Saturday, October 20, 2012

news roundup

 It's been awhile since I did a news roundup of the greater Parker River NWR/Merrimack River news-o-sphere, so here you go:
  • A sailboat ran aground last night on the refuge beach between Lot 1 and Lot 2 -- a way, wicked shallow spot that most locals familiar with the area know about and avoid. Fortunately, a fisherman with a drive-on night fishing permit spotted it and rescued the crew: Sailboat Crew Rescued off Plum Island.
  • Scientists from Marine Biological Labs have been studying the decay of the Great Marsh for close to 10 years now in the Plum Island Estuary. Apparently nitrogen and phosphorous from fertilizer are the culprits. Daily News of Newburyport has the story here: Scientists: Fertilizers killing salt marshes. NPR picked up the story too: Scientists Solve Mystery of  Disappearing Salt Marshes.
  • Parker River NWR summer intern De'Andre Brown blogged about his experience on the USFWS Open Spaces blog: Acting, Naturally.
  • National Parks Traveler had a feature on piping plovers: Creature Feature.
In news unrelated to piping plovers or the Parker River NWR but definitely shorebird-related, folks at the Nantucket Birding Festival spotted a Gray-tailed Tattler: Extremely rare bird spotted during birding festival.

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