My View of Life on the Dock
HERE’S TO A HAPPY NEW YEAR AND A HAPPY NEW DECADE! In spending the afternoon reflecting on the past year’s wildlife stories and photos, I have been thinking about what an extraordinary place is Cape Ann. How fortunate we all are to see amazing and beautiful wildlife stories unfolding in our own backyards each and … Continue reading WISHING OUR READERS A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Last night, the Gloucester City Council voted unanimously to make permanent the ordinance change disallowing dogs on the beach after March 31st. A sunset clause had been added to the ordinance when the ordinance  was passed last April. The sunset clause was expected to expire at the end of this year. The vote keeps in … Continue reading WITH GRATITUDE AND APPRECIATION TO GLOUCESTER’S CITY COUNCIL FOR PROTECTING OUR GOOD HARBOR BEACH PIPING PLOVERS!
Jeff Denoncour, Trustees of Reservations Coastal Ecologist, shares some record breaking Piping Plover news from Crane Beach. Jeff writes that “at Crane 49 pairs nested and 87 chicks have fledged, with 8 chicks remaining, a great year and breaking records for Crane!” Piping Plover lift off, times two!
Fly safe little fledgling! It’s heartbreaking to read about the death and devastation wreaked by Hurricane Dorian. Never having been, but greatly wishing to go someday, our hearts go out to the people of this beautiful and magical archipelago, the Bahamas. Several friends have written asking about what happens to shorebirds, especially the Atlantic Coast … Continue reading PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE AND WILDLIFE OF THE BAHAMIAN ISLANDS
HAPPY NESTING AND HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY FRIENDS! Mama on the nest Our GHB Piping Plover family is doing beautifully and all appears to be going as expected. It’s almost been a week since the PiPls began incubating the eggs full time. Mama Pippi and Big Papi take turns at the nest, in approximately 20 to … Continue reading PIPING PLOVER MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND UPDATE
I stopped by on my way home from work, fully expecting to see all three chicks hatched. Dad was sitting on the nest and two fluffy chicks were zooming in and out. He left the nest for a moment and wonderful luck of luck, the third chick was making its appearance!! When I write messy, … Continue reading THE WONDERFUL MIRACLE AND MESSINESS OF BIRTH – PIPING PLOVER CHICKS HATCHING PART TWO
As many of our readers know, this summer while finishing up with editing my Monarch film, I have also been continuing to document our Good Harbor Beach Piping Plovers. To make the best and most informed documentary, I have also been filming at other north of Boston beach locations. During our last heat wave, we … Continue reading THE WONDERFUL MIRACLE AND MESSINESS OF BIRTH – PIPING PLOVER CHICKS HATCHING PART ONE
Just a very brief update from my morning 5-7am shift- I was happy to see Mom has returned to looking after the chicks. It’s really a relief because the beach was so crowded today with beach goers, beginning very early this morning. The chicks (all three!) spent most of the day at the creek with … Continue reading HAPPY JULY FOURTH PIPING PLOVER UPDATE – MOM RETURNS!
Just a very brief update from my morning 5-7am shift- I was happy to see Mom has returned to looking after the chicks. It’s really a relief because the beach was so crowded today with beach goers, beginning very early this morning. The chicks (all three!) spent the day at the creek with volunteer monitors … Continue reading HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY PIPING PLOVER UPDATE – MOM RETURNS!
Gloucester Plovers Go Swimming! New short created for Mass Wildlife Coastal Waterbird Cooperators. Turn up the volume to hear the chicks peeping and Dad Plover piping.
Gloucester Plovers Go Swimming! New short film created for Mass Wildlife Coastal Waterbird Cooperators. Turn up the volume to hear the chicks peeping and Dad Plover piping.
Briefest update just to let everyone know the hatchlings are all doing beautifully. So many thanks to everyone who is volunteering ❤ One-day-old teeny tiny wing buds We are having an informal get together at Good Harbor Beach Sunday afternoon at 4:00 for anyone interested in becoming a Piping Plover monitor and learning more about the … Continue reading PIPING PLOVERS DAY TWO AND TINIEST OF WING BUDS
Fifteen-day-old Piping Plover chicks Last year I posted a similarly titled post, Happy Father’s Day! Brought to You By Papa Plover,with a photo of Papa PiPl snuggling our one remaining chick, Pip. This year we have a sweet photo from yesterday of our Papa PiPl snuggling all three chicks, not just one chick as was the … Continue reading HAPPY FATHER’S DAY – BROUGHT TO YOU BY PIPING PLOVER DADS!
Hello Friends, I hope you are all doing well, or as well as can be expected during this heartbreaking pandemic event. The following kind words were spoken by Pope Francis today and I think they could not be truer. “We are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same … Continue reading CAPE ANN EARLY SPRING WILDLIFE UPDATE
During this heat wave I have been concerned about one of the Piping Plover families that I am documenting. They are nesting in an exposed site and it is late in the season. I wondered if their eggs were at risk of becoming overheated. As of Saturday, my worries were for naught. Both the Mom … Continue reading HOW DO NESTING BIRDS SUCH AS PIPING PLOVERS KEEP FROM BOILING THEIR EGGS IN A HEAT WAVE?
Today our little chicks, all three, turn ten-days-old. This is a milestone in that their chances of survival are greatly improved when they reach the age of ten-days-old. The family of five spent the morning foraging, mostly in the protected area, and venturing to the shoreline only occasionally. A Mourning Dove made his way through … Continue reading HAPPY TEN-DAY-OLD BIRTHDAY TO OUR PIPING PLOVER CHICKS!
It’s been another unseasonably cold and wet week for the Good Harbor Beach Piping Plovers (and all of we humans, too!). This morning, April 29th, at 5:45 am it was 36 degrees, and I nearly lost my balance on the unexpectedly frost-covered footbridge. Crickly creek frosty morning at Good Harbor Beach On the few warmer … Continue reading THE GOOD HARBOR BEACH PIPING PLOVERS UPDATE
A question often asked is “where do the birds go when the weather is inclement?” The answer depends on what type of bird. Some birds, like perching birds, have it a bit easier than seabirds and shorebirds because their little toes reflexively cling tightly to a branch or limb. But many, many birds lose their … Continue reading WHERE DO PIPING PLOVERS GO IN BAD WEATHER?
One-day-old chicks foraging at the shoreline on a foggy Memorial Day Monday It was a beautiful Memorial Day weekend in more ways than one. Piping Plover chicks have been hatching all around Massachusetts this past week and I was fortunate to observe two nests with a total of six one-day-old chicks zooming around beaches. We’re … Continue reading PIPING PLOVER WEEKLY UPDATE – ONE-DAY-OLD CHICKS AND NESTING AROUND MASSACHUSETTS!
Snapshots from beautiful Duxbury  A new twist on a dream home -living in a Lighthouse House. The private home is sited at the beginning of the wooden Powder Point Bridge. Wonderful fun to drive across Powder Point Bridge, which was at one time the oldest and longest wooden bridge in the US. It lost that status when … Continue reading BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL DUXBURY!
Good Morning Gloucester 