GOOD NIGHT LITTLE CHICKS

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Nine pm, the tail end of the July Fourth weekend, and all three Piping Plover chicks are tucked under Dad’s wings. Great work everyone! Good night little Plovers.

GOOD HARBOR BEACH PIPING PLOVERS DAY TWELVE

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Twelve-day-old Piping Plover Chick

This morning found all three chicks (hooray for three!) hungrily zooming around the symbolic enclosure, as well as outside the roped off area, and occasionally down to the water’s edge, but only for very brief moments. When the PiPl chicks get to the water they drink quickly before mom or dad calls them back up towards the wrack zone. Later in the morning they will journey over to the creek, where they can safely spend more time in the water drinking and feeding.

Zooming around the beach at top speed.

So this morning, five of the endangered nesting bird signs were either knocked over or mangled. Young adults lighting fires on a busy public beach is just plain dumb, but destroying the signs is just plain unkind. The Piping Plover monitor volunteers are so terrific and 99.99999999999 percent of the community are rooting for the Plovers; it’s just sad to see how a tiny minority can so negatively impact Plover recovery programs.

More food for thought–why do you think there was a Coyote spotted this morning on Nautilus Road in nearly exactly the same spot where there should be a trash barrel? Because of the disgusting pile of food and plastic garbage that sits there every night and well into the morning (or blows into the marsh and ocean), until the DPW arrives. The Coyote’s favorite meal is the the human garbage they have scavenged. Additionally this morning, I filmed super up close two crows alongside the Plover area and they were very expertly digging in the sand and un-burying food that had been buried there in the sand.

Mama Plover and twelve-day-old chicks.

Thankfully, Patti Amaral and the King family reset the signs and a full schedule of volunteers will be monitoring the PiPlover family again today. Thank you to all the volunteers and to our wonderful community for all you are doing to help the Piping Plovers survive our busiest of beaches.

Happy Fourth of July Glorious Beach Day!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWHp6Z3lYH6/

SATURDAY GREASY POLE WALKS AND NOTICE TO ALL WALKERS

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Congratulations again to Randy Sweet, the Saturday (and Friday) 2017 Greasy Pole Champion!Fantastic Walks Saturday Walkers, and Wonderful Costumes, too!

Several of the GP Walkers have asked how much I would charge to print photos of their walk. No charge. If you would like a photo that you have seen here on GMG, please drag it off the post onto your desktop, or take a screenshot, and send it to me in an email. I will send you the highest resolution file, which is best for printing. You can print however many you would like for your personal use. My email address is kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com.

Here are links to Sunday’s walk, and I will try to post Friday’s early week:

Sunday 2017 Greasy Pole

Jake Wagner

Randy Sweet Your 2017 Saturday Greasy Pole Champion

TRASH IDEA SHARED BY GMG READER BARBARA FARRER

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

GMG Reader Barbara Farrer shares an excellent trash idea and photo,

“My daughter and I went for a walk on the beach today and picked up handfuls of trash. This picture is from walking around 1/3 of the length of the beach and we couldn’t carry anymore garbage by that point. We noticed an abundance of plastic straw wrappers that we suspect came from the snack bar; perhaps the city should consider providing unwrapped straws to mitigate the problem, or stop giving straws (although that would be the tip of the iceberg). The real solution is a little effort and consideration by those who visit our beach, but a change to the snack bar’s straw policy may be a good start.”

FIVE ENDANGERED BIRD SIGNS BENT, MANGLED, OR COMPLETELY KNOCKED OVER THIS MORNING

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

The good news is all three chick survived over night. The bad news is five of the endangered bird species signs were destroyed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWHp6Z3lYH6/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWHuckkFNoc/

If your deck chairs are missing…and you want to see a coyote

Posted on by Catherine

We found them at Good Harbor Beach, July 4 2017. The striped cushions are the right color! The pair were upended and cushions scattered along with various party remnants between the pedestrian bridge and the piping plover enclosure. We righted them and set them up for Piper Plover viewing.  Some folks vandalized the endangered species signs and littered, and others were picking up trash and repairing.  The coyote and birds were on the move.

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There was a great crow ruckus in the trees across from Blue Shutters Beachside Inn and out popped the coyote. Hung around the creek and then off down the road past http://www.blueshuttersbeachside.com/ 

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Patti Amaral July 4, 2017

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Peggy and Patty July 4, 2017– Peggy spotted the plover family of 5 this morning, Day 12. All are ok after an eventful Day 11 — see Kim Smith’s glorious photojournalism update 

 

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Piping plover 3rd shift brought a hammer

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Here’s an article in the New York Times about Brad Hall who was on our podcast this Sunday 

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Here’s an article in the New York Times about Brad Hall who we had on our podcast this Sunday to promote The Effect, a play he’s starring in along with Lindsay Crouse @GloucesterStage. We had a lot of laughs during the podcast. 

Listen to the Podcast here- https://goodmorninggloucester.wordpress.com/category/podcast/

Read the NYT article here-

PIPING PLOVERS DAY ELEVEN!

