Tag Archives: Good Harbor Beach

CAN YOU FIND THREE OF THE FOUR CHICKS IN THE PHOTO TAKEN THS MORNING?

Leave a reply

It’s nearly impossible to see these two-day-old tiny cotton ball-sized PiPl chicks, especially on a foggy morning.

All four chicks are present and accounted for. One appears to have hatched within the past several hours so he’ll be the one who will always be a bit smaller.

The gulls are an issue, more so this year because the area is so much larger than in the past and it has become a safe haven for them as well. Also, I think because there are fewer people, which means less picnicking, which means less food for them, but still the same amount of beaks and bellies to fill. They were not acting predatory yesterday afternoon when I was watching them, just very distressing for the adults.

Yesterday morning I wrote Dave about the apparently abandoned Salt Island nest. No adults have been seen on that nest since Sunday. There are a multitude of reasons why that may be, but they were again not on the nest this morning. Just waiting to hear from Dave about what to do with the eggs and dismantling the exclosure.

Have a super day :
Thank you!
Kim

OUR GOOD HAROR BEACH PIPING PLOVERS ARE HATCHING!

Leave a reply

Three chicks have hatched and one more still to come!!

From the appearance of the oldest hatchling running around in the roped off area by the Creek, the chicks probably began hatching yesterday late afternoon (Monday, the 22nd). One may have even been hatching while we were there having a PiPl Ambassador informational meeting 🙂
The PiPl family will most likely stay closish to the nesting area for the next day. Fortunately it is very foggy today, which means the beach won’t be too busy and that will give them some space.
We had a great meeting yesterday with a new crew of Piping Plover Ambassadors. Thank you to everyone for coming <3 We still have some empty spots on the schedule, noon to 4. If anyone is interested in becoming a PiPl Ambassador, please email me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com. Thank you!

 

One day old Piping Plover chick, Good Harbor Beach, June 23, 2020

Educate, Not Enforce!

WE’RE GETTING CLOSE TO HATCH DAY – PIPING PLOVER AMBASSADORS ARE NEEDED DURING THE AFTERNOONS

Leave a reply

Hello Friends of Gloucester’s Piping Plovers,

Our Ambassador schedule is looking great for mornings and I am so appreciative of all who have volunteered to lend a hand.

We need Ambassadors during the afternoons. Please write at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com and let me know if you would like to volunteer for an hour a day for the next several weeks, possibly a month. The first week in a chick’s life is the most critical. When a chick reaches the 7 to 10 day milestone its chances of survival increase exponentially.

One hour old Piping Plover chick

We are meeting Monday, June 22nd, at 5:30pm, to go over any questions Ambassadors may have. We’ll meet at the the Saratoga Creek end of the beach, by the symbolic roping, on the Nautilus Road side of the beach, just after boardwalk #3. There should be no difficulty parking in the lot at that time of day.

I look forward to seeing familiar friends and meeting our new ambassadors. Thank you so much again for your willingness to help. Our new motto this year is Educate, not Enforce and our goal is to keep the energy positive and kind. Our City government is managing many, many issues due to the global pandemic and we do not wish in any way to add to their responsibilities.

Here is the schedule so far:

Kim 5am to 7am

Shelby  7am -8am

Jane Marie 8am -9am

Bette Jean 9am-10am

Jennie  11am to 12pm

Jonathan and Sally 5pm to 6pm

OUR SALT ISLAND PIPING PLOVER FAM HAS A SECOND EGG IN THE NEST!

Leave a reply

The most tenacious of Piping Plover pairs has a second egg in their nest!

For the next few days you may see them on and off the nest. The pair won’t start brooding full time until all the eggs are laid. The reason being is that the hatchlings are precocial, which means active from birth. The parents want the chicks to hatch as closely together as possible so the tiny rockets zooming around the beach are more easily managed. The difference in a PiPl day old hatchling and a PiPl week old chick in human years is like trying to look after a newborn and a precocious preteen simultaneously.

Salt Island Family Mom briefly on nest this morning.

SI Dad at the shoreline foraging at sunrise.

Piping Plovers take about a week to complete the nest and lay all their eggs (sometimes two eggs or three or five, but most often four eggs). If they started brooding one egg full time, that egg would hatch a week earlier than the last egg laid, which would spell disaster for a precocial chick. Observing PiPl chicks that had hatched twenty-four hours apart was hard enough on the parents, let alone a week apart!

If you stop by to see the PiPls on the beach, please bear in mind they are working hard at completing their nest and laying eggs. Please don’t hover around the roped off areas or when you see the birds on the shore. Trust me, hovering attracts gulls and crows. Both species are smart and I’ve seen over and over again how human interest in the PiPls  attracts these super predators to the nesting sites. Additionally, hovering around the adults off the nest stymies courtship and mating as well. Have a look with binoculars or take photo or two with a long lens and move on, especially when with more than one adult.

