Tag Archives: garbage

Thank You Happy Valley for the Beach Clean-up!

A huge shout out today to the volunteers from Happy Valley for the Good Harbor Beach clean-up Saturday morning! The photo below shows Richard and Donna setting up a tent of provisions for the volunteers.

Happy Valley is the fourth group of volunteers to tackle Good Harbor Beach this spring. You may ask, does the beach need so many clean-ups? The answer is a resounding yes!

This past week was Senior Skip Day with, at one point, reportedly, approximately one thousand kids at GHB. The teens came from high schools all around Massachusetts including Brookline, Stoneham, Wakefield, and Marlborough (these are the names of the schools provided by the kids). Beginning around 9am, the kids began pouring onto GHB, and drinking right from the get-go. Fortunately, the portable bathrooms this year are open in May (thank you City!) But they ran out of toilet paper so the dunes soon became the place of choice to relieve themselves. The kids were asked repeatedly to keep out of the dunes and to clean up their trash.

By early afternoon, there was an alcohol related fender bender in the parking lot. I don’t know if this is what prompted the Gloucester Police to come but at around 3:00 pm, there were two officers on the beach breaking up the party and carrying six-packs off the beach.

Thank you to whoever called the police! The weather was lovely and warm and there were a number of families on the beach that appeared very uncomfortable around the large groups of drunk and belligerent teens.

The above photos are of how the kids left the beach, and this is after the trash had been collected into piles by volunteers and the DPW. The gulls got into some and many pieces were blown into the dunes, along the shoreline, the marsh, and all around the parking lot.

We citizens who love and treasure Good Harbor Beach do not mind sharing the beach with teens skipping school, we just don’t think they should leave their mountains of trash behind, and also relieve themselves in the dunes. We are grateful to the DPW for cleaning up the garbage and grateful to all the volunteer groups that have been coming this past spring however, we really need to manage out trash better. Allowing it to blow into the ocean and beach habitat is simply not acceptable!

Two suggestions, and if you think of any, please share-

Hand out trash bags to beachgoers, especially large groups.

Assign an officer on the beach to give out tickets for littering. Word would get out soon enough if the fines were steep enough.

CALLING IN Twin Lights Half Marathon Organizers and Race Participants – please clean up your trash :)

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Post Update – Thank you so very, very much to whoever cleaned the parking lot this morning. We are so appreciative of your good work!

Hello Twin Lights Half Marathoners,

I hope you had all had a great run along the beautiful shores of Cape Ann. You came from towns all around Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey, and even further afield. When you arrived at Good Harbor Beach to begin your race, you found a pristine parking lot. The past three weekends, three separate local organizations did an extraordinary job cleaning the beach, the dunes, and the parking lot. I stop by the beach early nearly every morning and Saturday, the day of the race, the parking lot was in fantastic shape however, when I returned after the race, that is not how the race’s start and finish line were left!

We are inviting you and the organizers of the Twin Lights Half Marathon to return to Good Harbor Beach and clean up your trash. I picked up a bunch of your plastic water bottles, discarded socks, Starbucks and Dunkin’ plastic coffee cups but there is still a good amount left.

Perhaps you aren’t aware that all that trash you leave behind blows into the marsh, the dunes, and eventually, into the ocean. Or perhaps you haven’t seen the no littering signs. Good Harbor is a Carry In, Carry Out beach. But whatever your reasoning for just dumping your garbage at the base of the dunes around the parking lot perimeter, and on the asphalt, from one end of the parking lot to the far end, we would greatly appreciate it if you would please return to our beautiful beach to clean up your trash. Thank You so much for your consideration.

Garbage left behind after Twin Lights Half Marathon at Good Harbor Beach

OUR THIRD GOOD HARBOR BEACH PIPING PLOVER CHICK WAS KILLED THIS MORNING

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We are so very sorry to share that the third chick was killed this morning. The seven-day-old chick was taken and eaten by a very large crow that swooped in unexpectedly, as witnessed by the volunteer monitors.

One week ago today all four Good Harbor Beach Piping Plovers hatched in the parking lot. We celebrated, but also knew that the really hard part was yet to come. Monitoring tiny marshmallow sized fluff balls, made the color of their surroundings, is like looking for sand upon sand. To do this several hours at a time is no small feat, made even more challenging on Gloucester’s busiest of beaches.

