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!
With a wingspan of five and a half to six and a half feet, the Great Blue Heron is an extraordinarily fascinating creature to observe in flight.
What’s all the fuss about? The males are establishing their territories. The last clip shows the more subtly feathered female.
Currently in our garden and fields we are seeing Baltimore Orioles, Orchard Orioles, and new to my eyes, an immature male Orchard Oriole that has not yet grown into his adult plumage.
Baltimore Orioles finding nectar and insects in the crabapple trees. Love watching them hang every which way to poke at the blossoms.
Immature Male Orchard Oriole
Orchard Oriole
Baltimore Orioles (and Catbird) in our garden
Good morning PiPl Friends,
Just a quick note to let you all know that the Mass Audubon team will be on Gloucester beaches monitoring the Plovers. I saw someone there yesterday at GHB from the roadside but Charlotte and I were on our way to an appointment and I couldn’t stop to say hello,. We did confirm though that the contract was signed yesterday. Mass Audubon did a great job last year and the Plover Ambassadors are looking forward to working with the Audubon team again this summer.
I am flat out with film finishing and planning client’s gardens and tried my best to keep the two from happening simultaneously but as the saying goes – the best laid plans… Things should ease up a bit soon and I will hopefully be providing you with more frequent updates about our Good Harbor Beach PiPls <3
Happy May!
Warmest wishes,
xoxoKim
Super Dad floofing after a bath
One hour before hight tide with, reportedly, 20 -30 foot waves and 67 mph wind gusts off the coast of Cape Ann.
Last wall of the Inn –
Saying farewell to the old, much enjoyed Inn, to make way for the new Good Harbor Beach Inn.
While filming the demolition, I had a pleasant conversation with one of the new owners, Mark Martignetti. Mark is also leading the construction on the project. Mark expressed his deep love of Gloucester and the family’s hope to make the Inn welcoming and equally as iconic as the old Inn. He showed me a rendering of the new GHB Inn, which appeared nearly identical to the old. One change that can’t be helped is the height. Some of the units will increase by 18 inches to adhere to FEMA’s coastal flooding regulations.
Mark also spoke about his family’s new restaurant Sogno, located in Woburn. Sogno, pronounced Soñ-yo, means dream in Italian. His Dad’s dream had always been to one day own his own restaurant. Everything on the menu sounds wonderfully delicious and we can’t wait to give it a try! Link to menu – https://sognoitalian.com/menu/
Turkey boys in full display, with their stunning feathers and faces only Mama’s could love <3
The Eastern Coyote was none to happy too happy to see me. I think I disturbed he/she and its mate from their breakfast.
Cinnamon Girl catches a large Yellow Perch! Her fellow female Merganser chased her around the pond as she tried to position the fish head first to swallow whole.
Female Hooded Merganser
Beautiful dramatic sky with a fast moving snow squall over Good Harbor Beach
Dear Friends,
I had to take the week off from posting wildlife stories as I am in the home stretch of getting our Piping Plover documentary back to the film finishing editing studio. The film is coming along beautifully and we are already getting requests from communities to schedule soft screenings (unofficial screenings). One of the primary goals of the film is to help beachgoers better understand why we want to protect these valiant little shorebirds that are nesting in our midst and I think/hope/pray it will be successful in that regard <3. I can’t wait to share it with you all!
Although I haven’t been posting, I am still filming on early morning walks and am getting a backlog of wonderful wildlife scenes to share. There just are not enough hours in the day!!
With thanks and deepest appreciation to everyone who has so generously contributed to our film. If you would like to make a contribution, please go here to our tax deductible online fundraiser. All contributions go to the film finishing studio and to applying to film festivals.
With gratitude to the following PiPl friends for their kind contributions – Lauren Mercadante (New Hampshire), 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), and my sweet husband Tom 🙂
If you do not see your name listed above, please, please let me know. I absolutely do not want to leave anyone off. My computer crashed again and am working like crazy to recover all the data lost. Thank you!
Stay safe in the pending storm, and have lots of fun, too!
Warmest wishes,
xoKim
The handsome drake Harlequin we nicknamed Quinnie is finding a veritable feast while staying the winter on the shores of Cape Ann. He dives into the fast moving incoming tide, surfaces with a crab, then heads to a nearby rock to floof and digest his lunch.
Alexandra has a bevy of delightful Valentines cards and gifts for your loved ones. The hand block printed cards created by Mary Rhinelander are wonderfully whimsical, and extra charming printed with Valentine sweetheart sayings. Mary is also making lavender scented sachets with her prints. Our Plover Lover Besties T-shirts and onesies are currently available in pink (perfect for Valentines) and blue (tees only).
THE EAST OF MAIN STREET IS OPEN, despite the construction. It’s very easy to cut through, either the parking lots or the side streets.
Shop for Valentine cards and gifts, Plover tees, onesies, and Plover stickers at our wonderful local bakery and home goods shop, Alexandra’s Bread, located at 265 Main Street in Gloucester. 
