Thacher Island North Light Sunrise
Tag: Sunrise
Rise up
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HAPPY ONE-MONTH-OLD BIRTHDAY MILESTONE TO OUR PIPING PLOVER LITTLE CHICK!
A simply glorious Good Harbor Beach morning on this weekend’s one-month-old Piping Plover milestone! Hatched on the morning of June 22nd, he is officially thirty-one-days old today.
Yesterday morning at daybreak it was warm and windless, and today, very chilly and windy. The chick’s foraging and resting habits reflected the weather. During the warmer morning he spent a great deal of time at the water’s edge feeding hungrily.
Today he was chilled and, within the roped off sanctuary, he tried several times to nestle under Papa. It looked super silly because Little Chick is nearly as big as Papa Plover. Papa rebuffed him and Little Chick found a clump of vegetation to warm under.
Little Chick on the left, looking not so little. Papa standing on one leg to conserve heat.
Papa Plover is an outstanding dad, never too far away, and always keeping a protective eye on Little Chick.
Folks are asking, where is Mama? With some Plovers, the female will leave the family to begin the southward migration, departing earlier than the male and fledglings. The GHB Mama has not been seen in over a week. This was not the case with the PiPl family that I filmed last year; they maintained a family bond through the end of the summer.
The Piping Plovers that migrate along the Atlantic Coast winter primarily from North Carolina to Florida, as well as the Bahamas and West Indies.
A sighting of Little Chick flying about ten feet across the beach has been reported!
Thirty-day-old Piping Plover Chick
Thirty-one-day old Piping Plover
Good Harbor Beach weekend sunrises
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LITTLE CHICK LEARNING TO FLY AND OTHER SCARY HAPPENINGS
Day twenty-nine, or I suppose we could say four weeks and one day, and our Little Chick is growing gangbusters!
It’s always a relief to see our one surviving Piping Plover chick at first light.
Foraging in the seaweed at daybreak.
Little Chick seemed a little less independent today and spent a good amount of time with Papa Plover. I wonder if something frightened the Plovers?
Chief McCarthy, who now takes his morning run at Good Harbor Beach, has noticed tracks from folks that are still walking their dogs in and around (and through) the sanctuary. Not to disparage dog owners (I love dogs), a drunk guy also insisted on walking through the sanctuary. A super, super scary thing happened this morning where a small group had gathered around the enclosure. Two Great Blue Herons came flying low and slow over the roped off area, where both baby and Papa were resting. A conservationist told me awhile back to try to discourage folks from gathering round near the Plovers because it could alert predatory birds. I didn’t quite believe it, but after seeing the GBHerons flying so low, and seemingly fearless of the humans, I believe it now. Great Blue Herons are super predators and although their primary food is fish, they eat practically every small living creature, including birds, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, shrimp, crab, insects, and rodents.
Staying close to Papa Plover this morning.
Hmm, I think I’ll give flying another whirl.
Running to take off.
Hop Up?
Airborne for half a moment!
Landing, with a not-so-graceful skidding thud.
In the Pink
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GOOD HARBOR BEACH MAGICAL MORNING SUNRISE, FOGBOW, LAUGHING GULL, AND HOW VOLUNTEER PAUL SAVED LITTLE CHICK’S LIFE
Captivatingly beautiful was this morning’s ever-changing light as the rising sun was greeted by waves of fog.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BWursnWlN0V/
A fogbow mysteriously appeared and lasted for a good while.
Our Little Chick was nearly impossible to spot on his twenty-seventh day during the early shift and I was super happy to see the sun reappearing when Paul arrived at 8am.
Yesterday morning Little Chick had an extremely close encounter with the beach rake. He’s learned how to crouch and flatten low into the sand when people or predators are approaching. The thing is, yesterday he hunkered down in the path of the oncoming beach rake. Paul had to stop the driver to allow our chick to escape. I think this is an excellent example of why, for the time being, we still need monitors for a bit longer. Thank you Paul for being so attentive.
Camouflaged!
