Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary News

Marlene's Loving Spring!

Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay
March 27, 2008

Marlene Denessen here -- reporting on the seasonal transition at the Sanctuary.

Leaving the parking lot for my weekly walk, I count 35 Red-Winged Blackbirds in
a tree.  It looks like a scene from Hitchcock's movie, "The Birds."  The air
carries the sound of bird song and the fragrance of spring earth.  Grackles fan
out their feathers in display.  Tiny buds are popping out everywhere, and people
are reporting the first signs of Cape Cod spring allergies. 

I walk the marsh front on Bay View Trail.  The tide is low.  A Great Blue Heron
spreads its wings and lifts off into seemingly effortless flight.  I swing back
up and over the sandplain grassland.  As I move onto open ground, I am met with
brilliant sunshine and warmth.  Time to shed some winter clothes.  Painted
Turtles sun themselves on a log in Silver Spring Pond, and Volunteer Naturalist
Barbara Murphy is back.  Spring IS here !

                                                Marlene Denessen
                                                Volunteer Naturalist

Early Spring Walk With Marlene

Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay
March 20, 2008

On this first official day of Spring, light rain is falling.  Everything is
shiny and well-watered, and the fragrances of the woods, held close by the moist
air, rise up to meet me.  I pause and stand in a wooded grove, looking out over
the marsh.  The bay is socked in.  The bird song and patter of lightly falling
rain create a symphony for a lover of the outdoors such as me.

A large piece of moss has been dislodged and lies in the path.  I pick it up and
examine it.  Soft as a sponge with brilliant green fringe and full of
late-winter life, it is elegant.  Jewels of moisture hang from beach plum
branches.  A Woodpecker drums out his territorial beat as fog rolls in, at first
skirting the tops of the trees across the marsh and then dropping down like an
opaque blanket.  Try Island disappears.

I love days like this.  For me the fog, the muted silhouettes, the muffled
sounds create a sense of intimacy.  I especially like Silver Spring Trail in the
rain.  Rounding a corner I come upon a pair of Mallard Ducks.  They ease away
into deeper water as I pass.

                                             Marlene Denessen

Alternative Energy Field Trip at the Sanctuary

Ever since we've opened our green building school groups have been interested in learning more about the practical uses and applications of alternative energy. They especially like that they can bring their students here to see, touch and learn more about the various materials and systems we use at the sanctuary.

We had 18 fifth graders from the Wellfleet Elementary School. Amy Ferriera and Mary Richmond put together the curriculum for the day and it included a scavenger hunt of the building to find the various green points and materials. For this each child had a list of 17 elements they had to find and in the end we all discussed our findings. The kids loved this approach as did their teachers. Instead of being passive listeners they had to go out and look and feel and figure things out.

The students worked in small groups to build their own solar cookers. Unfortunately the rain kept us from cooking our own s'mores but we sent home the ingredients so they could make them on a sunny day at school.

We used pizza boxes, tin foil, plastic wrap, black paper and masking tape to make our cookers. It's a simple project that makes its point pretty directly and easily.

Our third project of the day was a challenge to build an invention that utilized alternative energy to make it run. The students worked in pairs or by themselves and had access to all the same materials. They were given a half hour to complete their projects and as you can see, they were fully engaged.

The results were awesome. Most used solar and wind power and many were quite creative and inventive.

The project shown here with the three balloons used the wind power of deflating balloons to turn its turbines!

We had invited the class to a waste free lunch challenge. This meant their lunch had to be packed in reusable containers, including their drinks. Cloth instead of paper napkins and washable silverware instead of plastic. Half the class scored a perfect 5 on the challenge with the rest falling somewhere between going half way or not at all. Interestingly, even those with the greenest of lunchboxes didn't pack a green snack...... All in all it was a really great day. One kid was heard exclaiming, "This was the best field trip ever!" as he left.

After School Nature Club

This session of After School Nature Club has been smaller than most but the next session is filling up quickly.

We've been rained on over the last few weeks and have been doing lots of indoor projects. This week we talked about eggs.

We looked at bird nests and eggs, turtle eggs and snake eggs. We read a story about birds and looked at pictures of frog and fish eggs.

