banding experts, children’s activities, and a bird-a-thon. I was especially interested in learning how the Center bands songbirds. Banding takes place annually from April through November. Some days the Center bands as few as 10, on other days, upwards of 200. Manomet has records on migrating and resident birds dating back over 50 years and it was fascinating to learn about their banding protocols and population trends.

Juvenile Carolina Wren – The Carolina Wren population is growing in Massachusetts

while the Blue Jay population is in steep decline.

The theme of Wold Migratory Bird Days 2024 is insects and the importance of insects as a critical source of protein for migrating birds.

Insects sightings at Manomet on included Autumn Meadowhawk damselflies, American Lady Butterfly, skipper of unknown species, a variety of bees, and several Monarchs. Unlike Cape Ann, the Seaside Goldenrod is still blooming on Cape Cod.

Monarch Butterfly and Seaside Goldenrod

The public is welcome from dawn to dusk to walk the trails, enjoy the view from the bluff and bird watch.

Address:
125 Manomet Point Road
Plymouth, MA 02360
(508) 224-6521

From the Center’s Website:

Overview of the Bird Banding Lab

At the Trevor Lloyd-Evans Banding Lab, we use science and education to create opportunities that connect people to nature. Migratory and resident birds have been banded at our Manomet’s Plymouth, Mass. location since 1966.  Manomet’s Founding Director Kathleen (Betty) Anderson banded the first recorded bird – a Black-capped Chickadee.

For more than 50 years, Manomet has maintained a spring and fall migration bird banding program. Bird banding is an effective method of research that helps answer important questions on issues from conservation to climate change. Manomet’s banding lab, one of the first bird observatories established in North America, focuses on areas including:

  • Migration: When and where birds arrive can tell us about habitat and food availability. This information can be used to inform habitat management and land use strategies.
  • Population: With the data we collect in the lab, we can produce estimates on changes in population and notate trends over time.
  • Life history: Banding contributes valuable information on longevity, habitat, diet, and other physiological trends across species.
  • Productivity: Banding helps us detect shifts in age or sex ratios that would otherwise go undetected.

Manomet staff has recorded over 1,000 plant, animal, and fungus species on site, showing the value of our coastal forest and shoreline as a rich laboratory for research.

Why band birds?

Migratory bird banding operations represent an underutilized source of data about bird migration. Long-term data sets in ecology, like ours, may lead to discoveries often missed in shorter-term studies, and are critical for establishing baselines and tracking changes in the natural world. Because birds are widely surveyed by professional and amateur observers alike, and their natural histories are often well-understood, wild bird populations can be useful sentinels of environmental change and ecosystem condition.

Check here for weekly summaries of current and past banding seasons.

The banding team operates 50 mist nets on the property surrounding Manomet headquarters in southeastern Massachusetts along Cape Cod Bay. Nets are kept open during daylight hours, Monday through Friday, in the spring and fall. Banders walk the net lanes, safely removing trapped birds and returning them to the lab where their species, age, sex, weight, and fat content are measured and recorded. We have banded over 250,000 birds and handled over 400,000 since banding began on the property in 1966. We band around 2,500 new birds each year.

As Manomet’s longest-standing program, the banding lab has helped train hundreds of prospective researchers, educators, and conservation advocates since its inception. We educate about 1,000 visiting school children, volunteers, and college students every year. We strive to engage people of all ages with nature and to measurably increase people’s understanding of environmental change.

 

What is World Migratory Bird Day?

In 1993, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center created International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD). This educational campaign focused on the Western Hemisphere celebrated its 25th year in 2018. Since 2007, IMBD has been coordinated by Environment for the Americas (EFTA), a non-profit organization that strives to connect people to bird conservation.

In 2018, EFTA joined the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) to create a single, global bird conservation education campaign, World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD). Continuing our tradition with IMBD, WMBD celebrates and brings attention to one of the most important and spectacular events in the Americas – bird migration.

