Scene from last night’s Schooner Challenge –
Schooner Strombus, restored by local shipwright Geoff Deckebach, and the majestic Schooner Adventure
Schooners Adventure and Strombus Wending Through Gloucester Harbor
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Katy-did-did-did
Love moments in the garden with Charlotte and her eagle eyes! The fabulously camouflaged Fork-tailed Bush Katydid seen here was poised on a Common Milkweed leaf. Katydids mostly eat foliage, but they also eat dead bugs and insect eggs (was he planing on eating the freshly deposited Monarch eggs?).
One quick, easy way to distinguish katydids from grasshoppers when out in a field is by looking at their antennae. A katydid’s antenna is super long and seemingly very delicate, sometimes as long, and possibly longer, than its body. Grasshoppers antennae are shorter and thicker.
Differentail Grasshopper
Fork-tailed Bush Katydid
Beaver Belly Rubbing!
Why is this adorable Beaver rubbing his belly?
The Beaver is waterproofing its fur! At the base of the tail are both a pair of inverted castor sacs and a pair of anal glands. The Beaver uses its front feet to get oil from the anal glands and then rubs it all over his body. Beavers are constantly grooming and oiling their fur not only to waterproof, but also to remove debris. The sticky yellowish substance from the castor sacs is used for an entirely different purpose, to mark their territory and to identify each other.
PIPEVINE SWALLOWTAIL CATERPILLARS HATCHING!
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.
Fat Little Beaver Breakfast Roll-ups
Overjoyed to happen upon this one enjoying his breakfast of lily pad roll-ups! Or perhaps the technique is more enchilada-like. Either way, we were impressed by the speed and efficiency in how he ate the pads.
Bald Eagle in the Fog
A chance encounter with a first-hatch-year American Bald Eagle, perched on the limb of an old dead tree.
This young Eagle, although the right age, is not one of the two eaglets that fledged from the nest in Gloucester earlier this summer. Those two were banded and this one is not. So exciting to think that the Essex County population of Eagles is expanding!
Color and Clay: The Life and Art of Sarah Holl
The retrospective exhibition, “Color and Clay: The Life and Art of Sarah Holl,” is on view at the Cape Cod Museum of Art through November 10. Thursday evening I had the joy of attending the gala opening reception. Several hundred of Sarah’s friends, family, patrons, former and present interns, and many admirers attended the grand event. Sarah is one of my dearest and oldest friends (from high school!) and it was wonderful to see her surrounded by an outpouring of love by well-wishers coming from near and far!
The exhibit is arranged chronologically and covers roughly thirty years of Sarah’s life in art, beginning with her lovely figurative pastels and decorative works in clay, evolving into the vibrant large scale mixed-media painting installations for which she is known today.
Sarah’s credits her artistry to the influences and inspiration of her grandfather, the sculptor Arnold Geissbuhler; her father, the artist Harry Holl of Scargo Pottery; her artistic Mom, Mirande Holl; and painter Cynthia Packard. Sarah’s works may be purchased at her studio on Rt. 6A in Dennis. For more information about Sarah’s work, visit here website here.
The legacy of her family’s artistry continues not only in Sarah’s exquisite paintings, but also in her sisters Kim Holl and Tina Holl, sculptors and potters in their own right. Kim’s and Tina’s pottery may be purchased at Scargo Pottery, the original pottery studio founded by their father Harry; in continuous operation for over 70 years.
Arnold Geissbuhler “Bird”
A tour through the museum found several sculptures on exhibit by her grandfather, and multiple works by Harry Holl. Sarah’s father co-founded the Cape Cod Museum of Art in 1981 and I imagine it must be deeply gratifying for the family to see how the Museum has grown into the exquisite exhibition space and educational center that it is today.
Harry Holl “Tree of Life”
For more information about Sarah’s work, visit here website here.
The Cape Cod Museum of Art is located at 60 Hope Lane Dennis, Massachusetts.
Sarah’s grandson- the legacy continues 🙂
WOWZA! Doing a Victory Dance for Mama Pipevine!