Thank you so much for your consideration!

Good Harbor Beach Salt Island Family Two Eggs June 16, 2020

Saratoga Creek Family Dad brooding this am

Sunrise and Crescent Moon rising today

 

SUPER EXCITING NEWS – THERE ARE NOW TWO PAIRS OF PIPING PLOVERS NESTING AT GOOD HARBOR BEACH!

Leave a reply

Educate, Not Enforce!

Please consider becoming a Good Harbor Beach Piping Plover Ambassador this summer. We are looking for volunteers who can commit to one hour a day, from the time the chicks hatch to the time they fledge, which is approximately one month. Our first family of Good Harbor Beach chicks may hatch as early as June 23rd. Many of the morning times are filled, so we are especially looking for help mid-day, afternoon, and early evenings if you can lend a hand. Thank you! HERE IS THE LINK WITH MORE INFORMATION

This morning the awesome Dave Rimmer and his assistant Mike Galli installed an exclosure at the area we call #1 (because it is closer to boardwalk #1). I write “awesome” because Dave Rimmer is Director of Land Stewardship at Essex County Greenbelt Association and for the fifth year in a row, he has lent his experience and expertise at absolutely NO CHARGE $$ to the City of Gloucester. We all owe Dave and Greenbelt huge thanks of appreciation. Thank you once again Dave for your kind assistance.

The exclosure was quickly and efficiently assembled and sledge hammered into place. Would the young pair accept the wire exclosure? It looked dicey for about half an hour or so. I had Charlotte with me and had to leave but a short time later, Dave texted that they were back on the nest. In all his years of installing exclosures  (30 plus), only one pair has ever rejected an exclosure.

This nest with currently one egg is located in an extremely open site and not at all where expected. It is their fourth attempt at a serious nest. The first was up by the dune edge in a nicely camouflaged location but as it was not symbolically roped off, it was visibly disturbed by people and pets. Their next nest was located in the roped off area at #1 and that sweet nest had two eggs. Sadly, the eggs disappeared from the nest. The third active nest scrape was actually in the dunes but unfortunately again that was disturbed by people, this time by people going along their same path to go to the bathroom in the dunes. So this fourth nest is in a most open spot and not entirely safe from a stormy high tide.

New nest location, with no protective vegetation

Our Salt Island pair mating and nest scraping, with one egg.

June 15th is late in the year to begin a new nest but it happens often enough. Last year I filmed a PiPl family nesting in July, with three eggs. The nest gets hot as the summer progresses, but the adults were very smart about brooding. They would stand over the nest, not actually sitting on it, which provided shade from the melting sun, without their additional body heat. The adults were also panting to keep cool in the heat. One chick was lost in a storm, but two survived to fledge and the Dad stayed with them the entire time.

In the photos above you can see the PiPl heat wave brooding technique.

I think we should change the names of the nests to the Creek Family and the Salt Island Family. It sounds a lot more personable than #3 and #1. What do you think?

SHOUT OUT TO PIPING PLOVER HELPERS DJ AND JOHN BURLINGHAM!

Leave a reply

This morning I found the corner post at Piping Plover area #1 buried in the sand from last night’s high tide. There’s a super nice gentleman, retired Coast Guard officer John Burlingham, who daily walks GHB in the summer. He’s an avid naturalist and always keeps his eyes out for the PiPls. He righted the post and continued on his walk.

John Burlingham

As I was leaving GHB, I asked DJ, one of the nice gentlemen working on the water and gas pipes on Salt Island Road, if he happened to have a sledge hammer in his truck box. No, but he had something nearly as good. He whacked the pole into the sand.

Hopefully the poles will stay put but it was great to have such kind hearted caring people at Good Harbor Beach to lend a hand. Thank you John and DJ so very much for your kind assistance!

DJ

UPDATE ON OUR GOOD HARBOR BEACH NESTING PAIR OF PIPING PLOVERS

Leave a reply

Dad was sitting sleepily on the nest this morning. The pair has adapted comfortably to the wire exclosure installed by Greenbelt’s Dave Rimmer and Gloucester DPW’s Joe Lucido.

I didn’t see Mom, but wasn’t able to spend that much time. Last we checked there were three eggs, we’ll see if a fourth is laid 🙂

 

WE NOW HAVE THREE EGGS AT #3! THANK YOU ESSEX GREENBELT’S DAVE RIMMER AND MIKE GALLI AND GLOUCESTER’S JOE LUCIDO FOR INSTALLING THE WIRE EXCLOSURE THIS MORNING!

1 Reply

Great morning at Good Harbor Beach with Dave Rimmer and his intern Mike Galli along with Gloucester’s DPW Joe Lucido installing the wire exclosure at #3. The guys were in an out hammering in the exclosure and after completing, before they had walked thirty feet, Dad PiPl was back on the nest!