I would like to give a huge shout out and thank you to all our super dedicated PiPl monitors. Know that they are doing the very best they can to fend off predators of every kind, ill mannered people, astronomically high tides, diminished beach, people who have been drinking in the hot sun all day, garbage left behind on the beach (which attracts crows and gulls), and every other creepy thing you can think of. The core group is putting in many hours, are sunburnt, and neglecting their families.

A terrible mishap of death or injury to a chick could happen on anyone of our shifts. When you see a PiPl monitor at GHB, stop and feel free to ask questions about the plovers, and please thank them for their dedication. I honestly hope I don’t see one more facebook post/comment blaming the monitors about how we are not doing enough to keep the chicks safe and not reporting enough about the scofflaws. It is just plain cruel. Thank you.

Our one remaining chick, the one volunteer monitor Heather Hall calls Pip, is the smallest of the hatchlings and the one we think hatched last. This afternoon Mom was keeping watchful eye while Pip was foraging between the foot of the dunes and line of folks at the rope’s edge.

Climbing Mount Washington

Mama Plover and Pip

Early this morning when we still had both chicks.

SHOUT OUT TO GLOUCESTER’S ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICERS TEAGAN AND JAMIE!

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Gloucester’s Animal Control Officers Teagan and Jamie were on the scene at the crack of dawn at 4:30 this morning fixing the posts around the PiPl nesting area and writing tickets. Last night Jamie was on the beach as well. Thank you Jamie, Teagan, and Chief McCarthy for the stepped up patrolling.

The posts needed to be pulled out of the sand because last night we had yet another super high tide, all the way up to the bluff for most of the length of the beach.

I read a comment yesterday that stated falsely that the animal control officers make $80,000.00 a year and sit around and drink coffee all day. I have it on good authority that their combined incomes do not total $80,000.00 a year. Stating misinformation and disparaging the hard working people in our community is creating a false narrative and is hurtful to everyone involved, to the people, the dog owners, and to the shorebirds.

Teagan and Jamie writing tickets at dawn this morning.

We don’t have as much an enforcement problem as we do an issue with entitlement and ignorance. Ignorance in the sense that scofflaws may be from out of town and may be unable to read, and entitlement in that some people know the rules and know the dangers that dogs pose to the shorebirds, yet choose to do as they please.

Upon entering Good Harbor Beach this morning, the scofflaws with their dog walked by these three signs.

Walking a dog on a beach is a purely recreational activity. For teeny tiny nesting shorebird chicks, protecting that same beach habitat is a matter of life and death.

If you see a dog at anytime or anywhere on Good Harbor Beach, please call this number: 978-281-9900.

As of late, it appears as though many more people now have the need of a service dog. Having a service dog requires that it be on leash at all times, not jumping on people, and not running through the dunes. Service dogs cannot go in the dunes, or anywhere on the beach that is restricted to humans.

Would the people with service dogs consider taking their dog to any other of Cape Ann’s stunning beaches, rather than to Good Harbor Beach during shorebird nesting season I wonder?

Folks getting ticketed and escorted off the beach.

Truly, the most important action people can take is to volunteer to help watch over the chicks. We have a number of folks posing as helpers but sadly, they are not actually volunteering for shifts. Two monitors on each shift would be ideal, but this year we have fewer volunteers, and don’t even have single person coverage during large chunks of time. Keeping watch over the baby birds will make a difference in whether or not the chicks survive. Anyone can be a volunteer and anyone of us can show you what to do. Finding people to help has been especially difficult on the weekends. Please contact kwhittaker@gloucester-ma.gov if you would like to lend a hand. Thank you so very much

Six-day-old Piping Plover Chick

This morning’s dog tracks at Good Harbor Beach – Dog tracks are easy to spot and to differentiate from other canids (fox and coyote). For example, notice the sharp toenail indentation. Coyotes have rounded toe tip prints because they wear their nails down.

Dog tracks Good Harbor Beach

Look what other tracks were spied this week, deer! These too are easy to spot in the sand. The deer’s cloven hoof makes a broken heart shape.

White-tailed Deer Tracks Good Harbor Beach

Today’s early morning Good Harbor Beach view of Thacher Island Twin Lights

We Lost Two Chicks Today

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We’re so very sorry to write that two chicks were killed today. Catherine Ryan witnessed a terrible scene with a large dog tearing around in the nesting area at dawn, and a volunteer monitor observed one taken by a gull.

All that’s left of our little GHB Pipl Family – Mama (left), Papa (right) and our two remaining chicks.

