December Nature Notes: Ptown, Cape Ann

Monday December 2  Sunrise this morning at Susan's place in Provincetown. We came on Friday to meet up with friends over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Walking around town, I'm surprised to see flowers still blooming: mostly pansies and marigolds.

Thursday December 5 Back home in JP, I ran into a dog-walker with a complete set of Labs: yellow (Hercules), chocolate (Twyla) and black (??). Hercules and Twyla know me from running into them individually with their owners and know that I'll give them lots of scroochies: head scratches, ear tickles, butt rubs.

Saturday December 7 At the Museum of American Bird Art again for another drawing class, this time, with a great horned owl. It's big, heavy enough that Chris, the naturalist, needs to take a break after holding it on his arm for half an hour or so. 

 Jeannie's Christmas cactus is now in full bloom, looking amazing.

Picked up this little hedgehog toothpick holder this afternoon, couldn't resist it.

Sunday December 8 Lots of hooded mergansers at the pond this morning. After a few days when there were none, there have been lots lately: I counted 65 one recent morning. Also saw a few ruddy ducks, and a couple of ring-necked ducks.

At a corner along the footpath, I noticed a brown creeper working its way up a gnarly tree trunk, probing crevices in the bark for bugs. I don't see brown creepers very often, so I watched it for a while. As I stood there, I noticed more bird action: a white-breasted nuthatch working its way down the tree, going headfirst down the trunk; black-capped chickadees flying in, checking out something and then taking off again; dark-eyed juncos flitting around on the ground; a downy woodpecker pecking about five feet above my head; a red-bellied woodpecker flying in to land on a branch and look around; and, best of all, a tiny golden-crowned kinglet flitting through the branches, occasionally hovering. A wonderful group of birds!

After breakfast, we drove up to Cape Ann to look for wintering sea ducks. On the way, just after we got onto Interstate 95, I spotted a bald eagle flying over the highway - wasn't expecting that! Once we got to Cape Ann, we drove around the shore road, stopping along the way to look for birds. At Gloucester harbor, lots of common eiders, maybe a hundred or so, along with some red-breasted mergansers and a few buffleheads. Further along the coast, we spotted lots of surf scoters, with their unusual, enlarged orange and red bills that end in white with a large black patch, and a couple of white-winged scoters. After stopping for lunch in Rockport, at a cafe overlooking the water, we moved on to the granite pier where there were lots more common eiders, a single horned grebe, a few buffleheads and a handful of harlequin ducks. Further along, at the Emerson Inn we spotted more harlequins, close to the shore and easy to see, as well as a few black scoters and many more eiders. A wonderful day of birding!

Bass Rocks along Cape Ann

Tuesday December 10 On my way to MIT, about to cross Commonwealth Avenue at the BU Bridge, a couple of turkeys are strolling along the bike lane undeterred by the 3 lanes of traffic jockeying to get past the traffic lights and onto Comm. Ave.  At MIT, I went to a Physical Math seminar, "The Colorful World of Birds and Their Eggs: Insights from Evolution, Engineering and Math" by Cassie Stoddard, an evolutionary biologist at Princeton.

Wednesday December 11 Misty with a fine drizzle at the pond this morning, pretty dreary. But as I walked along the Parkman Drive side of the pond, I spotted a bald eagle high up in a tree. So great! 

Later on in the day, torrential rain, hurling down.

Thursday December 12 Sunny again today. Wonderful birds this morning. Walking to the pond, a Cooper's hawk flew across the Jamaicaway, landing high up in a tree near me. Along Parkman Drive, there was a lone bird, smaller than a Canada goose, larger than a mallard - with the binoculars, I could see that it was a common loon - very unusual to see at the pond. Then around the Perkins Street traffic light, the usual 20 or so hooded mergansers. And finally, as I was walking down the final stretch past the boathouse, I turned to look over the pond and saw a pair of bald eagles circling around together at the far end of the pond. 

Later on in the morning, I went to Mass Audubon's Broadmoor nature sanctuary in Natick for a meeting of the design review committee (we advise on building construction and landscaping renewal on Audubon properties). On the whiteboard in the visitor center was this lovely drawing of a great horned owl, done by Chris Cleveland, a staff member there.

Chris Cleveland

Saturday December 14 For the last few years, one of the trees at the pond has been gradually leaning over more and more, until last year it was nearly falling into the pond. It was beloved in the neighborhood; at one point last summer a little waterproof notebook appeared for people to record measurements about the size of the gaping hole in the side of the tree, or just any thoughts about it. A few days ago, the parks department finally came and cut it down. And a couple of days later, this little memorial appeared by the stump.

Sunday December 15 Another wonderful morning of birding at the pond. The common loon is still there - my neighbor, Mary, says she's seen it every day since I told her about it on Thursday. A crowd of smaller birds were flitting about the trees at the corner of Parkman Drive and Perkins Street: golden-crowned kinglet; brown creeper; downy woodpecker; red-bellied woodpecker; white-breasted nuthatch; black-capped chickadees; and juncos. I wondered if they were the same individuals that I saw on Thursday. Walking further along, I heard a red-tailed hawk squealing, then saw it take off from high in a tree and fly across the pond to the woods on the other side. About 25 hoodies and a single ring-necked duck in a corner of the pond; I think they like to stay in little side bays near the shore to avoid being picked off by an eagle. There was a dead duck, maybe a ring-necked, by the side of the footpath a few days ago; several other walkers told me they'd seen it, too, and wondered if it had been caught, then dropped by an eagle.