One of the chief risks of installing an exclosure is the birds may reject the nest after placing the exclosure. Dave shared that in all his years of experience (and he has been helping Piping Plovers on the North Shore since 1986 when they were first declared threatened) only once did the nesting birds reject the exclosure. He waited forty five minutes for the birds to return and then removed the exclosure.

For friends who may not recall what an exclosure is – an exclosure is a six foot in diameter wire cage placed over a nest and held securely with metal stakes. The openings in the exclosure are large enough to allow PiPl sized birds to go in and out of the cage, but small enough to prevent most small mammals and larger birds such as crows, gulls, hawks, and owls from entering and eating the eggs. Exclosures don’t work in all circumstances but are very practical at busy town beaches such as ours. Bear in mind that over the course of four years, 15 eggs have been laid at Good Harbor Beach by one Piping Plover pair. All fifteen eggs survived and hatched because of the use of an exclosure.Mom sitting on the nest prior to the exclosure installation

PIPING PLOVERS ARE ON TONIGHTS’ CITY COUNCIL MEETING AT 6 PM AND WHY EXCLOSURES (the wire cages) ARE IMPERATIVE TO THE SURVIVAL OF THE GOOD HARBOR BEACH PIPLS

2 Replies

EDITED NOTE: Carolyn from Mass Wildlife just shared that Dave has been asked to install the exclosure!!!!!!!

Piping Plovers are on the City Council’s agenda tonight. Despite the fact the wire exclosures have been used with tremendous success the previous four years, there is resistance to using them this year, we can’t imagine for what reason other than the City’s conservation agent was denied a permit for lack of training. The exclosures are still needed without doubt.

The meeting is tonight, Tuesday, at 6pm and can be viewed live. I am trying to find the link and will post that as soon as it is located 🙂

Here is the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84416635156

Please bear in mind ALL FIFTEEN OF THE FIFTEEN EGGS that were laid at Good HarborBeach over the past four years hatched. The success of eggs hatching would not have been possible without the use of the exclosures. Read more below and thank you so much for taking the time to read.

Dear Friends of Gloucester’s Piping Plovers,

I hope you are well, staying safe, and taking care.

As you may have heard, we have a nest with two eggs! at Good Harbor Beach (there may be a third egg as of this writing). The nest is only mere feet from the location of the nest of the four previous years. The attached photo was taken Sunday night at around 7pm.

In the past, within hours of phoning Essex County Greenbelt’s Director of Land Stewardship, Dave Rimmer, to report a nest with eggs, Dave and an assistant would arrive to install the exclosure.

Dave and assistant Fionna installing a wire exclosure in 2019

For friends who may not recall what an exclosure is – an exclosure is a six foot in diameter wire cage placed over a nest and held securely with metal stakes. The openings in the exclosure are large enough to allow PiPl sized birds to go in and out of the cage, but small enough to prevent most small mammals and larger birds such as crows, gulls, hawks, and owls from entering and eating the eggs. Exclosures don’t work in all circumstances but are very practical at busy town beaches such as ours for the reasons outlined below. Also, please bear in mind that over the course of four years, 15 eggs have been laid by one Piping Plover pair. All fifteen eggs survived and hatched because of the use of an exclosure. There simply is no denying that.

Installing an exclosure is tricky and can be disruptive to the birds. In the past, Dave  and his assistants did the installation with lightening speed and the birds returned to the nest within a few moments. Exclosures can only be installed by a trained, certified person. Certification is issued by Mass Wildlife.

It is our understanding that the conservation agent may not wish to install the exclosure. It is also our understanding that she applied for a permit and was told she could obtain a permit if she received training from Greenbelt, as Audubon offices were closed due to the pandemic. She opted not to receive training and was subsequently denied a permit. Because of these choices and set of events, it would be a tragic mistake to deny the birds the protections they need to survive at Good Harbor Beach.

Why exclosures are imperative to the survival of Piping Plovers at Good Harbor Beach.

The use of exclosures is imperative to the survival of Piping Plover eggs at Good Harbor Beach. Over the previous four years Piping Plover eggs have been protected by exclosures. Why are they used? Because exclosures are extremely effective in safeguarding the birds from dogs, crows, seagulls, stray balls, unwitting people, foxes, coyotes, and all manner of small predatory mammals, from eating or stepping on the eggs.

In 2016, the use of an exclosure to protect eggs at Good Harbor Beach was determined necessary by Mass Wildlife’s John Regosin and Essex Greenbelt’s Dave Rimmer.

Because of the use of exclosures, all 15 Piping Plover eggs that have been laid at Good Harbor Beach have hatched.

The critical survival challenge facing our PiPl population happens after the chicks hatch and they are running around on the beach; dangers include gulls, crows, and off-leash dogs, as has been documented.

