Tag Archives: dog on beach

HAPPY MISTY MORNING FROM PLOVERVILLE AND THANK YOU JONATHAN, DUNCAN T, AND DUNCAN H

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Good Morning PiPl Friends,

Sally and I were remarking last night how the chicks seemed to have grown overnight. The plumplings are losing their baby faces and are turning into tweens. All three were feasting in the tide flats and wrack. The tide again was high, not as high as the previous two days, and the receding water is leaving a smorgasbord in its wake. The beach is so quiet on these foggy misty days. Perhaps the peaceful time foraging has allowed them to put on extra ounces.

I only saw Mom very briefly this morning. She was not putting any weight on her right foot and there appears to be a new piece of seaweed attached. I am going to stop by later today and try to get a better look.

Jonathan arrived this morning at GHB with the most fantastic and perfect Piping Plover badges. I think he is passing the bag along to Heidi, who will pass on to either Bette Jean or Jane Marie, and so on throughout the day. A thoughtful gift for us all and so very needed. A HUGE shoutout and thank you to Jonathan for organizing and purchasing, to Duncan T for his wonderful graphic skills, and to Duncan H for helping to organize.

Heidi saw a Dogfish Shark several days ago at the Creek! I think this is the second sighting in the past week. I’ll post her video later today.

Have a great day!
xoKim

The chicks two days apart, at 14 days and 16 days old

RAINY MORNING PIPING PLOVER UPDATE

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Good morning PiPl Friends, or Team Plover, as my granddaughter calls us,

All three snuggled under Dad on this wet and windy morning. I didn’t see Mom, but wasn’t there for very long.

No need for Ambassadors to go in the rain. There wasn’t a soul on the beach this morning and despite the weather, I am sure they are relishing the peace and quiet.

I took this photo yesterday of a pair of 25 day old chicks that I have been filming. You may recall their Super Dad, the PiPl that tried to roll the stray egg into the depression where the chicks were hatching. That nest had been destroyed by the same king tide that took out our nest at #1.

Sharing these photos to show the amazing wing growth that is taking place. The first photo is our chick’s wing buds at one day old, the next two at ten days old, the next at 14 days old, and the last is one of the Plover twins, at 24 days old.

Thank you so much to everyone for all your tremendous cooperation, updates, good thoughts, positive spirits, helpful ideas, and dedication to seeing this beautiful bird family survive on Gloucester’s most popular and beloved beach.

xoKim

Piping Plover chick wing buds one day old

Piping Plover chicks ten days old

Piping plover chick 14 days old

Piping plover chick 24 days 

BEAUTIFUL JUNE MORNING UPDATE FROM PLOVERVILLE

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Good afternoon PiPl Friends!

When I returned home from filming this afternoon my husband remarked, “another perfect day in paradise.” So much to love about these fine, fine June days!The filament is still wrapped around Mom’s foot however it doesn’t prevent her from going after birds ten times her size. Here she is chasing a Grackle this morning

The tide again rose more than halfway through the roped off area. Both parents and chicks were feeding well this morning, spending almost the entire time in the roped off refuge. Jennie currently can’t locate the chicks as I write this, but I imagine they are sleeping during the heat of the day, with very full bellies.

Eating an insect from the tip of the grass

I arrived this am at 5:15 and all the way from the footbridge, I could hear Dad loudly and repeatedly sounding the alarm. There was a photographer with her gear inside the roping. She became Extremely Defensive when I asked her to step back ten to fifteen feet, trying to explain about Dad piping alarm calls when people are too close, and Mom just getting by with her injured foot. She would have none of it and became extremely argumentative. I walked further down the beach and away and she began to argue even more vigorously. I surprised myself when I blurted out ZIp It, which is what I say to three and half year old Charlotte when she is being super fresh.The Ambassador badges can’t come soon enough!

When going to and from the beach, take a moment to smell the Milkweed. The dunes are redolent with the sweet scent of honey and hay, the perfume of Common Milkweed. Common Milkweed is in full glorious bloom all around Cape Ann and it is the only milkweed that has that beautiful fragrance. I just wish the Monarchs were here, too. I am giving a presentation on the Monarch Butterfly and Climate Change, Tuesday evening, the 29th, for the Cape Ann Climate Coilition’s quarterly meeting at 7:00pm. Flyer and zoom links to follow. It is free and open to the public. I hope you can come!Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)

The full Strawberry Moon rises tonight over Gloucester at 8:46. It is the last Supermoon of the year and the skies look promising.

Have a great rest of your day, and beautiful evening!
xxKimWake up!

HAPPY TWO WEEKS OLD PIPLS!

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Good Morning Friends!

Gloriously chilly morning at GHB. Fifty two degrees! The chicks all three spent their two week birthday morning thermosnuggling with Dad and Mom.

