Tag Archives: DCR

OWLS NEED SPACE – BRAND NEW SIGNS!!

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We can thank Lis Kernan, Sean Riley, and the super caring and dedicated team of wildlife biologists at the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation for the fantastic new signage at north of Boston beaches. They saw a need and without hesitation, immediately erected the informational signs. Great Job everyone! Thank you, and the owls thank you, too!!

A recently arrived Snowy Owls was killed in traffic last weekend. When you have a moment please read or listen to this very well-written and clearly stated article “Our Obsession with Owls is Threatening Them,” by Tina Morris.

Note that the following three Cornell range maps of the three owls that people are hounding the most illustrates that they all breed in areas much further north, represented by orange. The population of these three species is thought to be declining in the Northeast (that’s us!). Blue denotes the owl’s non-breeding winter range. They are here to rest and find food. They are not here for our personal entertainment. Please don’t be one of the persons alerting people to the presence of owls on social media platforms, clicking likes for their posts, or park yourself with one of these Threatened and Vulnerable Species owls all the day long.  Take a few photos and please, move on. Thank you!

Snowy Owl Range Map  – Considered Vulnerable – population decreasing.

Short-eared Owl Range Map – Threatened or Endangered in seven northeastern U .S.states.

Long-eared Owl Range Map – Since 1970,  population has declined by 91 percent in North America.  

THANK YOU GOVERNOR BAKER AND THE MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF CONSERVATION FOR PROTECTING PIPING PLOVERS AT DCR BEACHES!

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So proud to live in Massachusetts, a state where the lives of threatened and endangered shorebirds that nest along our coastline, birds such as Least Terns, Piping Plovers, and American Oyster Catchers are considered worth protecting.

Despite all that the State government is trying to manage with the pandemic at its very peak, a huge shout out to Governor Baker and his administration for continuing the fight to help protect Piping Plovers. The Governor’s list of essential workers includes natural resource workers and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation has placed symbolic roping and threatened species signs on DCR beaches.

For over forty years, people have been working to rebuild the Piping Plover population and it will only add to the coronavirus tragedy if we cease protecting threatened and endangered wildlife.

The PiPls are having a tough time of it this spring, largely because so much of their overwintering habitat was ravished during last year’s Hurricane Dorian. Let’s all work together to share the shore with wildlife and to protect our own Good Harbor Beach Piping Plover family.

Males and females are pairing up at local beaches

Male PiPl building a nest scrape and tossing bits of shells and sand into the scrape.

Female PiPl keeping out of the path of gusty winds.

Winthrop Shore Reservations ‘Five Sisters’