Exclosures protect shorebird eggs from:

1)   Gulls and crows are attracted to Good Harbor beach in great numbers because of the garbage left behind on the beach.

2)   Off-leash dogs running through the nesting area. Please see attached photo from the evening of May 24th from 7:00pm to 7:30pm when there were four dogs on the beach during that half hour. Dogs are at Good Harbor Beach during off hours regularly. The large yellow No Dog signs have not yet been installed in the parking lot or at the Whitham Street end of GHB. Even when the signs are posted, people still bring pets to GHB after hours. Signage helps, but it doesn’t prevent everyone from disregarding the rules. Suggestion: A brief period of enforcement (ticketing) during off hours would help get the word out No Dogs allowed.

 

3)   Beachgoers regularly cut through the nesting area, especially by #3, where the nest with eggs is located. It is the most private area of the dunes, which they use as a bathroom, and it is a short cut to their car if they are parked at creek end of the beach.

4)   Volleyball games are played adjacent to where the nest is located. Soccer tournaments are also set up next to the nesting area. People bring all kinds of balls to the beach and they often end up in the nesting area.

5)   Foxes, which love to eat shorebird eggs.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to read the above.

We are grateful for your consideration.Please take care and be well.

Kind regards,

Kim

AND WE HAVE TWO PIPING PLOVER EGGS

1 Reply

Two perfect and beautiful PiPl eggs at Good Harbor Beach <3

Now the next giant hurdle is to get the much needed protective exclosure installed!

BEAUTIFUL MEMORIAL FRIDAY AT GOOD HARBOR BEACH!

1 Reply

People and wildlife waiting for sunrise

From what I could see and for the most part, people were social distancing while enjoying a gorgeous day in the sunshine.

WE HAVE THE ENDANGERED/THREATENED SPECIES SIGNS FOR THE PIPLS!!!

2 Replies

Thank you to Mayor Sefatia, Councilor Memhard, and to all our Gloucester City Councilors, Gloucester DPW, Gloucester Conservation, Gloucester City Admin, and to anyone and everyone who helped get the signs posted at Good Harbor Beach. We are beyond grateful and appreciative!

We’d especially like to thank everyone who took the time to write your emails to the City Councilors. Letter writing and emails truly help and I think a great many wrote.

 <3 <3 <3 

There are approximately nine signs running the length of the beach. This is a good first step, and as the birds become settled at their nests, hopefully we can increase, or rearrange, the signs to reflect where the birds are nesting.

So many thanks again to Councilor Memhard and Mayor Sefatia, and to all who lent a hand in helping to inform the community about the Good Harbor Beach nesting Plovers. The PiPls thank you, too!.

 

WHY ARE THERE STILL NO ENDANGERED/THREATENED SPECIES SIGNS AT GOOD HARBOR BEACH?

2 Replies

It is the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. As of this morning, at 10am, there are still NO threatened and endangered species signs posted at Good Harbor Beach.

Despite the pandemic, every other city and town along the Massachusetts coastline that has threatened and endangered birds nesting on their beaches has SIGNS.

Friends, I hate to ask you, but if you could, Please share this post and please write to your Councilors (see address below). Thank you!

This is why we need signs and the reason could not be any clearer.

Woman leaving the dunes after going to the bathroom (not posting her going to the bathroom photo)

and cutting through through the nesting area.

As I was leaving the beach several nights ago and turned to have one last look at how beautiful was the light, the woman in the photos was cutting through the nesting area to use the dunes as a bathroom. You can’t blame the beachgoers for cutting through the nesting area because there is not a single sign at GHB explaining about the birds. 

The lack of signage is just plain cruel to the birds. And it is equally as cruel to our citizens because what if, God forbid, a beachgoer accidentally steps on an egg or stray ball injures a Piping Plover? How terrible will they feel, and how many tens of thousands of dollars will we be fined by the state and federal government if there is a take?

Why are signs so important and impactful? For the simple reason that they alert people to the presence of the birds. They are used at every beach along both the Pacific and Atlantic Coasts, as well as at lakes regions.

Please don’t write to say the City is short of manpower because we have a very simple solution. Essex County Greenbelt has signs. They are willing to put them up immediately and only need the go-ahead from the City. 

Additionally, who will we call when the inevitable eggs are laid? Gloucester’s conservation agent applied for, but was denied, a permit, for her lack of experience.

We have been writing letters to the City, beginning this past January and prior to the pandemic outbreak, to try to understand the City’s overall plan for the Piping Plovers, but we have been completely stonewalled. We were assured months ago that “everything was under control.”

It is utterly ridiculous that we are being put in this position of endless letter writing to beg for signs, especially during the pandemic when we have families and work to take care of. 