Snuggles with Mom this morning

The tide came up nearly to the rock. The wrack lies entirely within the roped off area, providing lots of good foraging. With cool temperatures typically keeping beach goers away, hopefully today will be a peaceful one for the family.

High tide through the refuge

Mom is still limping, but moving quickly and flying at normal height.

Thank you to all for your daily reports! After yesterday’s downpours it was especially great to know the Family had congregated back in their refuge.

Thank you to Duncan T for volunteering to cover all empty shifts this weekend!

Have a super day!
xxKim

Clearing skies

SUPER MOM DOING OKAY

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Good Morning PiPl Friends!

Thank you to all our PiPl Ambassadors and beach going friends for keeping wonderful watchful eyes on Super Mom and PiPl Family, and for all the great info sharing!All three chicks are beautiful and as sturdy as can be on this, their 13th day birthday. Mom is flying at a normal height level and managing to maneuver around the beach. The largest piece of seaweed has fallen off. The filament is still wrapped around her foot with a piece about two inches long trailing. Her foot does not appear to be as swollen and painful looking as yesterday morning. The light from the overcast sky was fairly low this morning and I could not get a really good image for us to look at. Will try again later this afternoon when I stop by to see how she is doing.

Yes to Barbara, I spoke to the boys on the beach that had run through the roped off area, showed him Dad as he ran by, and explained about why we care for our endangered/threatened species. They seemed sincerely apologetic and I suggested they may want to be PiPl Ambassadors next year 🙂 I am very glad they apologized to you too, Barbara!

Thank you to everyone who is helping with picking up the trash. Last year I thought the garbage left behind was horrendous but blamed it on Covid, this year no excuses. The objects are larger and number greater, and it seems to be getting worse every year. We need a national anti litter campaign but in the meantime we’ll just do the best we can. I have a super idea to share about a great solution (a revenue generator for the City, too) from a friend who lives and frequents beaches in North Carolina. People who leave trash behind are ticketed. Word gets out, everyone stops littering for a bit. Then folks become lax and the officers are sent back to the beach for a few days to ticket again. There are many creative ways in which we could address this problem. It is not a DPW problem for lack of cleaning, but a people problem. I filled one and a half large trash bags and barely, barely made a dent. This morning I focused on the area behind the dune roping and wrackline and found a large knife, sticking straight up in the seaweed.

In the future we will not be going into the roped off area to collect garbage until the chicks fledge (unless it is something dangerous to the chicks). Even though there were very few people on the beach and I was at the opposite end to where they were foraging, it was disruptive, especially to Mom. At other PiPl beaches, including the DCR beaches I am documenting shorebirds at, trash is not collected in the restricted areas. It’s unsightly, but the reasons not to go in far outweigh the aesthetic value of cleaning the restricted area.

Yesterday morning Bill, who has been daily walking GHB for decades, spotted a living Horseshoe Crab at the shoreline. In all his years walking Good Harbor he has never seen a live Horseshoe Crab. Neither have I, nor had a number of people we spoke to yesterday morning, seen a living Horseshoe Crab at GHB. We have all seen them at many of our surrounding beaches, but never GHB! If anyone has ever seen a Horseshoe Crab at GHB, please write and let us know. Thank you!

Thank you to all our Ambassadors, each and everyone doing a tremendous job keeping watch over our PiPl Family.
xoKim

PIPING PLOVER SUPER MOM INJURED

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Good morning PiPl People,

All three present, which is wonderful however, Mom has a dangling something twisted around her foot. I thought it was seaweed but one of our early morning beach walkers, Lynn, thinks it is a hair tie. There is a fine piece wrapped around the foot in addition to the large piece.

Please give her extra, extra space. The family was not functioning as well as usual. Although Mom is thremosnuggling all three chicks, she is spending a great deal more time defending against avian predators. She can fly low and hop. She flies off towards the Crows or gull and then hops around trying to remove the dangling whatever.

Again, we really need to give her space so she can get down to the water and when there, feed, undisturbed. I am calling Jodi from Cape Ann Wildlife shortly and will contact Carolyn.

Not to jump to conclusions but Mom’s foot is very swollen. Occasionally shorebirds lose a foot or leg and they do go on to live. We’ll know more after talking to Jodi and Carolyn.

Edited note – update from Carolyn Mostello, Mass Wildlife’s Coastal Biologist, and our state advisor.

“Looks like seaweed to me, too. Yes, plovers can do ok with one foot; that said, these injures aren’t beneficial and could be very harmful.

I wouldn’t recommend doing anything at this point. However, please keep us posted on the condition of this bird. If she really deteriorates, we might consider trapping her and taking her to a rehab.” 

Thanks so very much to Carolyn for getting back to us!