Thank you to all who took the time to report the Harbor Seal struggling at Long Beach over the weekend. I am so sorry to share that the seal did not survive.
There were a number of people, and their dogs, touching and sniffing the seal when it was still alive. Please don’t, as much as to prevent terrifying the pup, as to prevent you or your pooch from being bitten.
I have had the greatest success with stranded or injured seals by contacting the Seacoast Science Center in New Hampshire. The SSC team is outstanding! Here is the number where you can report an injured seal: 603-997-9448
The following is advice from the Seacoast Science Center –
Marine Mammal Response Hotline: 603-997-9448
The Gray Seal pup in the video below was rescued last year from Eastern Point by the Seacoast Science Center.
Gray Seal Adults
Elated to film Quinnie undersea! It was pure happenstance. The late day sun angled through the water, making for fantastic visibility. His highly contrasting feather patterning I think helped also to better capture her underwater. The long version is posted here and the shorter clip on Instagram and Facebook.
Notice how he moves rocks aside while foraging for prey. I think he was capturing baby fish, but I can’t really tell, even when the prey is splashing above the water. The biologists at the Seacoast Science Center in New Hampshire thought perhaps the fish may be baby flounder, but they only thought that from my description, not from seeing the clips.
It’s truly heartbreaking to learn that East Coast Harlequin numbers have declined from perhaps 10,000 birds in the 1800s to fewer than 1,000 currently. “This population is doing terribly and may be headed for oblivion,” says Jim Reichel, a zoologist with the Montana Natural Heritage Program. Before its prohibition in 1989, sport hunting was most likely the main mortality factor for eastern Harlequins. Now, oil spills and dams are the primary problems.
In mid-December, my friend Jill sent a snapshot of a Harlequin Duck that was foraging inshore. He was easy to re-find and surprisingly, this beautiful male seaduck has not left the area. It seems unusual for a Harlequin Duck to remain so close to shore. During the winter months, I mostly see them congregating further from people, forming mini tribes on rocky outcroppings in Rockport.
Charlotte suggested the nickname Quinnie. We have been keeping a close eye on him over the past month as I think he is recovering from a foot injury. He favors his left foot and does not put much weight on the right. And in all these weeks of filming, I have never seen him fly!
Harlequin Ducks often suffer injury as they breed in roaring whitewater mountain streams and forage on the roughest rocky shores. I was supremely worried about Quinnie during the recent spate of wild wind storms and extreme tides. Despite his foot injury, our little Quinnie is managing. He loves deep diving, as the tide is coming in and the waves are roughly splashing against the jutting rocks, but he also does quite well foraging on days when the water is crystal clear and as smooth as glass.
Bright days are best for observing the magnificently beautiful feather patterning of the drake Harlequin
Drake Harlequins have to be one of the, if not the, most strikingly beautiful ducks to grace our shores. Rich rusty red, graphite gray, and brilliant blues, accented with slashes of white make a sharp contrast to the plain subdued brown and gray of the hen. Only weighing about a pound and a half, Harlequins are about half the size of Mallards.
Harlequin ducks are monogamous. Initially, I thought we had a pair of Harlequins, but what I mistook for a female Harlequin was actually a female Long-tailed Duck. The two hung out together for about a week before she departed.
Quinnie appears to be all alone but unfazed by his predicament. He forages with great gusto and holds his own, even against the gulls who occasionally dive bomb him for what appears to be no other reason than “rock envy.” The gulls also displace each other over choice rocks so I don’t think (or hope), it’s not personal towards Quinnie.
The day before the most recent snowstorm, I was taking an early morning walk along a wooded lane and was delighted by the flurry of activity taking place. There were at least half a dozen woodpeckers (of three different species), busily foraging and storing various food items. I wondered if they sensed the pending storm. The Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers were tapping at deadened bark (and the shingles of a neighbor’s home), and the Red-belied Woodpeckers were calling from the treetops and tucking dried fruits and nuts into their carved out holes.
For a brief few moments I felt as though I was in an enchanted forest. Not only surrounded by the earnest yammering and quick flashes of black and white woodpecker wings, but three does charged past, the Coyote pair was spied at the edge of the woods, a small flock of Cedar Waxwings and winter Robins were dining on rose hips, and a cheery pair of Carolina Wrens,. perched on a granite outcropping, were all on the scene.
Red-bellied Woodpecker storing dried fruits and nuts
At 8:15 this morning, an hour and a half before high tide, the parking lot at GHB was already flooded and Nautilus Road washed with rocks. Water was flowing in a torrent beneath the footbridge. I only stood on the bridge for a moment, but got spooked and decided to film from the road.
The past several storms the area is deeply flooded that it appears as though there isn’t much more than a narrow strip of land between the parking lot and the marsh.
Saying goodbye to 2023 with a look back at just some of the magnificent creatures and scenes we see all around our beautiful North Shore.
The slide show begins with January and runs through December. When clicking through, you can see the photos are captioned and dated. If you would like more information, all the photos are from posts written throughout the year, and most of the posts have short videos featuring the animal.