This year we thought was going to be easy, with the new dog ordinance for the beach, Greenbelt’s trusted assistance, and a cadre of people who care deeply about the birds, along with their willingness to spend time monitoring tiny chicks at Gloucester’s most popular and populous of beaches. After four years of working toward improving conditions for the nesting shorebirds at GHB, the PiPls are being thrown under the bus for what we can only surmise are personal and political reasons.

It is my understanding that Governor Baker made continuing to protect endangered species part of the original essential worker pandemic plan and that is why state wildlife officials have not been furloughed.

A Piping Plover update from the City administration is planned for the City Council meeting Tuesday at 7Pm.  It is a live Zoom meeting. I think a link will be provided and I will post that here and on Facebook.

If you have not already done so, and you have a spare moment, please write to our City Councilors. 

Please keep letters kind and friendly, or just simply copy paste the following:

Subject Line: Piping Plovers Need Our Help

Dear City Councilors,

Gloucester Plovers need our help. Please ask the Conservation Commission to install the threatened species signs at the symbolically cordoned off nesting areas and at the entrances at Good Harbor Beach.

Thank you for helping these birds raise their next generation.

Your Name

Link to all the City Councilors, but I believe that if you send one letter and also cc to Joanne Senos, a copy will be sent to all the City Councilors. Her address is: JSenos@gloucester-ma.gov

Our Good Harbor Beach mated PiPl pair courting – Papa fanning his tail feathers and bowing, all for Mama’s benefit. Photo taken yesterday, May 21, 2020.

Here is a timeline compiled based on film footage, photos, and notes. As you can see, because of the timely assistance provided by Greenbelt, at this time last year, our chicks more than half way to hatching. We don’t even have eggs yet this year!

2019 Piping Plover Timeline Good Harbor Beach 

March 25  Piping Plover pair arrive GHB.

March 27  Symbolic fencing and signage installed by Greenbelt at areas #3 and #1

April 28  First egg laid (estimated date).

May 3  Greenbelt installs wire exclosure.

May 4  Adults begin brooding all four eggs.

May 31  Four chicks hatch.

2020 Piping Plover Timeline Good Harbor Beach

March 22 Piping Plover pair arrive at GHB

March 27  11.5 foot deep narrow strip of symbolic roping is installed along the length of the entire beach. No one has responded from the conservation office re. Is this meant to protect the dunes? It is much, much narrower than the area delineated the previous four years by Greenbelt.  No signs installed at this time, as they had in previous years at the time of installing roping.

April 17  Symbolically roped off area widened by boardwalk #3, the area where the PiPls have nested and courted the previous four years. No signs installed at this time.

May 11  A second pair of PiPls is trying to become established at GHB.

May 13  Still no signs, continued dog disturbance, kite flying next to nesting area, human and dog footprints in roped off  #3 area.

May 21 Exclosure erected at Coffins Beach for nesting PiPls. Installed by Greenbelt.

May 22 Still no threatened or endangered species signs at Good Harbor Beach, continued dog disturbance, kite flying next to nesting area, human and dog footprints in roped off  #3 area.

 

GLOUCESTER BEACH STICKERS

Leave a reply

Beach Stickers:

There is a dedicated Beach Sticker telephone line at City Hall. Please direct all sticker inquiries to 978-281-9708, or e-mail bsticker@gloucester-ma.gov.

Expired Beach Stickers will be allowed or current registration for two weeks only.

SYMMETRICALLY ALIGNED TWIN LIGHTHOUSE SUNRISE

1 Reply

 

Sunrise between Twin Lights, Thacher Island

CALL TO ACTION: GLOUCESTER PLOVERS NEED OUR HELP

4 Replies

Despite the fact that our Good Harbor Beach Piping Plovers arrived 3 days earlier this year (March 22), they are struggling to become established. While the weather has been cold and windy (I think they like wind even less than freezing temperatures), the problem is largely due to dog and human disturbance in the nesting area. This is not the fault of beachgoers. The difficulty stems from a complete and utter lack of signage at Good Harbor Beach. There are no signs at any entrance, but more importantly, there are no signs on the fence posts around the nesting area.

The above are the informational signs we have had the previous four years, from 2016-2019, which were installed by Essex County Greenbelt. Last year, the Piping Plovers arrived at Good Harbor on March 25th. Two days later, on March 27th, Greenbelt had installed protective symbolic roping and signs. The PiPls early arrival and early assistance from Greenbelt helped the Plovers to establish a nest early in the season.

Why don’t we have signs? No one knows; it is an utter mystery. Greenbelt has time and again offered their assistance to the City and volunteered to install signs, so it is not a question of coronavirus, available man power, or time.

Why is it so important to help the PiPls as soon as they arrive? Because the earlier in the season they are able to nest, the older the chicks will be when the beach becomes busy, the earlier the chicks will fledge, and the sooner they will be off the beach, which will give them the greatest chance of survival. It was thanks to Greenbelt’s assistance last year and because of our fantastic corps of volunteer Piping Plover monitors that we were able to successfully fledge three chicks last summer.