The stunning Pipevine Swallowtail that you see in the video is depositing a clutch of several dozen eggs. Her gift represents a success for me of sorts. Years ago, we had a Pipevine Swallowtail in our garden, a male, and he was investigating the heart shaped leaves of our Moonvine. I made a promise to the Pipevine Butterflies that the next time they made it this far north, I would have a Pipevine growing in the garden on which a traveling female could deposit her eggs. I can’t resist but to add – not a “pipe dream after all!”
You see, Dutchman’s Pipevine is one of the few caterpillar food plants of the Pipevine Swallowtail that grows well in northern climates. Like the Moonvine, the leaves of the Dutchman’s Pipevine are large and heart-shaped.
A hundred years or so ago, Pipevine Swallowtails regularly occurred in New England because people planted Dutchman’s Pipevine to embower their porches. In one season, the vine can grow two stories high and equally as wide, providing lush green cooling shade on a hot summer afternoon. When you look at old photographs of porches in New England, most often it’s Pipevine climbing up the porch pillars and along the roof. With the advent of air conditioning, folks no longer needed to plant Dutchman’s Pipevine to cool their homes The vine, and the butterflies, were forgotten.
Julia Lane, later Julia Wheeler, posed for Alice M. Curtis on August 12th, 1915, in Gloucester. Photo courtesy Fred Bodin.
Our visiting Mama Pipevine cautiously investigated the entire plant from top to bottom, fluttering in and out of the large leaves before deciding on this tiny tender leaf to deposit her treasure trove. We had a female come to our garden about ten years after the vine was planted. She deposited a clutch of eggs however, a tiny spider ate them all, every single one. I am not taking any chances this time and placed the stem with the eggs in a terrarium, covering the terrarium with several layers of cheesecloth, and a wire screen, in hopes of keeping the spiders out.
If you would like to attract the exquisite Pipevine Swallowtail to your garden, plant Dutchman’s Pipevine. It’s an enthusiastic grower, but no need to worry, you can cut it all down to the bare ground after the first frost and it will come back just as beautifully and plush the following spring.
From an older post – Plant! and They Will Come
Nearly five years ago, in late September 2007, I photographed a male Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly (Battus philenor) nectaring in my garden. I found mesmerizing its dark beauty, with black wings punctuated by brilliant orange spots and shimmering iridescence. The wings flashed electric blue in the fading late day sunlight and I became completely captivated!
Although the Pipevine Swallowtail is not rare in its southern range, this exotic looking butterfly is an unusual occurrence in the northeast, and even more rarely found on the eastern outer reaches of Cape Ann. Mine was a stray, carried in on a southerly breeze. I imagined that if a male can drift into our garden, so can a female. And if a visiting female found in my garden her caterpillar food plant, she would deposit her eggs. The following spring we planted the Dutchman’s Pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla) Read more here
Face Plant!
We Plover ambassadors see a great many amazing-funny-heartwarming moments. When the hatchlings are first learning to navigate the beach there are innumerable stumbles, face plants at the fore. It’s only funny because the chicks pick themselves right back up and carry on. In this scene, Dad protectively pulled the little one back in and tucked him under his wing.
Our forthcoming documentary, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, features the tender story of a blended family of Plovers. Stay tuned for an exciting upcoming announcement!
A ZABULOUS ZABULON ENGAGEMENT!
These tiny pretty skippers in our garden were in an amorous way. After much wing shimmering and nudging, the pair flew off together where they were not seen again until later in the day.
I believe they are Zabulon Skippers. I just love saying that name, Zabulon. Doesn’t it sound enchanting? When the wings of the Zabulon Skipper are fully spread, they only measure a mere one to one and a half inches!
Skippers are butterflies in the family Hesperidae and are named for their super quick darting flight habit; when these two were spotted seeming in repose, I turned my zooming camera’s eye to see what would happen next. While vibrating their wings in turns, the male moved in closer and then repeatedly placed his head between her hind wings.
Skippers differ in a number of ways from other families of butterflies. Several ways to tell the difference when out in the field are that skippers have antennae with clubs at the tip that hook backwards, similar to a crochet hook. All other butterflies have knob-like tips to their antennae. Skippers also have stockier, more robust bodies
According to the Massachusetts Butterfly website, Zabulon Skipper caterpillar food plants “include Tridens flava (purpletop) and Eragrostis spp. (lovegrass). They deposit their eggs on a wide variety of grasses in the wild, and its full range of host plants has not been fully investigated, especially in Massachusetts.” The adults nectar from a number of flowering plants; the day they were courting in our garden, the male was drinking nectar from the bell-shaped blue blossoms of our Clematis ‘Betty Corning’ and they were zipping around the Zinnia patch.