The kids had asked to decorate some eggs so we blew the insides out of a dozen or so chicken eggs, rinsed and dried them and decorated them with Sharpie markers. We chose these markers because they are easy to use and unlike washable markers don't smudge off. Paints are difficult for young children to use on something as small as eggs and they often end up discouraged. Their eggs came out great and they had a blast while the rain poured down outside our windows. 

Spring is Beginning to Show on the Trails

Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay
March 13, 2008

It is cold today, especially on the marsh front, so I keep on moving.  In March
on Cape Cod the wind off the Bay is chilling.  I scare up my first chipmunk of
the new season, almost from underfoot.  Quickly reaching the end of Fresh Brook
Pathway and turning back, I pause at the beach.  It is low tide.  Fresh Brook
winds snakelike through the marsh -- brown on brown.

Headed back, I pass onto Bay View Trail.  Several years ago several dolphins
were stranded at this spot.  I remember watching Staff Naturalist Dennis Murley
down in the mud struggling to keep one of the group alive.  It died in his arms.

A solitary Red-Breasted Merganser cruises Silver Spring Pond, as a Kingfisher
skims the surface.  A thin coat of ice from last night's high tide drapes like
tissue paper over the detritus of the passing year's marsh grass.  Proceeding
toward the beach, I draw in deeply of the clean, fresh sea smell, particularly
pungent this morning.  A Red-Tailed Hawk -- and then another -- circles
overhead, catching wind currents.  They disappear from my sight into the sun.

Back at Home Base there are perhaps forty Red-Winged Blackbirds at the feeders,
showing brilliant red epaulets.

                                                 Marlene Denessen
                                                 Volunteer Naturalist

Cape Cod Natual History Conference Held March 8

The 13th annual Cape Cod Natural History Conference was held this past Saturday, March 8 at the Cape Cod Community College. Despite torrential, driving rain and crazy winds both presenters and participants showed up in full force and it seemed like a great day was had by all.

Presenters spoke on such topics as the die-off of cord grass in the salt marshes, distribution and abundance of American oystercatchers and ruddy turnstones, resource management on Camp Edwards, release rates on mass strandings of marine mammals and more.

Presentations were each 20 minutes in length and allowed time for questions from the audience. During the breaks participants were able to catch up with friends, colleagues and associates and were also able to peruse the many wonderful exhibits set up in the lobby while having a cup of coffee and refreshment.

Owen Nichols, shown here, had the presentation with the longest title, "Application of 19th and 21st Century Technologies to Measure Environmental Effects on Squid Distribution in Nantucket Sound at Multiple Spatiotemporal Scales." His talk was much livelier than the title might lead you to believe!

That's Melissa Lowe working hard at her computer. She not only organized and facilitated the conference as she has each year but she and cohort Shawn Carey (shown at left) stayed backstage the whole time making sure everyone's powerpoint presentations were doing what they were supposed to be doing. They did a great job, by the way--the power points were flawless.

It was a great day full of lots of information and networking. The worst part of the day was leaving and having to go back out in the awful weather!

Marlene's Walk

February 28, 2008
Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay

It is snowing lightly this morning as I leave the parking lot and there is a
ground cover of about an inch and a half.  Red Winged Blackbirds are singing
loudly from the treetops.  They seem to know that this weather is only temporary
and spring is around the corner.  I scare up some Mallards on Silver Spring Pond
and a Kingfisher skims the unfrozen surface.

The Bay is socked in.  There is no visibility beyond a few hundred yards, and as
I approach Goose Pond the wind is picking up.  The trails are beautiful in the
new snow.  There is a special qaulity of sound -- almost muffled.  My boots
squeak as I walk.  I see mouse tracks across the path near the observation deck,
passing from under pine needles and oak leaves on one side to the shelter of
bearberry on the other.

Today in the starkness of winter with everything stripped bare, I reflect upon
the December storm of several years ago, commonly referred to as the
"wintercane".  The wind touched down in small areas and dropped trees like
dominoes.  This is most observable on the the northeast corner of Fresh Brook
Pathway and the south side of Silver Spring Trail.  Route 6 was closed for
several hours because of downed trees and power lines.  Orleans looked like a
war zone.