Some of the highlights were a Northern Lapwing blown far off course, Barred Owls, flocks of Snow Buntings, successful Gray Seal rescue by Seacoast Science Center, the return of handicapped Super Mom and Super Dad to Good Harbor Beach, Great Blue Herons nesting, Rick Roth from Cape Ann Vernal Pond team helping me find frog’s eggs for my pond ecology film, Bald Eagle pair mating, Earth Day Good Harbor Beach clean-up, Osprey nesting,Creative Commons Collective native plantings at Blackburn Circle, mesmerizing encounter with a Fisher, Mama Dross Humpback and her calf, Beth Swan creating PiPl logo, PiPl chicks and Least Terns hatching, Pipevine Swallowtail pupa, PiPl t-shirts and decals selling at Alexandra’s Bread, rare Nighthawk, Spring Peepers, chicks fledging, trips to Felix’ Family Farm with Charlotte, Monarchs in the garden, Merlin, juvenile Glossy Ibis, and a flock of Horned Larks.
Perhaps the very most memorable moment was a wonderfully close (and extended) encounter with a Fisher. Read more about that here: Lightning in a Bottle
Hammond Castle was recently featured on CBS – A short video from when we had a snowfall (two years ago I think?).
Fairy snowfall (really ocean effect show) creates a magical scene at Hammond Castle. For more information about hours of operation and special events, visit hammondcastle.org
Keep cozy on this longest night of the year, and throughout the season <3
David Brooks and Jim Knott
Riverdale Mills CEO, Jim Knott, Jr., was in attendance at Saturday evening’s wondrous Lobster Trap Tree lighting. Mr. Knott generously donated the 400 traps used in creating the 2023 Lobster Trap Tree. The gift of 400 traps is permanent and will be used in the building of future trap trees. 400 trees were donated to symbolize Gloucester’s 400th anniversary.
Additionally, the labor for building the 400 traps was donated by Brooks Trap Mill in Thomaston, Maine, and contributions were made by Three Lantern Marine Fishing and Supply, Gloucester.
Jim Knott, as quoted in the Gloucester Daily Times, “We’re here for the lobstermen, and we’re trying to support both the current event and the future,” he said. “The reason for the donation is that we wanted to help the community out. The lobster fishing industry is a big part of our business and we have a long history in the lobster industry making wire mesh that was invented in Gloucester. My father has two patents that date back to the 1960s and that wire mesh supplanted wood almost completely (for lobster traps).”
The wire mesh, called Aquamesh, that you see inside modern lobster traps, was invented by Jim’s Dad, James Knott, Sr. He spent summers on Cape Ann with his family, fishing for lobsters during his teenage years. Mr. Knott knew there had to be a better lobster trap. Since the mid-1960s, he “had been tinkering with designs for wire lobster traps. The traditional wooden traps were buoyant and needed to be weighed down with bricks or rocks to sink. Once immersed, they became water logged and extremely heavy. They also wore out more quickly than metal cages.” James Knott converted an abandoned mill on the banks of the Blackstone River, in Northbridge, Massachusetts, which had been used to manufacture bayonets during the Civil War, and founded Riverdale Mills to manufacture coated wire and Aquamesh.
For more information read here:
The Wall Street Journal: James Knott Pioneered Modern Lobster Traps and fended off the EPA
Worcester Business Journal: The Backbone of Lobster Traps
Gloucester daily Times by Gail McCarthy: Gloucester’s Lobster Trap Tree Grows
World’s Best Lobster Trap Tree!
Destination Alexandra’s Bread for wonderful, whimsical holiday gifts!
The bakery is bursting with collectibles and holiday themed hostess gifts and home goods. Festive tea towels, handmade ornaments, enamelware, luxurious soaps, local honey, prints, and even a vintage cheese box are just some of the treasures to be found at Alexandra’s.
Alexandra’s Bread is located at 265 Main Street in Gloucester
Alexandra’s specially designed 400th anniversary commemorative plates and mugs make absolutely fantastic holiday gifts!
Covered cheese box, with tiny holes to keep moisture from building up within
Gloucester’s very own Sea Serpent Nessie prints by Haig Demarjian
Lobster themed enamelware
Unique felt ornaments
And Plover Tees, too, for both adults and babie
Lobster Trap Tree buoy painting is underway! Cape Ann kids are hand painting buoys to adorn the Lobster Trap tree with. So much beauty found in these proud, earnest little faces <3.
To sign up for buoy painting, please visit the Cape Ann Art haven website here: https://www.arthaven.org/
The Lobster Trap Tree is located at Solomon Jacobs Park, at Harbor Loop, in between the Coast Guard Station and Maritime Gloucester. The tree lighting takes place this coming Saturday, December 9th at 4:30pm, after the Middle Street Walk.
For a complete list of events for the Middle Street Walk, please click here.
To celebrate Gloucester’s 400th anniversary, 400 brand new lobster traps were donated by Riverdale Mills. Read more about the background of the Lobster Trap Tree and Three Lantern Marine Supply’s program, which will allow youth to obtain student lobstering permits, at the Gloucester Daily Times.