My View of Life on the Dock
Everything lined up timing-wise early morning the day after Thanksgiving. The sky was clear and bright and that too made for perfect moon-viewing. Despite the wind and bitterly cold temperature, it was beautiful to see. After watching the moon descend over St. Ann, I walked further up the harbor and found a few more moon photos.
Readers may have seen the tragic story about frozen and cold-stunned sea turtles found on Cape Cod beaches over Thanksgiving week. The gale force winds and record breaking freezing temperatures trapped and killed over 200 sea turtles. I wanted to learn why this was happening and what to do if we find a cold-stunned or frozen turtle on a Cape Ann beach.
Sea turtles are tropical and ectothermic. They do not nest north of the Carolinas however, the juveniles of the species of sea turtles that are seen in Massachusetts are carried north by the Gulf Stream during the summer months. The turtles are mostly feeding on crabs, jellyfish, and algae in northern waters. At the onset of winter, juveniles return to warmer waters.
The five species of turtles that may be seen in Massachusetts are Kemp’s Ridley, Leatherback, Loggerhead, Green Turtle, and Hawksbill. But some of the juveniles don’t return quickly enough, and as the water temperature in Cape Cod Bay decreases, the turtles may become disoriented by the hook-shape of the Cape. When the temperature reaches fifty degrees, the turtles become immobilized, or cold-stunned, and are too frozen to eat or to swim. When they are too cold to swim, the turtles are tossed about by wind, waves, and currents. When the wind blows from the north or from the west, the sea turtles may be washed ashore and then stranded by the receding tide.
POSTED FROM MASS AUDUBON
It is very important to recover these stranded turtles as quickly as possible. Do not assume a turtle is dead—turtles that appear lifeless are often still alive. If you come across a stranded sea turtle on the beach, please follow these simple steps:
Sea turtles are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act; as such, it is illegal to harass sea turtles or transport them without a permit.
Kemp’s Ridley
Leatherback
Loggerhead
Green Turtle
Hawksbill
All photos courtesy wiki commons media and World Wildlife
Thank you to all who come out and join in! It’s a great time for all, and helps make possible all our programs offered year round at Art Haven. We look forward to seeing everyone—old friends and new—again this year!
Please bring your children to come paint their own unique buoy to adorn our Lobster Trap Tree for this holiday season!
Below are dates for kids by school with extra days for make up and the general public
Location: Art Haven Studios
East Gloucester Elementary: Monday 12/3 – 3:30-5:00pm
Veterans Memorial: Monday 12/3 – 3:30-5:00pm
Plum Cove Elementary: Tuesday 12/4 – 3:30-5:00pm
Beeman Elementary: Tuesday 12/4 – 3:30-5:00pm
West Parish Elementary: Wednesday 12/5 – 3:30-5:00pm
Rockport Elemenary School: Wednesday 12/5 – 3:30-5:00pm
O’ Maley Middle School: Wednesday 12/5 – 3:30-5:00pm
Manchester/Essex Elementary: Wednesday – 12/5 – 3:30-5:00pm
Open Day for Everyone: Saturday – 12/1 – 10:0am – 1:00pm
David Brooks and crew spent a solid eight hour day building Gloucester’s famous lobster trap tree, the one and only lobster trap Christmas tree decorated with hand painted buoys by local children and artists. They will be returning tomorrow to finish up, weather permitting. Lending a hand this afternoon when I stopped by to take snapshots were Mark Schlichte, Shawn Henry, Jake Hennessey, Peter Asaro, Jason Burroughs, and David Brooks. If you see these guys around town, let them know how awesome you think they are!
The exciting news is that this year we will be enjoying COLORED lights!!! Although white holiday lights are wonderful and beautiful, it just seems to me that colored lights on our lobster trap tree are more festive and compliment better the hand painted buoys. For the past several years, the tree was decorated with white lights and I am glad to see they are mixing it up with colored lights this year. What is your personal preference?