Along Goose Pond Trail I smell a skunk -- a sure sign of spring on the way.  I
pause and brush some snow from a bench, sit looking out over Goose Pond toward
the blind, and reflect on how much I love this place any season of the year.

                                                 Marlene Denessen
                                                 Volunteer Naturalist

More from Marlene

Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay

February 21, 2008

Today the wind off the Bay is biting cold. We are nearing March here on Cape Cod, when the sea is at its low point in temperature. Last night there was a lunar eclipse. Right on schedule a red moon shone out of the vastness. The visible movement of celestial elements. A reminder of how small I am in the greater scheme of things. This morning a shaft of sunlight backlights the needles of a pine tree. Green. Gold. Lovely.

Today I begin my walk with a circle of Bay View Trail. This is a warm-up for me on particularly cold days. Sunlit pools highlight reindeer lichen-silver grey green against multiple shades of winter brown. Beautiful colors for a tapestry. Along the marsh, ducks browse in little inlets of open water. Black ducks, eider, and today a red-breasted merganser.

Red-winged blackbirds sing loudly as I stand on the platform looking out over Silver Spring Pond. Small birds flutter about me. Chickadees come close-closer. I head for the beach. Bundled up against the cold and briskly stepping out on this familiar pathway, I feel whole and well.

Marlene Denissen

Volunteer Naturalist

Vacation Camp at Wellfleet Bay

All week long the sanctuary has been alive with the sounds of children. "Vacation Adventures" has been a series of daily programs designed for young children and on most days we have been able to get them outside for exploration around the sanctuary.

On this day we were talking about "Creepy, Crawly Slimy Things" and everyone wanted to go to the swamp, even though most of the creepy, crawly slimy things that live there were still deep into their long winter naps. The swamp was covered with a skim of ice and our young explorers spent a lot of time and energy trying to find the thinnest spots where they could break a stick all the way through.

Once back inside we decided to make some of our own slippery stuff and we began with a big vat of home made play doh. A little flour, salt, oil and water colored with some blue coloring and sprinkled with silver glitter and tada! Instant modeling clay.

This sting ray was made by one of the boys. Other animals included snakes and worms, little pigs and even a big salamander.

After a little chat about amphibians and their slimy skin we decided to make some slime of our own. We used a little borax and water mixed with some glue and water and food color and stirred it all up with a spoon and got some very satisfying slime.

We had all sorts of fun stretching and playing with our slime before packing it up in baggies for the kids to take home. Refrigerated it will last a month or so, as will the play doh.

Recipes for slime of all kinds can easily be found on kids craft sites on-line.

Other activities throughout the week included a day focused on Mammals and Tracking, Water Explorations, Birds and Whales. Our young birders logged 24 species of birds on the sanctuary in one morning, by the way.

Don't forget new sessions of After School Nature Club begin next week!

Art and Nature for Families

It may be school vacation and therefore quiet in lots of Cape places this week but here at the sanctuary we've been quite busy with programs for families and kids of all ages. There have been programs on owls and tracking and one that was called Art and Nature that these photos are from. Four families joined us with kids ranging in age from 6 to 11.

We did some practice sketches in the classroom using contour drawing before heading out to the bird feeder area to sketch from life.

It didn't take long for several of the young people to figure out that greedy red squirrels will sit longer in one pose than most of the birds that were flying back and forth from bush to feeder.

Most birds repeat motions and behaviors so if you are trying to sketch them from life it is good to be patient and wait for them to naturally repeat themselves. It's also fun to start more than one sketch on a page so you can work from more than one bird at a time.

Once back in the classroom we got out the watercolors and began to paint, using our drawings to prod our memories for details.

The adults sat at their own table and the kids were happy to spread out in their own space. Most of the adults hadn't painted in years but they seemed to have a pretty good time. The kids took their work pretty seriously. You can see the concentration this young man is giving to his outline of a bird.

Even the youngest participants had fun recreating the colorful birds they saw or imagined.

Art and Nature Classes like this one are offered on Saturday mornings through the month of March. Pre-registration is required but no experience or materials are! Please call 508-349-2615 for more information.