Please volunteer to be a PiPl monitor. You will truly be making a difference in whether or not our PiPl chicks survive. And you’ll meet the nicest bunch of people. Anyone of us can show you what to do. The shifts can be as long as you like, but an hour is all we are asking. The weather forecast looks gorgeous this weekend, and it is Father’s Day on Sunday, so we are hoping to have two on at each shift. Contact kwhittaker@gloucester-ma.gov.

Please share this post and help spread the word that we need volunteers. Thank you <3

GOOD HARBOR BEACH TWO-DAY-OLD PIPING PLOVER CHICKS

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Our little family is settling in, most importantly, finding lots of tiny insects in the wrack area. Cars weren’t the only threat in nesting at the parking lot, there simply did not seem to be sufficient food in the gravel and hard pack. Today, the chicks spent the early morning snuggling often under Mama and Papa; the temperature was chilly and the wind had picked up. Once the sun was shining brightly, they made their way to the water’s edge, learning how to forage on teeny mollusks and sea creatures.

The seagulls were ferocious this afternoon, so much so that our fearless pint-sized PiPl Papa bit a comparatively ogre-sized Great Black-backed in the butt, and made him squwack! The gulls were attracted to a Dunkin munchkin box that had blown into the roped off area. And although I arrived at sunrise, a dog owner and its pet had made fresh tracks through the nesting area. Between the dogs and the garbage-hungry gulls, human-created threats are far more dangerous than natural predators.

Sleepy eyes after morning snuggles

Looking mighty confident for only two-days old!

We definitely need more Piping Plover volunteer monitors, especially during the mid part of the day. If you would like to be a PiPl monitor, please email Ken Whittaker at kwhittaker@gloucester-ma.gov. Thank you <3

OUR GHB PIPING PLOVER FAMILY MAKES THE EPIC JOURNEY TO THE BEACH

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Late this afternoon, Essex Greenbelt’s Dave Rimmer and my husband Tom observed the Plover family leaving the parking lot and heading toward the dunes. Dave shares that they first appeared to be heading to the beach via the marsh creek end, when they suddenly switched direction and started back in the opposite direction towards Boardwalk #3. They went part way down #3, then back toward the parking lot, then back down #3. The family next began to go through the dunes toward the the middle of the beach, away from the #3 roped off area. After all the zig and zagging, the little family returned to the boardwalk, and then headed straight through the dunes, in the direction of #3 nesting zone. Dave lost sight of the chicks, but could hear the parents urging them on. Out they tumbled, down the dune edge, and into the roped off #3 area!

Please keep your eyes peeled for tiny toothpick-legged mini-marshmallow sized chicks zooming around in the sand.

We are elated that all four chicks made it safely out of the parking lot. Quite possibly this was the PiPl plan all along. Several times I observed the adults making the overland route at the very same time that they began nesting in the parking lot, which I had not seem them do in the the previous two years that they nested at GHB (in the very same location all three years).

The PiPl left the beach due to extreme dog disturbance while trying to court and nest, sadly finding the parking lot to be the quietest and safest place. Yesterday afternoon, we all observed folks trying to bring their dogs through the parking lot and onto the beach, after the life guards had left. The presence of dogs caused extreme alarm by the parents, they would pipe loud warnings and then leave the chicks to try to distract the dog. This is when chicks are at their most vulnerable, when the adults have to leave them to defend against predators. The problem is only going to get worse now that the footbridge has reopened. Please, please to the folks bringing your dogs to the beach after hours, now it is more critical than ever to please leave your pets at home. If any of our readers see a dog on the beach at anytime of day for any reason, first make sure the chicks are safe, and then please don’t hesitate to call the police.

Trash left on the beach is another huge issue for endangered shorebird chicks, of any species. Trash on the beach equals a plethora of seagulls. As do dogs, seagulls cause extreme duress for the PiPl parents. Even though the gulls prefer the easy garbage pickings left behind, they also eat baby chicks.

If you would like to be a a volunteer PiPl monitor, please contact kwhittaker@gloucester-ma.gov. Thank you!

Huge Shout Out to all our volunteers, Gloucester’s awesome DPW, Dave Rimmer, Ken Whitaker, Jasmine Weber, and Jonathan Regosin <3

Both Mama and Papa are now able to tend the chicks, while they are also able to feed and take care of themselves simultaneously keeping within earshot and eyesight of each other.

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