Tag: Thacher Island Association

Wonderful Essex County islands IBA #ornithology talk by Chris Leahy | Straightsmouth keeper’s house gets love from Thacher Island Assoc & looks like a scene from Edward Hopper!

Posted on by Catherine

Esteemed conservationist and bird and insect authority, Chris Leahy discussed recent multi-year surveys of Essex County islands for Mass Audubon and Mass Fish & Wildlife with humor and depth as only he can having resided on the North Shore, in Gloucester, and championed this Important Bird Area for some 50 years.

The islands range in size and offer different kinds of nesting habitat. There are great shoals for fishing. Islands include familiar names like Tinkers, Straitsmouth, Thacher, Children’s, Kettle, House, Eagle, Ram, Cormorant and Ten Pound. Leahy recalled visiting some in the 1960s-70s for the first ever field counts with Dorothy “Dottie” Addams Brown, Sarah Fraser Robbins & others, and readily compares data then and now.

Some of the bird species making the count: gulls, egrets, herons, cormorants, harlequin duck, geese, loon, coots, purple arctic sandpiper, common eiders, and snowy owls. There are not a lot of songbirds due to restricted habitat although so many song sparrows he quips, “it almost feels like they’re going to attack.” Predators do and did. Gulls and rats stuck in my mind, and our ruinous plume hat trade. At that time “Snowy egrets– in FLA and elsewhere south– were slaughtered for plumage developed solely at breeding time, leaving any young to die and rot.”

Climate is partly a factor and population dispersement in the birds they find. Sometimes there are great “fallout” of migratories which are unpredicatable and awesome. Various species are easier to count especially those perched amid low tree shrubs. Guess which ones? Forgot the burrowers! Forecasts are exciting. He predicts we might see Manx shearwters maybe nesting here in the coming years.

Kindness of organizations and people with boats helps make this happen. And one steel hulled sailboat that makes access to these rocky isles a bit more possible.

Chris Leahy presented Treasure Islands for Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Public Library. Mary Weissblum has endeavored to host evenings for Leahy’s numerous publications and projects, so many that she’s lost count. “Always a treat to be educated and charmed by his incredible store of knowledge,” she writes. Look for Chris Leahy’s next talk.

Learn more about Thacher Island Association (Paul St Germain) here 

Learn more about Birdlife International here

photos below ©Linda Bosselman Sawyer Free Library- thanks for sharing Linda!

GloucesterCast 238 With Israel Horovitz, Heidi Dallin, Emme Shaw, Kim Smith and Joey Ciaramitaro Taped 8/19/17

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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GloucesterCast 238 With Israel Horovitz, Heidi Dallin, Emme Shaw, Kim Smith and Joey Ciaramitaro Taped 8/19/17

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Topics Include:
Israel Horovitz- wrote a play- The Indian Wants The Bronx that was first premiered in 1966 (51 years ago) which starred Al Pacino who was as yet undiscovered.  The play won the Obie Award for Best Play, Best Actor (Pacino), and Best Supporting Actor (Cazale).
In 1982 the Film that was at least partially filmed here in Gloucester Author! Author! written by Israel and is paraphrasing from wikipedia- ” concerns a Broadway playwright who strives to solve his family and relationship troubles while trying to get a new play into production.”  Also starring Al Pacino 12 years later.
I saw Kim’s pictures from the opening of Out of the Mouths of Babes now playing at Gloucester Stage purchase tickets here  and Israel looks so hip- What are the keys to staying young and relevant as you get older?
Tuesday Night- Israel Horovitz New Shorts Featuring Professional Boston Actors With a Mix of local Kids that work with Heidi Dallin in The Gloucester Stage Youth Acting Workshop http://gloucesterstage.com/neverdark/
Thacher Island Association Awarded a Grant for A Boat Ramp- www.thacherisland.org
Eclipse on Monday starts at 1:29PM  Still Have Special Eclipse Glasses At Sawyer Free Library
FISH PRINTER JOE HIGGINS WILL BE AT THE WATERFRONT FESTIVAL WITH SOME INSANE DEALS–  “I will have plenty of new prints small and large and t shirts for $5 instead of $25 if out come over and say hi and show me this post”

Saturday, November 16, 2013 is for lighthouses

Posted on by Paul T Morrison & RD
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Eastern Point Lighthouse, current structure built 1890
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Thacher Island Twin Lights, current structures built 1861

nb. Click photos to embiggen. The Twin Lights show the flaw of shooting with a tiny lens in the iPhone 5. I can straighten the horizon but the towers are leaning towards each other. Larger cameras, more glass in the lens, and shooting with the camera straight on and not pointing up can eliminate most of this convergence. Last ditch there is always Photoshop to straighten out structures leaning in.

2-25-13 Good Harbor before the Full Moon

Posted on by Sharon
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Also known as Cape Ann Light Station, these twin lights are the only surviving multiple lights on the coasts of the United States. The original 45-foot towers were constructed and lit in 1789—making them among the oldest of America’s lighthouses. The stout 124 foot granite towers seen today replaced the original lights in 1861. The two towers were constructed so that when a ship sites on both towers, they point to true north—allowing sailors to check and adjust their compasses.

White light flashing five times at 20 second intervals.

Thacher Island is located about a mile offshore of Rockport. The island may be viewed from several locations in Rockport and from the Bass Rocks (Atlantic Road) in Gloucester. The Thacher Island Association provides boat service to the island for members of the Association. Kayaking is another popular way to visit the island.

For more history, click here.