How can you help? It’s a great deal to ask of people during coronavirus to care for, and write letters about, tiny little shorebirds, but people do care. For over forty years, partners have been working to protect these threatened creatures and it is a shame to put them at risk like this needlessly.  We have been working with Ward One City Councilor Scott Memhard and he has been beyond terrific in helping us sort through the problems this year; however, I think if we wrote emails or letters to all our City Councilors and asked them to help us get signs installed it would be super helpful. Please keep letters kind and friendly, or just simply copy paste the following:

Subject Line: Piping Plovers Need Our Help

Dear City Councilors,

Gloucester Plovers need our help. Please ask the Conservation Commission to install the threatened species signs at the symbolically cordoned off nesting areas and at the entrances at Good Harbor Beach.

Thank you for helping these birds raise their next generation.

Your Name

Link to all the City Councilors, but I believe that if you send one letter and also cc to Joanne Senos, a copy will be sent to all the City Councilors. Her address is: JSenos@gloucester-ma.gov

Here is a timeline compiled based on film footage, photos, and notes. As you can see, because of the timely assistance provided by Greenbelt, at this time last year, our chicks were a third of the way to hatching. We don’t even have eggs yet this year!

2019 Piping Plover Timeline Good Harbor Beach 

March 25  Piping Plover pair arrive GHB.

March 27  Symbolic fencing and signage installed by Greenbelt at areas #3 and #1

April 28  First egg laid (estimated date).

May 3  Greenbelt installs wire exclosure.

May 4  Adults begin brooding all four eggs.

May 31  Four chicks hatch.

2020 Piping Plover Timeline Good Harbor Beach

March 22 Piping Plover pair arrive at GHB

March 27  11.5 foot deep narrow strip of symbolic roping is installed along the length of the entire beach. No one has responded from the conservation office re. Is this meant to protect the dunes? It is much, much narrower than the area delineated the previous four years by Greenbelt.  No signs installed at this time.

April 17  Symbolically roped off area widened by boardwalk #3, the area where the PiPls have nested and courted the previous four years. No signs installed at this time.

May 11  A second pair of PiPls is trying to become established at GHB.

May 13  Still no signs, continued dog disturbance, kite flying next to nesting area, human and dog footprints in roped off  #3 area.

Again, the disturbances are not the fault of beachgoers; you can’t blame people if there are no informational signs.

Our Good Harbor beach Mom and Dad courting: Dad digging a nest scrape (1) and bowing (2). Mom coming over to inspect his handiwork (3) and Dad all puffed out and doing the mating dance (4).

Aren’t these PiPl eggs beautiful!? This photo was taken yesterday at another beach I am following. The Plovers at this beach arrived on the very same day to their beach as our Gloucester Plovers arrived to Good Harbor Beach.

 

 

GOOD MORNING CAPE ANN! – BROUGHT TO YOU BY TODAY’S BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE

Leave a reply

Good Harbor Beach glorious sunrise

HOW TO ATTRACT HUMMINGBIRDS (AND KEEP THEM COMING) TO YOUR GARDEN

2 Replies

A Ruby-throated Hummingbird’s diet is comprised of nectar and insects. In early spring there isn’t much to offer in the way of flowering sustenance or insects. Around the first of April, we take our feeders out of storage, give them a good wash with vinegar, soap, and water, fill with a sugar/water mixture, and hang them throughout the garden.

Sugar water recipe: 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. Stir to dissolve thoroughly. Never add red dye or replace the sugar with honey. Provide fresh sugar/water every 4 – 5 days. The water will need to be changed more frequently in hot humid weather. Discard water that has black mold and clean feeders throughly.

You can keep hummingbirds coming to your garden throughout the growing season by providing nectar-rich tubular-shaped flora in shades of primarily red, orange, and yellow (although I see them drinking nectar from a rainbow of hues), along with flowers comprised of small florets that attract small insects (the florets at the center of a zinnia plant, for example).

If I could only grow one plant to attract the Ruby-throats, it would be honeysuckle. Not the wonderfully fragrant, but highly invasive Japanese honeysuckle, but our beautiful native Trumpet Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) that flowers in an array of warm-hued shades of Spanish orange (‘John Clayton’), deep ruby red (‘Major Wheeler’), and my very favorite, the two-toned orange and red ‘Dropmore Scarlet.’

Lonicera sempervirens ‘Dropmore Scarlet’

Trumpet Honeysuckle has myriad uses in the landscape. Cultivate to create vertical layers, in a small garden especially. Plant Lonicera sempervirens to cover an arbor, alongside a porch pillar or to weave through trelliage. Allow it to clamber over an eyesore or down an embankment. Plant at least one near the primary paths of the garden so that you can enjoy the hummingbirds that are drawn to the nectar-rich blossoms. We practically bump into our hummingbirds as they are making their daily rounds through the garden flora.