Fishing boats and gulls heading out by Ten Pound Island Lighthouse
Brace Cove Sunrise
The best kind of invasion–an usual bird invasion! The flock of male and female Black Scoters was fairly far offshore at daybreak. Later in the day I checked back on the scoters and they were continuing their southerly directed swim along the shoreline, but a little closer to the rocky coastline. Oh how I wish we could see them really close-up!
Male Black Scoters sport a distinctive orange-knobbed bill
I call them little because they are the smallest of the three scoters we would see in our area, the other two being Surf Scoters and White-winged Scoters. Even from far off shore I could hear their soft whistling calls.
The little Black Scoter breeds in the northern tundra, wintering along both the East and West coasts, as well as the Gulf of Mexico. This beautiful little duck is a species thought to be in decline, namely because of its susceptibility to oil spills and pollution.
November’s nearly full Frost Moon was rising over Brace Cove, while the sun was setting over the harbor. Violet sunset clouds swirled around the rising moon when moments later the moon shone brightly through the pine trees.
November’s full moon is also called the Beaver Moon-both the early colonists and Algonquin tribes named it so because November was the designated time of year to set Beaver traps before ponds and swamps froze.
November Frost Moon rising over Niles Pond
Harbor Seals in the setting sun and rising moonlight–a seal-a-rock 🙂
Humorist David Sedaris’
SANTALAND DIARIES
Featuring
Steven Barkhimer
A ONE-NIGHT-ONLY HOLIDAY FUNDRAISER FOR GSC
Gloucester Stage Company presents a one-night only performance of David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello, on Saturday, December 1 at 7:30 pm at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. This special holiday event is a benefit for the 39 year old non-profit theater. Tickets start at $50 and include festive libations and holiday treats. Originally featured on NPR’s This American Life, humorist David Sedaris wrote about the downside of holiday joy in a collection of fanciful stories based on his experiences called the Santaland Diaries. The Diaries are about Sedaris’ two Christmas seasons working as an elf in Macy’s department store in New York’s Herald Square. This one-elf show follows the somewhat-flawed Macy’s department store elf named Crumpet on some of his adventures during the holiday rush. Directed by Scott Caron, the one-night-only comic holiday tale features Steven Barkhimer. A GSC veteran, Barkhimer made his GSC debut in 2008’s chilling mystery play The Woman in Black. He went on to appear from 2010 through 2012 in GSC’s critically acclaimed The Norman Conquests trilogy, the story of a hilarious reunion of adult siblings and their spouses. Mr. Barkhimer has performed with The Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Company One, Stoneham Theatre and New Repertory Theatre. He can be seen on film in the award winning feature film The Fighter. A playwright as well, Mr. Barkhimer was the recipient of the John Cauble Award for Best Short Play at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. Santaland Diaries director Scott Caron was the GSC 2018 Directing Apprentice. A director, actor and educator, Mr. Caron is a native of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Mr. Caron is a co-founder of The Regatta Players, a company he administrated from its 2010 inception until making his directorial debut with their 2017 productions, First Date and Evita. Mr. Caron is also a coach for Shrewsbury High School’s Speech and Debate Team with state-level and national champions in drama and public speaking. He holds a BFA in Music Theatre from The Hartt School (University of Hartford)
David Sedaris’ Santaland Diaries, adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello, is Saturday, December 1 at 7:30 pm at Gloucester Stage Company, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Ticket prices start at $50 and include a reception with holiday treats. For more information about Gloucester Stage, or to purchase tickets, call the Box Office at 978-281-4433 or visit www.gloucesterstage.com
Photos:
Steven Barkhimer in Santaland Diaries
Courtesy Photo
Steven Barkhimer with Lindsay Crouse in 2010’s Table Manners, the first comedy in The Norman Conquests dan
Photo Credit: Eric Levenson
A view that never disappoints-
Choppy harbor waters
Storm clouds clearing
Later that same afternoon
Beautiful breakers and sunset light slipping through the clouds after the storm.
