Tag: Good Harbor Beach

INJURED (AND NON-INJURED) PIPING PLOVER CHICKS UPDATE

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Our little injured chick is hanging on. Crystal from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine phoned to report that she fed him through the night. He remains on supportive care and is being given antibiotics and pain medication. Little chick has been moved to a heated incubator. The veterinarians are again stating that prognosis is unpredictable.

What are these things called wings?

Meanwhile, these two chick were having an easier morning than usual. There were no fires, dogs, or beach rake, and with the cooler temperatures and overcast skies, many fewer people. PiPl super volunteer monitor Hazel came by with flyers of the injured chick and she posted them around the beach, hoping to help people understand why we need to be on the look out for chicks afoot.

Fifteen-day-old Piping Plover Chick with MamaI wonder what a baby bird think of its funny little appendages that will soon grow into beautiful wings?

Not a great deal of information is known about when exactly PiPl fledge. Some say 25 days and some reports suggest up to 32 days. In my own observations filming a PiPl family last summer on Wingaersheek Beach, the fledglings could not fly very well until mid-August. The PiPl fledglings and parents maintained a family bond through the end of August, even after it was becoming difficult to tell whether they were fledglings or adults. All during that period, the fledglings appeared still dependent upon the adults, who were still parenting, for example, offering distinctive piping instruction especially when perceived danger such as joggers and dogs were in the vicinity.

Two little butts, extra snuggles under Dad’s brood patch on this chilly day fifteen.

INJURED PIPING PLOVER UPDATE #2

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns
4:20pm Update:
Catherine, George, and Charles drove our littlest chick to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts. Thanks to Jodi, they were prepared and waiting for him. Little chick was assigned a case number and we were told to call after 3pm. As I am writing this report, Avery from the school just returned my phone call. She sounds terrific and was very helpful in explaining little chick’s injury and care. He has a traumatic brain injury, most likely caused by being stepped on. Little chick is being given supportive care, which includes pain medication, an anti-inflammatory, and fluids. He is also in an oxygen cage that allows him to breathe more easily. The vets are guarded in their prognosis as recovery from head trauma is very unpredictable.

Very sadly, I have to report that dogs were running around the beach unleashed at the time of the injury. No one witnessed exactly what happened, but last year I saw a dog running over and instantly killing a chick, despite my very best efforts to get the owner to control his dog. This morning at 6am dogs were on the beach leashed, but the owner was obliviously walking her two dogs through the sanctuary area precisely where the chicks were darting about. Leashed or unleashed, irresponsible dog owners are one of the chick’s greatest threats. Please, please folks tell your friends and neighbors about the Plovers and why it is so important to follow the dog ordinances. It seems as though late in the day, after 5 and before sunset, the chicks are the most vulnerable. Perhaps folks think its okay to bring dogs to the beach after the life guards leave. Early evening is exactly the same time of day that the chick was killed last year.

Our two Good Harbor Beach siblings, this morning at fourteen days old.
Earlier this morning updates:
Catherine writes, “I called Kim who met me right away at the beach. Soon After 9pm Jodi was there getting the bird. Jodi implemented  ER incubator and hydration methods. By 11pm chick pooped which may be sign that he was reacting to rehydration. (She explained that body shuts down digestion quickly to protect brain and heart. Pooping could be things working.) One eye swollen may equal head injury or seizure. All was speculation and she hoped chick would make it through night.”
Volunteer Nancy, who found the chick wrote, “My daughter spotted the chick on the soft sand lying just off the wet sand of the creek bed near where we were this morning. My son in law carried the chick from creek bed to large enclosure. I held chick while giving it water and tried to keep it warm, then put it in the covered part of the enclosure on advice of Audubon woman, hoping its mom would be able to give care. We called every emergency number we could find but no one picked up. Thank you so much for responding as you did.”
Today at 6:15am–dog walking through the Plover’s sanctuary–leashed or unleashed, dogs (as well as people) unintentionally step on Plovers. Please be careful.

INJURED PIPING PLOVER UPDATE

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Our littlest Piping Plover is on its way to Tufts with Catherine and her sons George and Charles.