Monday December 16 I've been admiring the fluffy remains of the flowers on a hedge along my street for a while now; finally took a photo this morning as I walked past.

Put my wreath, along with its various animal ornaments, up on the front door today. The star above the wreath is made of foamed aluminum, a gift from someone I collaborated with on a project on metallic foams. (I also have a foamed aluminum Easter bunny from the same project.)

Wednesday December 18 Gorgeous sunrise at the pond this morning. Loon still there.

This evening, we went with our friend Beth to see the Trustees Winterlights display at the Eleanor Cabot Bradley house in Canton, just south of Boston - it was fantastic! Thousands and thousands of lights, lighting up the trees, the grand old house, the pathways through the grounds. At one point, a "tent" of multicolored lights; further along, a green tunnel of lights. In the house itself, a highly decorated tree in every room; cookies laid out on trays; a pianist playing Christmas carols and songs. A wonderful evening.

Saturday December 21 Winter solstice. We're in Provincetown for the weekend. Drove out to Race Point beach to look for seabirds and snowy owls, which have been reported there recently. Driving wind, crashing waves, wind chill of 9F and only the occasional glimpse of a bird bobbing up and down on the waves. Whew! We only lasted a few minutes before driving on to Herring Cove Beach, where we saw a cluster of cars parked by the National Seashore building - maybe birders with bird news? As we pulled up, we realized that this was something different: there were two animal rescue vehicles, and a couple of guys were standing bare-chested by their cars, peeling off wetsuits (they must have been freezing!). One of them told us that they had rescued a couple of dolphins stranded in Wellfleet this morning and had just released them. And this is what a dolphin ambulance looks like:

The dolphin rescue operation is run by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). In the last 5 years, they've responded to over 400 live stranded dolphins, whales and porpoises.

Swinging into town, we went into the library where I spotted this lovely, literary turkey.

Returning to the condo, I set up the telescope to see what was in the bay: a few buffleheads diving close to the shore; further out a few common goldeneyes, common eiders and white-winged scoters. Then I spotted a common loon right near the shore, preening. Watching it for a while, I noticed that it was picking at the same spot on its breast, removing a patch of feathers in an attempt to rid itself of a thread of fishing line. Not good for a bird that relies on its feathers to keep warm and dry. I felt bad for it but didn't think there was anything I could do.

Susan at the scope.

Beach outside Susan's condo

Tuesday December 24 Maybe a couple of hundred ducks at the pond this morning, interspersed with Canada geese. Several groups of dozens of hoodies on the north side of the pond, close to the edge of the pond. A couple of groups of common mergansers, maybe a dozen total, the first I've seen this winter! More groups of ring-necked ducks, ruddy ducks. The little bay where the hoodies usually hang out was iced over, forcing them into a more open part of the pond. I wondered if they gathered with the Canada geese to deter eagles from swooping down on them.

Wednesday December 25 The hoodies were feeding this morning, diving, bobbing up again, close to the footpath. As I watched them, I could see one or the other surface with a little fish in its bill, then tip its head back to slide the fish down its throat. Occasionally, another hoodie would chase one that had a fish in its bill, trying to steal it. Saw the loon again, too.

 

Thursday December 26 Two loons, close to each other, on the Parkman Drive side of the pond. Unusual to see two together at the pond. The same crowd of hoodies, ring-necked ducks, and ruddy ducks. And even more common mergansers - a couple dozen or so. Some of the hoodies were making little whirring noises, like this one from Cornell's Macaulay Library archive of bird sounds.

On the way back home, saw a Cooper's hawk perched high up in one of the trees by the Jamaicaway. I stopped by Mary and David's house to let them know about the loons. David reported that at the Arb early this morning, he heard a pair of great horned owls calling back and forth to each other, one from a perch on the conifer path hillside, the other from across Bussey Brook, on Hemlock Hill.

Friday December 27 Lovely walk at the pond this morning. All of yesterday's birds plus a pair of American wigeons, very unusual at the pond. At dusk, went over to the Arb - no luck hearing the great horned owls hooting but it was beautiful with the snow and fading sun.

This spot along Bussey Brook is right next to where Jeannie and I got married, over 20 years ago.

Saturday December 28 Got a photo of some of the hooded and common mergansers at the pond. Everyone else, there, too: ruddies, ring-necked, wigeon, the loons.

And Susan sent this along, from Facebook - perfect expression on the dog's face.

Tuesday December 31 Usual birds at the pond this morning. Later on I went to Mass Audubon's Broadmoor sanctuary in Natick, just west of Boston. The marsh was frozen, so no ducks there, but it was still beautiful.

Charles River at Broadmoor