Mother Ann’s silhouette through the waves
GLOUCESTER TIMES
By Ray Lamont Staff Writer
A man suspected of holding up the Institution for Savings bank outlet on Parker Street in Gloucester moments after 9 Monday morning has been captured by police in Lynn.
The man, whose identify has not yet been released, was taken into custody as he came off a bus in Lynn, Gloucester interim police Chief John McCarthy has confirmed. The suspect had apparently ridden it there while trying to escape from Gloucester.
Gloucester and Massachusetts State Police had been searching for a man described as being in his 30s and wearing with a black hat and black sweatshirt who reportedly held up the bank branch at 4 Parker St. in Gloucester about an hour after the branch opened at 8 a.m. McCarthy said he anticipates the suspect will be arraigned Tuesday in Gloucester District Court.
A sign placed on the bank door by 9:30 a.m. indicated that the facility was temporarily closed while offering an apology to customers for their “inconvenience.” The bank’s drive-up windows and automated teller machine were also shut down on the exterior of the building.
Friday afternoon, after the nor’easter, the sun came out just barely before the skies again darkened with a brief snow squall. I was driving along Atlantic Road during those fleeting in between moments when way off in the distance I spied a flock of birds, with the distinct shape of swans in flight. Swans fly with their long necks extended, unlike herons and egrets, which fly with their necks tucked in. What is Mr. Swan doing out in this wildly windy weather I thought. But it wasn’t Mr. Swan, it was an entire family of Swans! There were two adults and four cygnets. Stunning to see and very uplifting. They flew over the Twin Lights and then further and further until I could not see them any longer.
The first and third swans are the adults, the second, fourth, fifth and sixth are the cygnets, or first-hatch year juveniles.The young swans will retain their grayish brown feathers until their second summer.
Swans and wave crashing
A few more of the Mute Swan family flying toward and over Thacher Island
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqK2ObAn04I/
Saturday morning at 8:30 am, an injured Eastern Coyote was spotted In East Gloucester. The coyote was not bearing weight on its right back leg. He trotted gimpily up Plum Street, before heading down a driveway halfway up the street.
Note in all the photos the Coyote is holding up his right side back paw.
Sick and injured coyotes can be unpredictable although, this one appeared nonchalant. I at first thought it was a large dog and was headed towards him to possibly help him find his way home. Despite its inability to put weight on its paw, his coat looks healthy and and he was almost jaunty, leg injury and all.
Calling this photo “Clump of Grass in the Richdale Parking Lot,” or “why I never leave my cameras at home, even to run an errand to the corner store.” Because we live on Cape Ann.
CAPE COD TIMES
November 15, 2018
By Beth Treffeisen
CHATHAM — The last surviving member of the Coast Guard crew aboard the motor lifeboat 36500 during the historic 1952 rescue of 32 seamen off the stricken oil tanker Pendleton rescue has died.
Andrew Fitzgerald — known as a funny, brave and reluctant hero — was 86.
“It was a dark and stormy night,” Fitzgerald would say at the start of the story about the harrowing night of Feb. 18. 1952, which forever changed his life.
As a nor’easter raged off the shores of Cape Cod, two large tankers split in half, propelling the then 20-year-old Coast Guard engineer and three other Coast Guardsmen into history on their 36-foot boat.
Facing 60-foot high seas, the four men boarded the 36500, led by coxswain Bernard Webber, and headed out into the storm to find the sinking tanker Pendleton, where 33 men waited anxiously for help.
As the crew of the 36500 navigated through the Chatham sandbar, which is tricky enough on a good day, they lost their compass, said Peter Kennedy, who worked on the major restoration of the boat.
Fitzgerald was in the front of the boat when it hit some swells and knocked him all the way back toward the rear, he said.