Zabulon Skipper – male
Sneak Attack!
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.
Exciting News from Plover Study
Dear PiPl Friends!
I just had to share this study with all of you as many of us who have been looking after Plovers may relate to the following. This past week I attended the annual Northeast Coastal Waterbird Cooperators meeting, an event that brings together all the different conservation groups and individuals that monitor Piping Plovers, Least Terns, Roseate Terns, and American Oystercatchers from across New England and the mid-Atlantic. This outstanding meeting, with many moving parts, is organized by Carolyn Mostello, the Massachusetts Coastal Waterbird Biologist. I eagerly look forward to the meeting every year and it is so uplifting to be with such an incredible group of caring conservation minded organizations and individuals.
The morning hours may sound a little wonky, where all the different states and regions share data on pairs and fledged chicks for the different species, but I love it and find it very interesting to learn how individual beaches are faring and why and why not numbers are up (or down as is sometimes the case). Next on the agenda is Strange and Unusual, which is always engaging (our Good Harbor Beach Plovers have been featured several times!).The after lunch part of the meeting is especially interesting because people share reports and updates on shorebird studies that they are conducting throughout the regions. I was very happy to learn about several studies being conducted to determine how wind farms will impact migrating shorebirds and hope as much at least is being done for whales, dolphins, and other sea creatures.
Truly fascinating is an ongoing study that is taking place at Fire Island, Long Island. The research is about Piping Plover dispersal, with ten plus years of data collected. 600 individual banded Plovers were monitored. All of us Plover ambassadors know that adult Plovers show tremendous fidelity to nesting sites; for example, at Good Harbor Beach our Super Mom and Dad have nested within several feet of their previous year’s nest for the past nine years. Over the years we had learned that the offspring don’t generally return to the nesting site and it was assumed they traveled far and wide. This movement is referred to as “natal dispersal.” Well, this new study may very well prove otherwise. Roughly 85 percent of offspring at Fire Island return to the same area, the median distance is 5.5 km, and the closest returning offspring was only 5.1 meters. What does this mean? I think Good Harbor Beach has become populated with Super Mom and Super Dad’s offspring! We have all often wondered if the little chicks from one year are returning as adults the following year. For the most part, Plovers are not banded in Massachusetts; we have no way of knowing precisely but it sure is exciting to think that we have this wonderful little population of Super Mom and Super Dad’s extended family returning annually to GHB! Something to think about 🙂
Other wonderful news is that our documentary, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, was awarded Best Family Friendly Film by Cine Paris Film Festival. For local friends, the Newburyport Film Festival is running September 20th through the 22nd and as soon as we have a screening date, I will let you know, and hope you can come!
Happy August,
xxKim
P.S. We have Plover Lover T-shirts at Alexandra’s Bread (all profits go towards the film) and please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to our online fundraiser to bring The PiPls of Moonlight Bay to public television. LINK HERE We are also hoping to connect with possible underwriters – foundations, local businesses, corporations, and individuals. Please let us know of your thoughts and possible leads. Thank you!
Hummingbird and Bumblebee Hawk Moth Caterpillars ARE NOT Eating Your Tomato Plants!
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 mediaHummingbird 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
Wall of Fragrance
Walking around Niles Pond at this time of year you can’t helped but be knocked out by the fabulous combined scent of the blooming Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) and Rosa rugosa. Summersweet, also know as Honeysweet and Sweet Pepperbush, is the large shrub that densely lines both sides of Niles Pond Road. With racemes that look like bottlebrushes, the many florets provide nectar for dozens of species of pollinators, of all sizes. The tiniest winged wonders attracted to the panicles provide sustenance to hummingbirds and I often see them zipping in and out of the Clethra blossoms, too.