Did you know Ruby-throated Hummingbirds make a funny squeaky sound? I began to take notice of their presence in our garden, when at my office desk one afternoon in late summer, with windows open wide, I heard very faint, mouse-like squeaks. Glancing up from my work, fully expecting to see a mouse, and was instead delighted to discover a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird outside my office window, nectaring at the vines. Trumpet Honeysuckle not only provides nectar for the hummingbirds, it also offers shelter and succulent berries for a host of birds.

The following are several posts written over the years to help readers attract Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to their homes and gardens.

Three Hummingbirds in Our Garden Today!

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

A Hummingbird’s Perspective

Where to Place YOur Hummingbird Feeders

Harbingers of spring, flowering Quince, both the vivid ‘Texas Scarlet’ and less common Chaenomeles speciosa ‘Toyo-Nishiki’ are wonderfully attractive to hummingbirds.

A question written awhile back from my friend Kate:

Where do you place the feeders? Are they okay out in the open and, if so, do the hummingbirds become too nervous to feed if they can be seen by birds of prey?

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds prefer feeding at a station where they perch and observe the landscape, and then zoom in. Hang feeders on the lower limbs of trees and on shepherd’s hooks close to shrubs and above perennial wildflowers, about five to six feet off the ground. I haven’t read or heard too much about birds of prey in regard to hummingbirds; they move too fast, however, bluejays are said to attack nestlings. House cats and praying mantis pose a more serious threat to hummingbirds.

Eye-catching Red Riding Hood tulips, although not a good source of nectar, will attract by the sheer brilliance of their color, are a wonderful species tulip that reliably returns year after year, and multiplies. We plant Red Riding Hood tulips beneath the boughs of flowering and fruiting trees and shrubs, in hopes, that they too will lure the hummingbirds to our garden during their northward migration. And then, again with high hopes, that the hummingbirds will nest in our garden. For the past nine years, it has been our great good fortune to host throughout the nesting season female Ruby-throated Hummingbirds and then later in the summer, their fledglings!

Mallows provide nectar in later summer and Red Riding Hood tulips attracts by their color. Both are perennial.

The later blooming annual vine, Cardinal Climber, provides nectar for southward migrating RT Hummingbirds.

A chance encounter with the brilliant emerald green feathered female Ruby-throated Hummingbird, drinking nectar from the Wild Sweet William growing in the sand at the base of the Welcome Good Harbor Beach sign.

She is drinking nectar from the wildflower Saponaria officinalis. The plant’s many common names include Soapwort, Bouncing-bet, and Wild Sweet William. The name Soapwort stems from its old fashioned use in soap making. The leaves contain saponin, which was used to make a mild liquid soap, gentle enough for washing fine textiles.

Saponaria blooms during the summertime. Although introduced from Eurasia, you can find this wildflower growing in every state of the continental US.

The hummingbird in the clip is a female. She lacks the brilliant red-feathered throat patch, or gorget, of the male. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are all around us, you just have to know what to plant to bring them to your garden. Mostly they eat tiny insects but if you plant their favorite nectar-providing plants, they will come!

 

EARTH DAY 1970 -2020: “GOOD MORNING CHICKS!” PIPING PLOVER SHORT FILM

5 Replies

There are few things more adorable than Piping Plover chicks, especially Piping Plover chicks waking up after nestling under Mom or Dad (in this instance Mom). They stretch their tiny wing buds, yawn, and usually zoom away with lightening speed but because it was so cold out on this particular morning, they woke up more slowly than if the temperature were warmer. These chicks were filmed at Good Harbor Beach, Gloucester, when they were only three days old.

I find it heartbreaking though just how much garbage washes up and is left behind on beaches. Paper waste is gross; we’ve all seen it and I have footage of chicks getting caught up in toilet paper, seagulls dragging pizza boxes across the beach, and crows eating out of to go containers. Food waste is common, especially after a warm weekend night. Half-eaten discarded food attracts predatory Coyotes and lures chick-eating gulls and crows.

But both food and paper waste will disintegrate eventually. The worst is plastic. It is absolutely everywhere. From the teeniest microplastics to the giant pieces of plastic furniture just simply left behind on the beach

What is the solution?!?

EARTH DAY 1970 – 2020: FREE DOG POOP

2 Replies

One of the most haunting images is dog poop in plastic, found haphazardly discarded in every corner of the City, but nowhere more prominently than at our beaches.

What are we leaving for our children to uncover in fifty years?

These photos were taken on the weekend of March 28th, 2020. For two and a half days, the pile grew larger and larger, greeting everyone as they came on and off the beach. The pile was removed by the DPW on Monday morning.

THANK YOU MAYOR SEFATIA AND THE CITY OF GLOUCESTER FOR FENCING OFF AN AREA FOR THE PIPING PLOVERS AT GOOD HARBOR BEACH!