Photo: Jodi Swenson, Cape Ann Wildlife. Jodi is Cape Ann’s resident bird rescue expert.

BREAKING: TWO CHICKS CELEBRATING TWO WEEK MILESTONE, ONE CHICK HANGING ON BY A THREAD

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Mama and the two fourteen-day-old chicks this morning at daybreak.

Two of our three Piping Plover chicks are doing beautifully, the third however is hanging on for dear life. The littlest chick was found limp and helpless by beach goers, on the dune edge near the creek. The chick was placed in the wire enclosure where Catherine Ryan and I found it at around nine pm. Jodi Swenson from Cape Ann Wildlife arrived shortly thereafter. She immediately tucked the chick into her shirt and has been keeping the chick in a warming nest. Jodi reports that the chick’s eye is swollen and that it is having neurological problems. More information to follow.Little Chick’s right eye is very swollen.
Jodi’s snapshot from last night.

GOOD HARBOR BEACH PIPING PLOVERS DAY THIRTEEN

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Thirteen-day-old Piping Plover Chicks

Foraging for tiny crustaceans at the high water line.

This morning at 5am found all three adorable balls of fluff zig zagging in and out of their roped off area. All was going well and I had planned to leave at 6:30 for work when the beach rake arrived on the scene. At the very moment the roaring rake was passing in front of the roped off safety area, the chicks decided to head to the water. It was harrowing trying to herd the chicks back up towards the wrack zone and at one point I lost sight of one. The rake passed twice in front of the sanctuary and both times the chicks were in extreme, extreme danger. The beach rake driver is super conscientious and stopped for Papa Plover when he ran in front of the rake, but not in a million years would a chick have been seen. I think eventually the chicks will learn to run in the opposite direction of the giant noise-making machine, but at this stage of development, they are running directly towards the beach rake. Additionally, while the rake drama was unfolding, half a dozen gulls flew in. I don’t know if they were there to check on what was tumbled up by the beach rake, or if they knew the babies were vulnerable as both parents were trying to herd the chicks away from the rake.

After writing this post, the next order of business is emailing Dave from Greenbelt and our conservation agent Ken Whittaker about the beach rake. I sincerely hope it can be redirected to stay on either side of the safety zone, traveling behind the beach through the parking lot road to clean both sides, but completely avoiding the area the PiPls are using as their morning and night time sanctuary.

Compare the photo on the left of a one-day-old chick and the photo on the right of the thirteen-day-old chick.

Despite their growing size, warmth and cuddles are still needed from Papa and Mama.

One of my favorite images, I think I’ll call this photo OctoPop.

Thirteen-day-old Piping Plover chick looking mighty confident.

Ocean is warm enough to swim – went from 61 to 65 degrees in one day

Posted on by Catherine

Never fails to amaze me how that can happen so quickly!

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CAPE ANN SUP is renting paddle boards at Cape Ann Motor Inn Long Beach and Beauport Hotel Pavilion Beach. It’s a great day to try it out, but be warned. We did that last year and bought a couple of kypads because of Dominic!

 Save the Date August 12  and check out Cape Ann SupahBowl 

We’re looking forward to the First Annual Cape Ann SUPAHBOWL on site at Beauport Hotel.

SUP

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!

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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/

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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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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.

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.

CHANGES COMING TO GOOD HARBOR BEACH

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Possibly you’ve noticed the missing sign at Good Harbor Beach. It was removed by the DPW in preparation for construction at GHB, by the footbridge. A foot bath is planned, the retaining wall needs fortifying, and a guest landing pad is being created. The work is scheduled to begin after the Fourth of July holiday.

Your Daily Good Harbor Beach Garbage Photo 

Gloucester high school athletes summer beach training

Posted on by Catherine

These coaches and kids show up Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays and really dig in.  The Volunteer coaches today were Zach Smith and Kyle. Michael Lattoff (sp?) is retiring and started this boot camp 30+ years ago.  I marvel at the dedication of volunteer coaches.

My piping plover watch shift overlaps with this session. Good Harbor Beach piping plovers are conditioning alongside these hardworking athletes. The birds have to be well and strong for migration; zipping about the beach is no picnic.