A Laughing Gull arrived briefly on the scene and stayed just long enough to catch a crustacean. Laughing Gulls eat baby birds too, so we’ll be keeping a watchful eye on this fellow.
Blue Shutters Inn with Fogbow
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CHANGES COMING TO GOOD HARBOR BEACH
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
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GOOD MORNING GLOUCESTER, BROUGHT TO YOU BY GLORIOUS GOOD HARBOR BEACH SUNRISE
Orange sherbet sky
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Natural page turner: quite a 10 minute story of vast sea and sky
Beautiful radical variations till the clouds rolled by (roughly 6:05-6:18 AM) before I met with clients in Boston and Beverly. There were some snowflakes but when I returned to Gloucester at 1pm, the roads were dry and an even pale sky.
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GLOWING GOLD GOOD HARBOR BEACH SUNRISE
Golden orange violet hued sunrise
Good Harbor Beach
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GOOD MORNING GLOUCESTER, BROUGHT TO YOU BY BRACE COVE SUNRISE
The arc of the sun’s rise is growing greater daily. Hurry Spring!
Brace Cove Sunrise
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GOOD MORNING GLOUCESTER BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE INNER HARBOR
The light oftentimes glows warm golden pink over the Harbor late in the day, at sunset. On my way to photograph Niles Pond Saturday morning, it was surprisingly beautiful to see overhanging the Harbor wispy vertical pink clouds.
I love the time change with the sun rising an hour earlier because I can get out and film before the work day begins. Lately we have been treated to extra amazingly gorgeous and sumptuous sunrises and sunsets!
Same morning, the view looking towards Smith’s Cove
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Here is a view you miss when you sleep in
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BRACE COVE SUNRISE
Fishing boats coming and going at daybreak
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GOOD MORNING GLOUCESTER BROUGHT TO YOU BY BRACE COVE
Lovely and peaceful Brace Cove sunrise this morning
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Sunrise this morning 10/6/2016
After all the weather passing through now back to the standard gorgeous sunrises. Before the sun broke the horizon the backlit waves were gorgeous. But I was trying to keep baby stripers from chasing my popper so the iPhone stayed in the plastic bag. Then they were just babies in diapers, maybe 22 inches so I put the rod away and took a few shots.
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GOOD MORNING GLOUCESTER, BROUGHT TO YOU BY ANOTHER SPLENDID GOOD HARBOR BEACH SUNRISE
You may be wondering why I have been posting so many sunrise photos, more than usual, from GHB (sincerely hoping its not boring). I spent a good part of the summer there filming the Piping Plovers and other beautiful species of wildlife, but I am also there gathering B-roll for all film projects. While the movie camera is running, it’s fun to take stills as well.
Almost invariably, the light is at its prettiest well before the sun rises. I like the blues and violets in the first photo. The second photo was taken about five minutes later. Which one do you prefer?
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HERE COMES THE SUN
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKMLF1ADcsF/
Heading Out
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OMG Sunrise different today!
There was a cloud bank off to the east so for the first time in weeks sunrise did not occur at sunrise.
Rockport Sunrise officially was 6:02 AM this morning but the sun did not appear until 6:10 AM.
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DAYBREAK WINGAERSHEEK #gloucesterma
Just another exquisite morning on one of Gloucester’s gorgeous beaches!
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Heaven over Essex Marsh
This is a spot I’ve visited a number of times, just waiting for the perfect view to photograph. One morning I really didn’t want to get out of bed at 4am but I knew a storm had come through the night before and the cloud cover might be interesting so I dragged my butt over to Essex and wasn’t disappointed! Of course I got there and the sun hadn’t started to rise yet…it was just cloudy and grey, but it’s amazing how in a span of 15 minutes a scene like this can unfold before your eyes. This is one of my favorite photos of last year and a 16 x 20 canvas print is one of the prints available at the Art at the Schoolhouse this weekend so stop by! Thanks to James and Anna at Cape Ann Giclee for their expert printing of this canvas!
Good Morning Gloucester 