The Summersweet shrubs growing so closely together creates a “Wall of Fragrance,” which always reminds me of Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound,” where his musical arrangements called for multi tracking multiple instruments, creating “symphonic saturation.” Niles Pond right now is a symphonic saturation of sweet summer scents – GO!
The following is an excerpt from a book that I wrote back in 2004-2007, which was published by David R. Godine in 2009. The book is about designing landscape habitats for wild creatures and for people, titled Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities: Notes from a Gloucester Garden, and all that I wrote then, still holds true to day.
“Summersweet is a native shrub that bears small white florets held on racemes, and depending on the cultivar may be shaded with varying hues of pink to rose-red. The tapering spires of fragrant blossoms appear in mid to late summer. Clethra has a sweet and spicy though somewhat pungent aroma, and when the summer air is sultry and humid, the fragrance permeates the garden, Summersweet is a nectar food attractive to bees and a wide variety of butterflies, notably the Silver-spotted Skipper.” See more at Oh Garden
Myriad species of bees and butterflies, along with Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, are attracted to Clethra for its sweet nectar, while American Robins, Goldfinches and warblers dine on Summersweet’s ripened berries.
Beach Rose (Rosa rugosa)
Wonderfully Uplifiting Annisquam Village Players Magical Production of CINDERELLA!
Don’t miss this delightfully magical production of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella, now playing at the Annisquam Village Hall. Once again, Director Terry Sands and Company have created a beautiful production, featuring the talents of local performers.
Miranda Joyce and Nate Oaks, both East Gloucester residents and theatre arts majors, are simply stellar, making their debut performances with AVP as Cinderella (Ella) and the Prince (Topher). What fabulous stage presence they both posses! Miranda’s parents are our neighbors and it was their first time seeing Miranda in the role as Cinderella. To say they were proud parents is the understatement of the decade 🙂
If you have never seen the original musical, the story is told with plenty of magical moments for both children and adults, and also witty and fun (and so very apropos for our times), adult humor. Bring the family, you will be delighted and uplifted.
To Purchase Tickets Go Here.
Seven-year-old Charlotte’s critique – Charlotte was seriously dog tired after a long day at camp. I had told her we could leave at intermission if needed. When the lights went up at intermission she looked at me with a very determined expression and said she definitely did not want to leave. Her critique when the curtain went up – That was AMAZING, Mimi! And we had lots of fun singing the songs on the car ride home!
Cinderella is dedicated in loving memory to the AVP community’s beloved Evy Stewart
Drones and Sensitive Bird Nesting Areas
The following is a question I have been asked with increasing frequency, “should drone operators fly their drones over heron rookeries and other sensitive bird nesting areas?”
One of several unfortunate situations that I have witnessed while observing herons was watching a Great Blue Heron desperately try to escape a drone operator that was harassing it. As the drone operator tried to get close to the bird, the GBHeron flew from one treetop to the next, back and forth across the parking lot at the Lighthouse. Finally, the Heron left the area entirely. Great Blue Herons love to forage there in the marsh and the drone was clearly preventing it from feeding.
In the case of nesting shorebirds and herons, hovering drones are even more traumatic because as much as the parent bird would like to escape the drone, protectively, the bird also does not want to leave its eggs and nestlings. One of the most troubling situations we Plover keepers have to contend with is drone operators flying over nesting shorebirds. It is illegal and considered harassment under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to operate a drone over breeding areas. However, people are either unaware, feign ignorance, or even worse, are aware and simply don’t care. Countless times we have come onto our shifts to find all the birds in the area in complete meltdown mode. At first you may not see the drone and wonder what on earth is making the birds respond in such an extraordinary manner. And then there it is; whether flying high over head or close to the ground, the birds are in utter panic. Because they think the drone is a predator that has come to eat their eggs, hatchlings, or chicks. Oftentimes, the heron or shorebird will try to distract the drone, leaving the nest unattended and in even graver danger from predators.
There is accumulating evidence that the mere presence of drones causes direct harm to birds. The unfamiliarity and noise interrupts courtship, mating, and feeding. Entire tern and heron colonies have abandoned their nests due to drone disturbances.
Least Tern and two chicks
Over millennia, nesting birds evolved with the constant threat of avian predators, including hawks, falcons, crows, gulls, and eagles. They have not adapted to understand that a drone is not a predator, no matter how much the drone operator protests that the birds are unbothered by the drone and have become used to its presence.