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Tough drills start low and use the ocean, too

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When there were 4 baby plovers at Good Harbor Beach

Posted on by Catherine
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Seagull and piping plover tracks. And cigarette butts…

Today is day 11 and there are 3 babies. This volunteer video was taken a few days ago when there were 4 babies, tracking 1 baby plover back to its mom with a surprise at the end. From a volunteer shift by Cliff and Charles. For (nearly) LIVE updates to see what the summer brood is doing, updates are posted here  https://twitter.com/Glostaplover

Please join in and share your sightings #Glostaplover

Professional close-ups and best ever viewing follow Kim Smith! Here’s her post from Day 10

PIPING PLOVER UPDATE: CELEBRATING DAY TEN!

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

My, what big feet you have little chick.

Thank you to all who are watching out for the Good Harbor Beach Piping Plover Family! Reports throughout the day from the Piping Plover monitors tell of folks who are curious and interested in the welfare of the chicks. One of our little babies has gone missing, but the three remaining are doing beautifully. They are growing rapidly and getting better at following the parent’s voice commands. In the early morning and evening, for the most part, the chicks go in and out of the symbolic roped off area. During the heat of the day, the chicks stay closer to the grassy dune edge, seeking shade from the sun.

At sunrise this morning it was foggy and chilly. The chicks needed extra cuddling under Mom (ten-day-old chicks).

Interestingly, there is a male interloper. He was first reported by my husband about a month ago, when Tom called and said you have to get down here because the Piping Plovers are fighting! I hurried over, and sure enough an epic battle was taking place between our nesting pair and the strange male. I filmed the fighting, which went on for about half an hour, when Mama Joy and Papa Joe chased the interloper far out to sea. Unfortunately, the “third wheel” keeps reappearing, almost daily. I write unfortunately because as is the case with so many episodes that play out in the life of our little Plover family, when the adults are distracted by a perceived threat and leave the chicks, it makes it easier for a predator, such as a crow or seagull, to swoop in and carry off a baby. Later in the summer, as the Plovers are preparing to migrate south, the fledglings and adults will gather in larger groups, but at this point in the chicks development, the pesky interloper is clearly not welcome.

Eight-day-old chick. Could you be any better camouflaged little Plover?

 

YES!

Posted on by Catherine

Sean on the Italian Ice outpost by the piping plover enclosure, Good Harbor Beach

Not too many folks swimming, but brisk biz for a cool slush. You can mix all the flavors!

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Gloucester motif heaven: Piping plover, paddleboarder, Bass Rocks, Hopper house

Posted on by Catherine

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HAPPY ONE WEEK OLD BIRTHDAY FOR OUR PIPING PLOVER CHICKLETS, ALL FOUR!!! – AND VOLUNTEER HELP IS MUCH NEEDED FOR THE COMING FOURTH OF JULY WEEKEND

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Good Morning Sleepy Head ~ Seven-day-old Piping Plover Chick Snuggling Under Dad

Happy Birthday to our Good Harbor Beach Piping Plover chicks! All four have made it to the one week birthday milestone and that is nothing short of a miracle (born Thursday morning, June 22). The volunteers are making a tremendous difference, the trash situation is being managed by the DPW and volunteers, and fewer dog owners are bringing their dogs to the beach. Thank you to everyone for taking such great care. If the PiPl can survive the first two weeks, their chance of survival increases exponentially.

This weekend is not only the fourth of July, but a heat wave is predicted. Volunteers are much needed on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, especially between the hours of 11:30 to 3:30. If you can spare some time and would like to spend an hour at Good Harbor Beach being a Piping Plover ambassador, please email Ken Whittaker at kwhittaker@gloucester-ma.gov.

Our East Gloucester neighborhood kids named the Piping Plover parents Papa Joe and Mama Joy. This year’s chicks hatched during Fiesta and an anonymous reader suggested we name the chicks Me chi, Samiou, Tutti, and Mutti. I kind of love that!

After first snuggling under Dad’s wing, the little seven-day old chick popped up and immediately began to scratch an itch. He scratched so hard that he knocked himself over. Then off he ran pell mell for a yummy breakfast of sand fleas.

Papa Joe making room for one more under his wing.