This new alliance furthers migratory bird conservation around the globe by creating a worldwide campaign organized around the planet’s major migratory bird corridors, the African-Eurasian flyway, the East Asian-Australasian flyway, and the Americas flyway. By promoting the same event name, annual conservation theme, and messaging, we combine our voices into a global chorus to boost the urgent need for migratory bird conservation.

EFTA will continue to focus its efforts on the flyways in the Americas to highlight the need to conserve migratory birds and protect their habitats, and will continue to coordinate events, programs, and activities in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean at protected areas, refuges, parks, museums, schools, zoos, and more. As many as 700 events and programs are hosted annually to introduce the public to migratory birds and ways to conserve them.

CALLING ALL GARDENERS – MONARCHS NEED OUR HELP!

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Please don’t tidy up your garden just yet. The Monarch migration is really lagging compared to other years. The weather has not been cooperating and they have been waiting for the winds to shift from the northwest. Finally, it happened and yesterday and we saw our first signs of the migration with several small passels. The issues are that because the migration is later than normal and because of the drought, many wildflowers have passed peak. In other words, the Monarch migration is out of sync with the blooming time of the most nectar-rich native wildflowers.

Monarchs and Seaside Goldenrods back in September

How can gardeners help? If we must tidy up, please at least wait until the end of the October. Leave your sunflowers, asters, goldenrods, dahlias, verbenas, cosmos, Mexican sunflowers, zinnias, butterfly bushes, and Montauk Daisies in place. Even if they appear a bit unruly, in many instances, the butterflies are still able to extract some nectar.

Monarchs migrating in October need our garden stalwarts, such as Zinnias

Tracking the migration overnight roost population numbers from Journey North, you can see that by October 10th, 2024, so far, the Atlantic Flyway population is way, way down.

The northwest winds are predicted for the next several days. Please write and share any Monarch sightings. Thank you!

Monarch and Mexican Sunflowers – safe travels Monarca!

Blue Jay Caching Acorn!

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What a treat to observe the half dozen or so Blue Jays zooming around the garden, caching acorns for the winter.  They’d perch with nut in beak, carefully eyeing  the ground for an ideal spot. Once located, the Jay would swoop down. I didn’t want to move from my perch and risk being noticed so I couldn’t see exactly how they were hiding the acorn but when they resurfaced, no nut!

Some interesting notes about Blue Jays – Research has shown Blue Jays making over 1,000 trips in one day to hide food. They mainly select undamaged nuts that are viable, meaning if the bird does not recover the nut, it will grow. The record a Blue jay traveled to hide food is 2.5 miles. This behavior has greatly helped helped the the range of expansion of oak trees and now over 11 species of oaks are dependent upon Blue Jay dispersal of acorns.  The rapid expansion of oaks after the ice age may be a result of the northern transport of acorns by Blue Jays.

 

Are Beavers Tool Users?

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In thinking about the happy outcome for Nibi the orphaned Beaver, Massachusetts newest wildlife ambassador, I was reminded of some footage I took of a Beaver over the summer (for the full story about Nibi, visit the Newhouse Wildlife Rescue Facebook page here).

The Beaver dove down to retrieve some kind of vegetative tuber or rhizome, a behavior I have seen countless times. He/she resurfaced, ate half, and then proceeded to use the half eaten rhizome to scrub his face. Okay that’s interesting but perhaps just a fluke. A few minutes later, the Beaver dove again and returned with a fresh rhizome, this time with his left side facing the camera. After munching away for a few moments, he then groomed the left side of his face with the rhizome in his left paw. Wow, so thorough to scrub both sides, and with a “tool!”

The video footage is longer than the usual post but he’s so cute at the end I had to include that, too. You can see his long orange tooth at about 1 minute 20 seconds in.

I wondered, are Beavers considered “tool users?” They build their lodges by cutting down and arranging trees, packing all with mud and that may or may not be called tool use, but to use vegetable matter to groom his face? That certainly seems as though it would qualify as tool use.

 

Welcome to the Garden of Dissipating Beauty

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The seeds of both Zinnias and Sunflowers are Goldfinch favorites. No dead-heading in this garden!