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Three eleven-day-old Piping Plover chicks, one preening, and two under Mama’s wing. 

With the beach rake, crows, gulls, fires, dogs, garbage, and humans simply enjoying our beautiful Good Harbor Beach, there is mortal danger at every moment for these tiniest of birds. Thank you to all the awesome volunteers for all that you are doing to keep these little balls of fluff safe. Eleven days surviving, especially during a holiday weekend, is no small feat!

Learning to follow Mom’s voice commands.

Counting little pairs of legs under Mama’s wing.

TREMENDOUSLY EXCITING NEWS AND SAVE THE DATE: SNOTBOT ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC LIVE!!!

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns
Iain Kerr writes, 
Hi Kim,

This Week in the Arts

Posted on by James Eves

Introducing the 2017 RNAC
Goetemann Fellowship Recipient,
Nathan Thomas Wilson

Introduction and Artist Talk:
Wednesday, July 5, 7 PM at the Cultural Center, 6 Wonson Street, Gloucester.

Public Art Installation, Reception and Talk:
Tuesday, July 25 at 7 PM at Ocean Alliance, 32 Horton Street, Gloucester.

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Ocean Alliance Building

The Rocky Neck Art Colony (RNAC) and the Goetemann Artist Residency (GAR) welcome artist Nathan Thomas Wilson as the inaugural Goetemann Fellowship recipient. The Goetemann Fellowship is a new award, established in 2017 as a vehicle to bring public art to Rocky Neck.

This year, in partnership with Ocean Alliance, the Goetemann Artist Residency hosts Nathan Wilson at the residency studio on Madfish Wharf as he installs artwork on the grounds of Ocean Alliance, site of the former Wonson Paint Factory. Measuring 30 x 40 feet and located on the windswept Gloucester waterfront, in the gravel parking lot of the Ocean Alliance facility, the site is highly visible to passing fishing ships, sailing, and recreational boats, and provides public access for tourists and visitors on foot or by car. The installation is designed to illuminate the mission of Ocean Alliance that “strives to increase public awareness of the importance of whale and ocean health through research and public education.” The artist has open access to the site.

Wilson received an MFA at The University of Pennsylvania and earned a Post Graduate diploma in Visual Arts at Goldsmith’s College, London. He currently teaches at Emmanuel College in Boston and Curry College in Milton, MA as well as a class in Collaborative Sculpture at MIT in Cambridge, MA. He received a Lawrence Shprintz Award at The University of Pennsylvania and was a nominee for a Joan Mitchell MFA Award among others.

Wilson has installed several works of art in and around Boston and the RNAC/GAR is proud to welcome him to Cape Ann. At an opening talk on Wednesday, July 5, 7 PM, at the Cultural Center on Rocky Neck, 6 Wonson Street in Gloucester, Wilson talks about his work and creating installations. On Tuesday, July 25, 7 PM, at the installation site at 32 Horton Street, Gloucester, the results of his work on Rocky Neck will be revealed. In the event of inclement weather, the talk will be held at the Goetemann Residency Studio at 6 Madfish Wharf, 77 Rocky Neck Ave, Gloucester. Both events are free of charge and the public is invited to attend.

The Residency committee and RNAC place exceptional value on the year-round work performed by the Alliance. Their continuing efforts to protect existing whale populations while educating the public about the fragility of our oceans resonates with the entire world.

The Ocean Alliance strives to increase public awareness of the importance of whale and ocean health through research and public education. We work with our scientific partners to collect a broad spectrum of data on whales and ocean life. Ocean Alliance uses this data to advise educators, policy makers, and the general public on wise stewardship of the oceans to mitigate pollution, prevent the collapse of marine mammal populations, and promote ocean and human health. Ocean Alliance, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit Organization, was founded in 1971.

For More Information:
Email: info@rockyneckartcolony.org
Ocean Alliance www.whale.org.

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FIRE ON GOOD HARBOR BEACH

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

This morning I arrived at 5am to check on the plovers and two young guys were building a fire right next to the Piping Plover sanctuary. I watched from a distance for a moment as they built up the fire, and then they crossed the beach to leave. I called the police to come put out the fire and asked the guys, hey what’s up with the bonfire? Their mysterious response was that they were coming back to add more wood. They left via the footbridge and a few seconds later, the police arrived to extinguish the fire.

Building a fire where children will shortly be running around in the sand is a really, really dumb idea. Not only that, but the PiPl family were super stressed, which is not usually the case during daybreak hours. 

At about 5:30, two crows entered the sanctuary, eating garbage that had blown in. The parents were very distracted by the crows. At an opportune moment, when the chicks were on the opposite side of the crows and garbage, I ran into the roped off area and removed the enticing chicken remains, and chased away the crows. Crows and gulls are only on Good Harbor Beach in great numbers because of the garbage left behind. If there were no garbage, there would be no gulls and no crows.Pre dawn, and pre-arrival of the DPW, with lots of plastic littering the beach, which washes into the ocean each and every night.