It is imperative for the safety of the birds that they have a healthy fear of drones. The last thing we want are nestlings thinking that hovering airborne shapes are nothing to be afraid of.
In our collective experiences monitoring the Plovers, we come across unethical behavior not only on the part of drone operators but also by fellow wildlife enthusiasts. We have seen photographers mashed up against the symbolically roped off areas, despite massively long telephoto lens, parking themselves for hours on end, and also following the birds relentlessly up and down the beach, despite the bird’s clear signals it is trying to get away and/or tend to its chicks. Early on in the pursuit of my dream to document wildlife, I was part of crowds that photographed owls. Observing how sensitive are owls, I no longer film owls in known locations. If I come across an owl or rare bird when out filming, I take a few photos and footage and go on my way. Crowds and hovering persons are also the reason why I no longer post specific locales and keep location information general.
The American Oystercatcher is a relatively new-to-our-region and wonderful species of shorebird that has been trying to nest in the North of Boston area over the past several years. Tragically, word got out this past spring on one of the birding alert websites telling folks exactly where to look for the pair and their nest. The crowds of photographers was untenable for the nesting parents. With all the unwanted attention, the Oystercatchers became very confused and lost their first nest, where one of the chicks had already hatched! The pair re-nested. Again, word got out, the nesting area was again inundated with photographers and the Oystercatchers abandoned their second nest.
American Oystercatchers, New Jersey
To ethically document wildlife requires thought and is also a tremendous responsibility. We can all do our part to protect the beautiful creatures in our midst by being mindful and sensing their boundaries, especially, especially during the time of year when they are breeding.
Thank you for taking the time to read this information. I hope your question is answered, and why.
Just some of the birds negatively impacted by drones during the breeding season –
Great Blue Herons courting
Juvenile Glossy ibis
Red-spotted Purple and the Brilliant Blue Iridescence Found in Butterfly Wings
Little flashes of blue iridescence flitting through the garden quickly caught my attention.
A number of black butterflies sport blue iridescence in their wing scales, including the Pipevine Swallowtail, female Eastern Black Swallowtail, Red-spotted Purple, and the Spicebush Swallowtail. Which one was gracing our garden today?
The newly emerged beauty was a Red-spotted Purple, which I had not seen for several years! The much tastier (to birds) Red-spotted Purple Butterflies are thought to have evolved to mimic the foul tasting and toxic Pipevine Swallowtail. Red-spotted Purple caterpillars eat non-toxic leaves of Serviceberry, oaks, Black Cherry, aspens, birches, Eastern Cottonwood, and hawthorns, which would make both the caterpillars and adults appetizing to birds. By mimicking the Pipevine Swallowtail, which eats toxic foliage of plants in the genus Aristolochia, the mimics–Red-spotted Purple, Spicebush Swallowtail, and female Eastern Black Swallowtail–find some protection, to a certain degree.
Under wing, or ventral wing pattern
Upper wing, or dorsal, wing pattern
The beautiful blue iridescence in butterfly wings is created from the microscopic ridges, cross-ribs, and other structural layers of the individual scales, which play with light waves to reflect brilliant blues and speckles.
We had just watered the garden and I think the Red-spotted Purple was drinking up droplets of water. Perhaps there was salt or some necessary nutrients in the droplets when mixed with the foliage.
Missing Our Little Plover Friends
One of my favorite scenes from the past summer’s nesting season is this male Plover building a nest scrape.
The male lays on his breast, kicking sand backward to dig out a series of shallow scrapes. He’ll try to impress his mate by decorating their scrapes, tossing in tiny bits of seashells, pebbles, dried seaweed, whatever is readily available. In this case it was sticks, which was a first time for me seeing ‘stick decor.’ This little fellow and his mate valiantly tried numerous times to become established.
Sadly, while the Plover pair were attempting to nest, there were numerous disturbances from excessive drinking and partying on the beach, which leads to urinating in the their roped off areas. Not one, but two pairs, eventually gave up. Plovers giving up doesn’t happen very often. When they abandon their nests it points to one reason and one reason only. Disturbances. Happily though, our Super Mom and Super Dad were able to get an early start and successfully fledged two chicks.
