invisi-birds, sharpies, and scoters, oh my!

I'm standing there examining decomposing whale remains when I hear the distinct pee-lo call. I whip around and get the binoculars up in a single motion. Four piping plovers -- four of the invisi-birds -- are landing on the beach in front of me at the Lot 1 beach. They're so loud you could probably hear them on Mount Agamenticus (which is visible today too). Cries of excited birders, a whole mob of them, on the boardwalk shouting "piping plover! over there! right there!" mix with the peep-lo call and the spring song of the front end loader repairing storm damage somewhere on the town beach. I'm so excited to have 4 of the invisi-birds suddenly made visible that I pump my fist like Curt Schilling after a strikeout.

They don't stay around long running on the beach keeping their distance from each other. In a few minutes they're in flight, whistling, and headed sort of southwest over the dunes. The next flash mob of birders on the boardwalk doesn't know they've missed them unless they met the previous flash mob on the way back to Lot 1.

I have this sudden moment of realizing that not everybody can start a blog entry with both rotting whale flesh AND piping plovers. Maybe my life is more interesting than I generally think it is.

Where the stairs used to be. Boardwalk empty between birder flash mobs.

While sorting out the scoter-shaped beings -- always a challenge at a distance without a scope -- I notice a hawk-shaped being flying low over the ocean, over the scoters. Not an osprey, not any kind of raptor type bird I'd normally expect to see offshore. It's a sharp-shinned hawk! The birder flash mob on the boardwalk calls it out -- and they have scopes, so I feel my id is validated. It finally leaves the scoters and flies over the beach and between the dunes along the path to Lot 1 (open to people as well as sharpies on account of the missing stairs). Three more sharpies appear over the beach moving almost straight north. Another cool sighting for the day.Not rocks. Nope. Whale remains. Yup.

Somebody asks me about the whale -- actually they ask me whether that is some weird rock formation uncovered by the storm or is it the whale of whom they've heard tell. I tell 'em it is indeed the whale. You can tell because in the rare moments when the wind dies down you can smell it. Sure enough the wind drops as if on cue and the familiar smell of whale surrounds us. It does look like rocks though.

Later, I'm talking to a couple of birders who have come down onto the beach -- not part of a flash mob, there are only two of them -- when four more sharp-shinned hawks come into view barreling north low over the dunes (or what's left of the dunes). It's definitely "mass movement of sharpies" day. Tree swallows are on the move too. Loads of them. I stopped counting once I realized I was surrounded by them like they're part of the air. A couple of barn swallows are with them too. A mass movement of swallows. Cool.

A bunch of people have asked me how many piping plover nests we have so far. Apparently there are 8 adult piping plovers here with 2 nests on the refuge and 2 at Sandy Point. I have no idea if those 4 I saw are part of the 8, new arrivals, or just passing through.

For those who like lists, here are the sightings from the beach at Lot 1 during my shift:

common loon 1
double crested cormorant 12
black scoter, surf scoter, white-winged scoter -- all three scoter
species were in a flock of about 60 or 70;
sharp-shinned hawk 8
PIPING PLOVER 4
ring-billed gull 2
herring gull 10
great black back gull 4
tree swallow 27
barn swallow 2

Oh, and the coffee of the day is Kenya. Very, very good.

Fawn Lake

Fawn Lake
Originally uploaded by Captain_Peleg.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I enjoyed a picnic lunch at Fawn Lake with Kathleen. Too bad I had to go back to work at Gray Cubicle World. I would have loved to have spent more time there. I heard lots of bird song -- the usual midday types: robins, redwinged blackbirds, nuthatches, chickadees -- but didn't see too many of the birds themselves. They seemed well hidden and I didn't have my binoculars with me. I was surprised not to see any waterfowl, not even Canada geese or mallards. I did startle a bullfrog and a chipmunk along the trail. The frog jumped in the lake immediately. The chipmunk skittered away, stopped and looked back at me, dove into a hole in an old stump and then poked its head out and watched us. Mundane wildlife observations from a stunningly beautiful place on one of those spring days that people move here for.

not about birds -- about pottery

New Vases
Originally uploaded by Captain_Peleg.

After a workday nicely broken up by a picnic at Fawn Lake Conservation Area in Bedford with my friend Kathleen, I headed out to Worcester for the spring sale at The Fireworks. My friend The Hermit Potter has some new work for sale. I love the curvy vases. His stuff is artier (is that a word?) than some of the other potters who do plates and cups and practical stuff. I did buy a mug from one of the other potters, but it's an arty mug :-)

Dinner beforehand at Da Lat was delicious as usual, despite their being out of jack fruit for my favorite "exotic" shake. I had a sapota shake instead and tofu fried rice -- very tasty. The place was absolutely packed with college students.

With work and traffic and dinner I didn't get to the studio early enough to do my usual prowling around The Sprinkler Factory (the building where The Fireworks is) to take pictures with the great afternoon light streaming through the big industrial windows. Next time ...