Then, the engine stalled and Fitzgerald had to go down below and re-prime it, said Kennedy. Fitzgerald was burned by the hot plugs as he restarted the engine, Kennedy said.
“He had quite a history,” said Kennedy. “He was thrown out of the boat and got back into the boat to restart the engine in 30- to 40-foot seas.”
The crew of the Coast Guard rescue boat 365000 after rescuing 32 crewmen from the tanker Pendleton off the coast of Chatham in 1952. From left are Bernie Webber, Andrew Fitzgerald, Richard Livesey, and Ervin Maske. Coast Guard Photo
A spunky female Hooded Merganser was seen for a day, skittering about Eastern Point. Don’t you love her cinnamon-colored feather-do? Her crest looked especially beautiful when she swam into sunlit areas.
Sightings of Hooded Mergansers nesting in Massachusetts are on the rise. Like Wood Ducks, Hooded Mergansers nest in tree cavities. The natural reforestation of Massachusetts over the past one hundred years has increased nesting habitat. And too, Hooded Mergansers have benefitted from nesting box programs designed to encourage Wood Duck nesting.
Hoodies eat crustaceans, fish, and insects. As water quality in Massachusetts has improved so too has the prey population increased. Additionally, the statewide recovery of North American Beavers has increased nesting habitat for many species of birds, including Hooded Mergansers and Wood Ducks.
I looked for the little Hoodie on subsequent days, but only saw her that one afternoon. The photos included here, of a singular male, were taken in Rockport in 2016.
Male Hooded Merganser (and Mallard), Rockport Harbor
Watch as the one-day old Hooded Merganser ducklings skydive to the forest floor, from a nest cavity five stories high up a tree.
Hooded Mergansers, like Cowbirds, often lay their eggs in other bird’s nests, including other Hooded Mergansers. Although a female Hoodie can lay up to 13 eggs, in one nest 44 Hooded Merganser ducklings hatched!
Hooded Merganser Range Map
Lookin’ Good Mr. Swan!
Mr. Swan busking, a thing swans do to look twice as large and threatening.
Cape Ann’s beautiful blue-eyed swan is doing quite well especially considering he is at least 28 YEARS OLD. It is highly unusual for a Mute Swan to live that long. Wild Mute Swans live on average eight to twelve years. In captivity, they can live up to 40 years, but our Mr. Swan hardly lives the cushy life of a Queen’s swan.
He is only occasionally a little gimpy on his bad leg. Mr. Swan still manages to rule most of Cape Ann’s waterways, from the Annisquam River to Rockport Harbor, and everything in between.
Rock On, Mr. Swan!
Our friend and neighbor Pilar Davis, who is a creative writing middle school student, wrote the following poem for a “Where I Live” assignment. Many thanks to Pilar for sharing her beautiful, beautiful poem ❤
I am from strings of lights
From incense and craft materials
I am from warm colors
From Ikea furniture and flower boxes
I am from hugs and kisses
I am from Thanksgivings together,
From cinnamon buns on Christmas morning
From salty hair and sandy feet
From sailboats and sunsets
I am from the treehouse in the huge maple tree
From wood and splinters
From bare feet and scrapes
From the ocean
From friends who are siblings
From a neighborhood of friends and family who love and trust
From camping in the summer and sledding in the winter
I am from Lemonade stands and quarry mornings
From running from house to house
From ”play ‘till you can’t anymore”
I am from please and thank you
From cozy rainy days with popcorn and hot chocolate
I am from “Lisa’s chocolate chip cookies” and “Grandma Davis pasta salad”
From boats and adventure
I am from art
I am from happiness and laughter
From singing my heart out and passion
From the big swing in the backyard
From fires in the fire pit
I am from beautiful and peaceful East Gloucester
The photo of Pilar was taken several years ago. She’s more grown up now, but remains the same beautiful person, inside and out.
Good Morning Gloucester 