catch-up post 2: June 20

Saturday June 20
North
AM Shift

Coffee of the Day: Tanzania Peaberry.
Bird of the Day: northern gannet
Weird Wrack Item of the Week: a kid picking up trash in the wrack line
Invisi-bird Status: Official: Didn't see a report this week. Number actually seen by me: 1

Looking South

It's Let's Go Outside day. This is the event that used to be Go Fish! or Kid's Fishing Day.  The beach at Lot 1 was set aside for the event.  Some of the volunteer fishing instructors were already fishing in advance of the event and one guy reeled in a 20 pound 40 inch long striper before the event started. That was one cool fish.

Volunteers Setting Up for Let's Go Outside

It took awhile for the crowd of kids wanting to fish built up, but by late morning attendance seemed pretty good.

I  only saw one piping plover, who was feeding mainly at the water line. The least terns that had established themselves near the northern boundary a couple of weeks ago seemed to have moved further south. Not sure if I was wrong about there being a nest/nests or if something happened.




In other interesting bird news, today was the first time I've seen a northern gannet all season. A birder had mentioned to me last week that he hadn't seen any gannets and I told him I hadn't either. We speculated that the fish were all further off shore so the gannets were too far away to see. Anyway, I saw a gannet diving pretty far out near where some fishing boats were anchored. The fish must have come in closer since last week.

Volunteers Showing People How to Fish

I kept waiting for that 20 pound striper to reappear, but it didn't. I did see a kid land a small striper, to much cheering and many photo ops. I'm so glad those kids got to see at least one fish before I went off duty.

A Good Crowd

The best "Let's Go Outside Day" moment for me was not, however, the fish. I spotted a kid methodically walking the wrack line with a bucket and a reacher picking up trash. I told him I didn't know picking up trash was part of the event. He said that he didn't either but he'd seen a volunteer with a bucket and went over to ask if he could borrow it.  The kid had this idea all on his own!

Milkweed -- Save The Monarchs

A bumper crop of milkweed was blooming near the Gatehouse. This makes me feel heartened about the future of the monarch butterfly. Habitat loss is putting the monarch butterfly in jeopardy and milkweed is crucial to their survival. For more info on saving the monarch, you can check out the refuge's Saving Monarch Butterflies page.

Milkweed Blossoms about to Open

catch-up post 1: June 13

Saturday June 13
North
AM Shift

Coffee of the Day: French Roast Sumatra
Bird of the Day: common tern
Weird Wrack Item of the Week: tangled pile of netting, rope, sticks, and what looked like a base -- that's base as in baseball, not base as in the opposite of acid
Invisi-bird Status:  Official: Didn't see a report this week. Number actually seen by me: 1

Looking South

It was a quiet day at the beach despite the nice weather. I talked to very few visitors and all the questions were relevant. When has that ever happened? No questions about the renovations at the blue Inn (they really lowercase the b in blue but uppercase the I in Inn). No questions about the construction up near the jetty. Only questions about piping plovers and the beach.

Fair Sailing

One piping plover hung around alternating between feeding at the water line and feeding in the wrack line. Didn't see the other member of this northernmost pair. I hope this means there's a nest and I just missed seeing the change of incubation shifts.

Tangled Pile of Trash In The Wrack

Thankfully, there was not a lot of trash on the beach. Probably the most interesting item I saw was this tangled pile of stuff. It looked like parts of a lobster trap and lots of rope attached to a sandbag. I mentally tried to untangle it in order to figure out how all those things came together, but stopped short of physically untangling it.

Dunes

the least tern show

So before I go do this week's shift, here's a post about last week.

Saturday June 6
AM Shift - North
Coffee of the Day: Sumatra
Bird of the Day: least tern
Weird Wrack Item of the Week: umm, Hooksett disk, just because I can't believe I'm still finding them.
Invisi-bird Status: Refuge: 33 pairs, 19 nests. Sandy Point: 9 pairs, 7 nests. Town Beach: 3 pairs, 2 nests. Number actually seen by me: 2.

My Reason for Being Here

I didn't have to wait long before the invisi-birds appeared. I heard them peeping as I was setting up my beach chair. There were two of them, but they were not acting much like a pair. All I saw them do was eat - separately.  The water line and the wrack line seemed equally appealing to both of them. There were a lot of flies in the wrack, which was also attracting lots of purple martins but for some reason no tree swallows.

Looking South

There were very few people on the beach all morning and most of them were fishing. Two guys seemed to be having all the luck, but none of the stripers they caught were keepers. I overheard one guy singing the praises of his bait - his awesome bait, which he claimed to love. Never heard anybody talk about bait like that before, even Kay.

Wrack Item of the Decade - A Hooksett Disk

I didn't need to spend much time talking with visitors as the fishermen were all well-behaved and well-informed, so I had plenty of time to watch the least tern show. And boy were they ever putting on a show! Three least terns drove off two great black backs and made it seem easy. I guess when you poop on your predators, they don't stick around. The real action was among the least terns themselves though. Lots of noisy aerial ballet and bringing of fish resulted in several pairs getting it on on the beach just below the foot of the dunes. The show went on for a couple of hours and I was still watching, fascinated, when Big Steve came to relieve me. It was quite a morning.

The Dunes Are Blooming

June was busting out all over in the dunes and along the edges of Parking Lot 1. I would have spent another hour taking photos of plants if I hadn't been in a hurry to get home for a work meeting.

Roses