Next year we have to work harder to find alternatives to massive underage drinking parties at Good Harbor Beach. The town of Dennis on Cape Cod has been experiencing similarly increasingly large and chaotic crowds and have taken action to reduce the underage drinking parties. Their solutions may not be our solutions, but I think we can do better to curtail the underage drinking at Good Harbor Beach. Not only will it help keep the teens safer and protect the Plovers, we won’t be stuck cleaning up the massive amounts of trash left behind that pollutes both our beach and dunes.
Good Harbor Beach after an underage drinking party
A Mutant Lilliputian Lobster Flying in My Garden?
Saturday mid-morning I returned home from filming shorebirds at dawn to find an extravaganza of winged wonders in our garden. The weather was gloriously warm and sunny, filming the birds had been a great success, and seeing all these creatures flying around our front dooryard garden was the best kind of morning greeting!
Mama and Papa Carolina Wrens were zipping to and from the nest feeding their hungry hatchlings every kind of insect imaginable, a nearly whole Canadian Tiger Swallowtail was pausing to drink nectar from the butterfly bushes, our resident pair of fledgling Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were whirring about the Rose of Sharon, half a dozen male Monarchs were patrolling the milkweed patches, and two visitors I hadn’t seen in our garden for some time–a newly emerged Red-spotted Purple Butterfly and a Hummingbird Clearing Moth (Hemaris thysbe)
Hummingbird Moths have been described as resembling a tiny flying lobster or an enormous furry bee and are often confused with Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. Not only do Hummingbird Clearwing Moths share similar coloring to that of RTHumminbirds, perhaps the confusion stems from a characteristic behavior of the clearwing moths, which is a technique for drinking nectar called ‘swing hovering.’ Only certain bats, hummingbirds, and the clearwing moths have the ability to swing from side to side while hovering over a flower to drink nectar.
The Hummingbird Clearwing Moth only visited for a few brief moments, but i was glad to have camera in hand when stepping out of the car. To attract these beauties to your garden plant native honeysuckle, viburnums, and Snowberry bushes for their caterpillar’s food plants and native Phlox ‘david,’ Monarda didyma, and butterfly bushes for the adults to nectar from.
Killdeer Chicks – Four more Plover Beach Babies Getting Ready to Spread Their Wings
Adorably long-legged Killdeer Plover fledgling, one of four Killdeer chicks that hatched at a Cape Ann beach this summer
One of the shorebirds often confused with Piping Plovers are Killdeers, which are another type of Plover that nests on beaches. Killdeers not only nest on beaches, they breed at a wide variety of habitats including grasslands and dunes. They have even been known to nest on rooftops, golf courses, and parking lots! If you see a Piping Plover and Killdeer near to each other, it’s easy to see the difference. Killdeers are noticeably larger and their mantle (upper back) feathers are chocolatey shades of brown, not the soft tan of the Piping Plovers.
One way to tell whether Killdeer or Piping Plover when they are not side-by-side is to look at the collar bands. Piping Plovers have one; Killdeers have two– a wide band that encircles the neck and a shorter band across the upper front part of its chest. If you are close enough to see the eyes, the Killdeer’s pupil is black surrounded by a red iris , while both the iris and pupil of the PiPl is black. The Killdeers legs are pinkish gray, the Piping Plovers legs are orange. There are many other differences but this will get you started when comparing the two.
Killdeer adult and three chicks – note the double black bands, pinkish legs, red iris, and solid black bill.
Piping Plover adult (Super Mom) with singe collar band, light gray-tan mantle, black-tipped orange beak, and jet black eyes
Killdeer chick
Piping Plover chick
Listen to the Killdeer parents calling to the fledglings. Killdeers are thought to be named for their distinctive vocalizations. Kill-dee, kill-dee eventually became Killdeer. I think I prefer Killdee 🙂
The Cape Ann YMCA Presents The Little Mermaid!
The Cape Ann YMCA Summer Theatre group is getting ready to perform the Little Mermaid next week. Heidi Dallin and her team of councilors are utterly fantastic with kids and Charlotte is having a wonderful experience. We can’t wait to see the show!!
Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay – the sweetest story around!
Good Morning PiPl Friends!
We have wonderfully joyful news to share about our forthcoming film, The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay. I have started submitting to film festivals and we have already been accepted to three, notably for our community, the local upcoming Newburyport Film Festival!
Equally as exciting is that our film is in consideration for public television. Bringing the documentary to public television requires round two of fundraising. We are looking for Piping Plover Angel Sponsors and this is where your help is needed. We are hoping to connect with environmentally and wildlife conscious individuals, organizations, and corporations to sponsor our film. If you have any suggestions of an organization or individual that may be interested in underwriting The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay, please contact me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com. Our non-profit fiscal partner is Filmmakers Collaborative, which is a 501(c)(3). An individual’s or organization’s gift is tax deductible.
Underwriting a program on PBS provides an incredibly unique and trusted opportunity for promoting your organization. We have up to 60 seconds of promotional spots, which means over the three year period that the film airs on PBS, each and every time the film is played, at both the beginning and end of the film, your promotion will air. Based on the national success of Beauty on the Wing, we are confident The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay will also play to millions of households across the country. The carriage results for Beauty on the Wing are well-documented. I am happy to provide all the information needed, including donor levels, budget, and more details about promoting your organization.
We are also planning a fundraising screening event! More about that in an upcoming post. And, if so inclined, here is a link to our on-line fundraiser. All fundraising from this point forward goes towards bringing the life story of the Piping Plover to the wide world of public television.
I would like to give a huge thank you to the Cape Ann Garden Club and to Suki Augusti for the recent very generous contributions to our film. Their contributions are going straight away toward our public television fundraiser. We are so appreciative for all the kind contributions from our community.
With gratitude to the following PiPl friends for their kind contributions – Lauren Mercadante (New Hampshire), Sally Jackson (Gloucester), Cape Ann Garden Club, Brace Cove Foundation (Gloucester), JH Foundation/Fifth Third Bank (Ohio), Jane Alexander (New York), Janis and John Bell (Gloucester), Jennie Meyer (Gloucester), Alice and David Gardner (Beverly), JoeAnn Hart (Gloucester), Kim Tieger (Manchester), Joanne Hurd (Gloucester), Holly Niperus (Phoenix), Bill Girolamo (Melrose), Claudia Bermudez (Gloucester), Paula and Alexa Niziak (Rockport), Todd Pover (Springfield), Cynthia Dunn (Gloucester), Nancy Mattern (Albuquerque), Marion Frost (Ipswich), Cecile Christianson (Peabody), Sally Jackson (Gloucester), Donna Poirier Connerty (Gloucester), Mary Rhinelander (Gloucester), Jane Hazzard (Georgetown), Duncan Holloman (Gloucester), Karen Blandino (Rockport), Duncan Todd (Lexington), Sue Winslow (Gloucester), Amy Hauck-Kalti (Ohio), JoAnn Souza (Newburyport), Karen Thompson (San Francisco), Carolyn Mostello (Rhode Island), Susan Pollack (Gloucester), Peggy O’Malley (Gloucester), Hilda Santos (Gloucester), Maggie Debbie (Gloucester), Sandy Barry (Gloucester), The Massachusetts Daughters of the American Revolution, Mary Keys (Madeira, Ohio), Barbara Boudreau (Gloucester), Suki Augusti, Jonathan and Sally Golding (Gloucester), and my sweet husband Tom 🙂
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Although our film has been “locked” for a number of weeks, and will soon be playing at festivals, I have spent the past several months continuing to document Plovers nesting in our region. This summer was exceptionally magnificent at one very special location. Three pairs nested, with the nests situated in a row, across a very short expanse. The dynamics between the three pairs was fascinating and at times I held my breath hoping no one would be severely injured in the Plover rumbles that took place on an almost daily basis. The truly exceptional news is that Pair One laid three eggs and three chicks fledged, Pair Two laid four eggs and four chicks fledged, and Pair Three laid three eggs and three chicks are well on their way to full fledgedom. It has been a remarkable experience documenting these three families.