Leave a reply

On Friday, April 17th, a protective area was set aside for the PiPls at Good Harbor Beach. Despite Everything, and I mean Everything the Mayor and the City government have to contend with during the pandemic, they managed to create a symbolically fenced off area to help the birds establish their nesting site..

Endangered/threatened species signs have yet to be installed. I think it is up to each of us as individuals to let people know about the birds. And I mean we need to do this in a very polite, friendly manner, while also maintaining physical distance. There are no nests with eggs as of yet, so if you see a child, person, or pet run through calmly explain to the adult (never approach children please) that we are protecting threatened shorebirds and they need the space within the roped off area to establish their nests. This is often easier said then done, but the most important thing is to remain calm and kind.

Thank you again Mayor Sefatia, the City of Gloucester, and the DPW!

Papa Plover foraging at dusk

 

 

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

1 Reply

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’

PARKING BAN AT NILES BEACH AND NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS SURROUNDING GOOD HARBOR BEACH AND WINGAERSHEEK BEACH

Leave a reply

New beach parking restrictions are being implemented by the Mayor’s office. These restrictions include Witham Street, Nautilus Road, Eastern Point Road (the road that runs along Niles Beach) and the neighborhood roads around Wingaersheek Beach.

Barricades were placed today in several locations and we imagine more will be forthcoming.

 

Niles Beach Eastern Point Road is clearly barricaded and marked

No barriers yet on Nautilus Road (we expect they are coming)

No barriers yet on Witham Street 

New barriers at the corner of Witham and 127A

Walk-ons allowed and bike stand still in place at Good Harbor Beach

Good Harbor Beach this afternoon, in and out of storms

PIPING PLOVERS ARE HERE AND THEY NEED OUR HELP!

2 Replies

Friends, the Piping Plovers are on Good Harbor Beach!! They arrived on March 22nd and are definitely here to stay. The endangered/threatened species signs have Not Yet been installed, so most people are unaware that they are nesting at Good Harbor.

These are the signs that were installed last year on March 27, two days after the Piping Plovers arrived. Dave Rimmer and Essex County Greenbelt were working with us last summer and their ongoing support was one of the key reasons why we were able to successfully fledge three chicks.

Piping Plover nest scrape, March 2020

The little Dad is building tiny nest scrapes in the sand in nearly the exact same area they were nesting at last year. Please be on the look out and please give them some space until the proper roping and signs are installed. Thank you so much!!!

In case you don’t recall where they were last year (and the three years prior to that), they have made an area between Boardwalk No.3 and the corner of Saratoga Creek their home.

About a week ago, a very narrow corridor of symbolic roping was installed along the entire length of the beach; we presume for dune conservation, because it is far too narrow for the PiPls.

Also, no signs are there to indicate the purpose of the symbolic rope fence, so many folks are walking through and within the roped off area. Last year’s installation, March 27, 2019

Currently, the PiPls are hanging out and nest scraping about ten to twelve feet outside the area where the symbolic fencing ends. We need to widen the area to create a similar footprint to last year’s to make a safe zone for the PiPls.

In the above photo taken a few days ago, you can see where the PiPls are trying to nest, outside the roped off area (Papa Plover is in the lower left quadrant, almost to the midline of the photo). The bird’s efforts are constantly thwarted by people and dogs, no fault of the peoples, because no one knows the PiPls are here without proper signage.

People are sitting in the area where the PiPls are repeatedly trying to nest. This nice group of young folks was not aware that the PiPls are here, because there are no signs posted.

The most important thing for everyone to remember is that the earlier the Piping Plovers are allowed to nest, the earlier they are off the beach. Allowing them to nest early is doubly important this year because as the pandemic breaks, our beaches are going to be flooded with people.  It’s no use to say well they should just find another beach, because these lack of habitat issues are taking place at beaches on both coasts. Wildlife doesn’t stop being threatened or endangered because there is a pandemic, nor does our responsibility to help the birds survive.

If the city has the manpower to place fencing along the entire length of the beach, then we have the manpower to set aside one small area for the PiPls, and to install the endangered/threatened species signs.

If the City does not have the manpower or the funds for signage, then it is not too late to contact Essex Greenbelt for assistance.

Piping Plovers foraging last night at low tide

LOVE IS IN THE AIR – COYOTES IN THE BLUE HOUR

Leave a reply

Prior to dawn this morning, two Eastern Coyotes were spotted perusing Saratoga Creek and Good Harbor Beach. They appeared to be a pair; the huskier of the two was definitely the ‘alpha’ Coyote, with the smaller trotting after the larger. Before crossing the Creek, they both stopped to go pooh and pee in a pile of seaweed.

The larger (am assuming a male, but not entirely sure) has a more mottled snout with a black tail tip, while the smaller of the two has a very black snout and no black on its tail tip.