The beach looked amazingly clean this morning! Sally shares that the group SurfRiders cleaned the beach yesterday. When I arrived there were at least half a dozen yellow bags waiting to be picked up and filled to capacity. And our awesome DPW was there at about 6am to not only pick up the bags but remove the wooden chair and other large items left on the beach. Thank you SurfRiders and Gloucester DPW!

Trash blows into the roped off area and behind the roping, up against the dunes. I can occasionally clean up back there, when the family is down at the water’s edge, and when there is absolutely no one else on the beach. I do not want everyday beachgoers to see anyone back there, even if it is to clean up trash because it doesn’t set an example we want others to see. Usually Monday mornings after sunrise there is a little lull in the beachgoers and I can get back there then.

Jennie, I think Cody is filling in several hours this afternoon but will double check, and I am going to try to get over there this afternoon.

Today’s update was going to be all about Super Dad Plovers but because of Mom’s injury, we’ll save that for another day. Just wishing all the dad’s, grandfathers, uncles, great grandpas, and Super Dads a very Happy Fathers Day and everyone, Happy First Day of Summer!

xxKim

Super Mom thermoregulating her chicks, despite foot injury

the things folks leave on the beach

HOORAY FOR OUR LITTLE CHICKS’ TEN DAY MILESTONE!

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Good Morning PiPl Friends,

Today marks the chicks’ ten day old birthday. Ten days is considered a milestone because at this point in time their chance of surviving improves vastly. From a nest of four eggs, on average, only 1.2 chicks survive. We’re aiming to fledge all three of our chicks!

Federal biologists count a chick as fledged at 35-36 days, whereas the State of Massachusetts considers a chick fledged at 28 days. We go with the 35-36 days because chicks develop at slightly different rates, depending on diet and accessibility to their food. We have observed that although they can fly some distance at 26 days, the chicks still rely on Mom and Dad to thermoregulate and for protection from predators. I have even seen a family of 42 day old chicks, that looked as large as their Dad, all crammed under his wings on chilly evening.

HexapodDad –  our wee ones under Dad’s wings this morning

No dogs in sight and the family was happily foraging and warming under wings the length and depth of #3, and a bit beyond.

Sally had a tremendously great idea which was to take a screenshot of the dog regulations to share with scofflaw dog owners, especially the ones that insist that dogs are permitted on the beach after hours. We can grab the screenshot and put it on our phones.

Fines

$300 per violation. Fines for violations will be double in season for beaches and other off-leash areas as determined. (GCO Ch. 4, Sec. 4-16a)

The trash people leave behind on the beach (and oftentimes not trash but perfectly good items) is beyond belief. I forgot to bring garbage bags this morning, thankfully Heidi did!! THANK YOU HEIDI! Last year I tied a few  bags onto the roping low down for the days when I forget to bring a bag and will try to remember to do that tomorrow. Anyone can help themselves to the bags if needed. Please don’t pick up tissue looking paper unless you are wearing gloves because people are using the dunes as their personal bathroom. Tissue paper degrades and it is too gross to handle.

Yesterday as I was leaving GHB via the footbridge, an entire family, Mom, Dad, and three kids, each had a bag and were picking up trash.  I wish so much I had taken a photo but had to hurry back. Thank you kind Family!

Have a great Saturday and maybe I’ll see you at the Juneteenth Celebration at Stage Fort Park!

 

HAPPY BEAUTIFUL JUNE DAYS FROM GOOD HARBOR BEACH!

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Good morning PiPl Friends,

Another glorious June morning, with the family of five all present. The chicks spent almost the entire two hours that I was there feeding up by the dunes, in the Sea Rocket and dune grasses. As Heidi came onto her shift and we were catching up, the family appeared to be calling the troops to head over to the Creek.

The PiPls extra, extra wary behavior, and the fact they did not come to the water’s edge for several hours, was very unusual morning behavior and I wonder if it was because a dog owner had walked her dog along the length of the roping at #3. This was clear to see from the footbridge as I was coming onto the beach at 5:15. Although the dog was on a leash, she had him right at the edge of the roping. And, too, there was a pile of buried garbage and plastic attracting a pair of crows, also near the roping.

Dog owners that bring dogs to Good Harbor Beach and folks burying garbage pose real threats to the Plovers for the many reasons explained. Just a friendly reminder to all, please do not bring your dog to Good Harbor Beach, and please take home all of your picnic and party trash.

Recently there was a motorized bike at Good Harbor. Motorized bikes are a relatively new thing and to let everyone know – no vehicles are permitted at Good Harbor Beach. According to state guidelines, a motorized bike is definitely considered a vehicle and is currently not permitted at Good Harbor Beach while shorebirds are present. If a person is moving toward the vicinity of the Plovers on a motorized bike and doesn’t respond to sharing information about the PiPls, or change direction, please call the police.

Crow digging for chips

Happy Beautiful June Days!

Unlike today, yesterday the chicks spent the better part of the morning in the wrack line and at the shoreline.