The pair whose chicks are nearly fully fledged astounded me the most. In nine years of filming and documenting Plovers, I have never seen a nest so completely and utterly exposed, smack dab in the middle of a busy urban beach. Oftentimes, a nest will be tucked behind a clump of beach grass or Sea Rocket, a piece of driftwood, or a seashell; I have even filmed garbage used as camouflage. While incubating the eggs, the parents often toss in dried beach grass, tiny stones, and bits of broken seashells, but this nest contained none of that. Just three little eggs in the bare sand.
Every time I checked on Pair Three’s nest, there was either Mom or Dad flattened in the sand and hardly noticeable. Incredibly, this is a location that has been severely plagued with predation by Crows. Thankfully, the Crows were not onto this little nest, nor the other two nests.
Hours old hatchlings from the most vulnerable of locations- 
How to Grow Fresh Flowers All Season! (with a take-home plantng guide)
Message from my friend Elise at Cedar Rock Gardens –
Planting a cut flower garden: How to have fresh blooms all season with a take home planting guide.
Hello!
As the season winds down on the seedling side of our business – the field and greenhouse crops really start to ramp up. We are currently harvesting cucumbers, eggplant, kale, chard, cherry tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, many greens, onions, herbs and flowers among other things. I am hoping you are all having success with your gardens also despite the blistering heat we have had lately. Heres to hoping this next forecasted rain will actually amount to something??
Most of you know this already but Tucker and I started Cedar Rock Gardens initially as a cut flower farm back in 2014. We had success in that venture but it slowly turned into what it is today which is a robust seedling operation alongside a diversified vegetable, herb and flower farm. The flowers have not been lost on us though. I still find my creative outlet each week lies happily with the small amount of bouquets I get to make for our wholesale accounts and for my own kitchen table. We were selling cut flowers to the Boston Flower exchange as well as to many florists locally and even dabbled in wedding arrangements for a short time. It was a labor of love for a while and then we decided to move in a different direction to focus on edible crops.
Alas, flowers still have my heart and I am very excited to share my knowledge with you. Join me this Thursday evening at Cedar Rock Gardens for a cut flower course sponsored by Gloucester SaLT. We will cover some tried and true varieties from seed to bouquet visiting on succession planting and planting layout. This course is specifically designed for home gardeners who want to make the most out of limited space. You will be able to take home a plating guide and I will do my best to answer any questions you have. The course is free and I am happily donating my time – if you get something out of it or just feel generous you can donate to SaLT Here.
Please respond to this email if you do plan to attend so I can have a better idea on how much I need to psych myself up to speak to a crowd. I also need a general count for hand-outs.
Currently we are open:
Thursday to Saturday 8 am to 4 pm
Hope you are having a wonderful summer!
We will continue to be set up at the Farmer’s Market at Burnhams Field in Gloucester every Wednesday from 2:30 to 6:30 selling our produce.
All the best,
Elise Smith
CedarRockGardens@gmail.com
Three Fat Little Kingbirds and Their Damselfly Breakfast
Early one morning this past week I watched as a pair of Eastern Kingbird parents fed nonstop their fat little fledglings. No sooner was a damselfly delivered to one of the the three, the other two clamored for their turn. No rest for the weary!
The Eastern Kingbird’s diet consists of a wide variety of insects including damselflies, butterflies, moths, cicadas, ticks, spiders, and millipedes Eastern Kingbirds often nab their prey mid-air. During the winter months when there are fewer insects, they will often consume fruits and berries.
The Eastern Kingbird family was feeding in the exact same location that I saw a pair of Kingbirds courting and singing to each other during the spring months. I can’t help but think it is the same pair.
Currently on the menu
Wiggly Worms for Breakfast and Other Wonderments
So many wonderful wildlife happenings at this time of year! Caterpillars hatching and growing, songbird and shorebird fledglings learning to forage and to fly, young herons studying the ways of fish and frogs, early migrants beginning their southward journey – I have a huge backlog of wildlife stories/photos/footage to share from pond and sea and will start with this one –
I believe this may be our ‘Rainbow’ House Finch from last autumn. Notice he sports not only red feathers, but also yellow and orange. Read more here about the reasons for the yellow and orange pigments here: https://kimsmithdesigns.com/2023/11/20/yellow-orange-rainbow-house-finch/