Cicadas in Massachusetts

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When we think of cicadas, we think of the spring time periodic cicadas that emerge en masse, in some years, by the billions and billions. There are also annual cicadas and they typically emerge in late summer or the “dog days” of summer, hence the name, Dog Day Cicada.

Our daughter Liv spotted a Dog Day Cicada atop a 5-foot tall stalk of the Marsh Mallow plant.

Dog Day Cicadas are about half an inch larger than the periodic cicadas. We hear male Dog Day Cicadas in our gardens and neighborhoods and they are one of the wonderfully familiar sounds that immediately brings to mind the music of sultry summer nights. Unlike periodic Cicadas. Dog Day Cicadas emerge singularly; they need to “scream” loudly to attract a female.

Song of the Dog Day Cicada. You can hear the Cicada at about 4 seconds in.

The astonishingly loud sound that is emitted by cicadas comes from a pair of organs called “tympana” located at the base of the males’s abdomen.

Musical Geniuses

Arizona State University, “Ask a Biologist.”

Cicadas are most well-known for their very loud, constant chorus of song during the summer season. Although they sort of sound like crickets, it is pretty clear that cicadas are bigger and better at bringing the noise.

While crickets rub their wings together, male cicadas use a different, louder part of their bodies to make noise. Both sides of their thoraxes have thin, ridged areas of their exoskeletons called tymbals. Tymbals are made of a rubbery substance called resilin. The cicadas vibrate their tymbals very fast using muscles in their bodies. With every vibration, a sound wave is released, and cicadas can send out 300-400 sound waves per second! Females also make sounds to attract males, but they use their wings to make a clicking sound, rather than a high-pitched song like the males.

The cicadas you hear singing long into the night are male cicadas looking for females to mate with. Males are so loud because they have a couple other sound features that allow them to make very loud continuous noises. The abdomen of male cicadas are almost completely hollow. When sound waves from the tymbals enter this hollow area, they bounce around. This can change the sound, make the sound louder, or both.

Different size and shape cicada abdomens will change the sound in different ways. This explains why different cicada species make different noises. Cicadas, and all insects for that matter, also have hollow tubes running through their body called trachea. Trachea move oxygen and carbon dioxide around, sort of like our lungs. Trachea are also hollow, so they are also used by the cicada to make their songs louder. All in all, the cicada is one complicated insect instrument!

PIPEVINE SWALLOWTAIL CATERPILLARS HATCHING!

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Our beautiful Mom Pipevine Swallowtail left several clutches of eggs and both hatched yesterday. They are so teeny tiny, but I think there are about 25 caterpillars in all.

She laid several additional clutches over a period of several days and these batches are way up in the treetops. Good thing our Pipevine plant is so vigorous, possibly about 15 feet high, with still plenty of growth left in it for the season.

The eggs were oviposited on August 13, emerging on the 20th – a one week gestation period.

Sneak Attack!

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Some years are better than others for butterflies and this is definitely a banner year for butterflies on Cape Ann. Please write and let me know what you are seeing in your garden.

Daily we have a bunch of half a dozen or so male Monarchs staking out their territory. They not only chase each other but also try to shoo away other species of butterflies.

Hummingbird and Bumblebee Hawk Moth Caterpillars ARE NOT Eating Your Tomato Plants!

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Last week I posted a video and photos of the beautiful Hummingbird Clearwing Moth. Several comments led me to believe that people are confusing Clearwing Moth caterpillars with the caterpillars that may be eating your tomato plants.

Tomato Hornworm caterpillars, the ones that eat tomatoes, look like this –Image courtesy wiki commons media

The adults look like this –

Manduca quinquemaculata MHNT CUT 2010 0 116 Schuylkill Haven, Schuylkill Co. Penna male dorsal Image courtesy wikicommons media

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Hemaris thysbe) caterpillars look like this –

Image courtesy wiki commons media

The adults like this –

 

This morning when I arrived home from filming I was fortunate to get a brief glimpse of the Bumblebee Moth, also known as the Snowberry Clearwing Moth (Hemaris diffinis).

Bumblebee Moths are named as such because their colors resemble a bumblebee –

 

Images courtesy wiki commons media