Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary News

From Marlene

Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay

January 25, 2008

I think that I am a winter person down deep in my bones, with two grandparents from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and one, most probably, from Canada.  An off-season volunteer naturalist here at the Sanctuary, I love the winter season best of all.  Today is cold – very cold – with a brisk and constant wind.  I set out for the area near the observation deck where yesterday I saw Cedar Waxwings.

Both ponds are solidly frozen.  There are no birds visible except for several winter-hardy Canada Geese honking as they pass overhead in their V formation.  The overwash from high tide forms a slushy mass along the marsh edge, blocking the way to the beach.  The rising tide drives large ice cakes before it.

As I retrace my steps, I notice the long mid-day shadows of January.  A robin sits hunkered down in a brushy tree.  Bordering Goose Pond, phragmites, back-lit by the sun, wave wildly in the wind.

                                                                                                            Marlene Denessen

                                                                                                            Volunteer Naturalist

SEAnet and Volunteer Opportunities

There are always lots of volunteer opportunities at Wellfleet Bay and this past Thursday morning a talk was held for volunteers and other interested persons at the sanctuary. Cynthia Franklin, our energetic and busy volunteer coordinator has this to say about the program.

SEANET

This past Thursday Wellfleet Bay hosted more than 50 people for a training session for SEANET, the Seabird Ecological Assessment Network based at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. www.tufts.edu/vet/seanet

Volunteers for SEANET walk assigned beaches once or twice a month, and identify and record information on bird mortality along the coast. Dr. Julie Ellis, the Program Director, spoke about threats to seabird populations, and how the volunteer data is used to study causes of seabird mortality and to target specific conservation measures to alleviate threats to these birds.

She walked through the procedures for beach surveys, and then talked about how to identify any birds found (often by their feet if not much is left of the carcass.)  She showed the volunteers how to measure parts of the bird, how to take photos (with a ruler in the picture to show size), and discussed the data that needed to be collected on each bird, as well as on general beach and weather conditions.

Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary has lots of other opportunities for volunteers to participate in “citizen science” – collecting data and working with our staff on various research projects. We are looking for people for this spring to monitor piping plovers and terns, ospreys, and diamondback terrapins, and to census and tag horseshoe crabs. No experience is necessary; we will provide the training – you provide a curious mind and the willingness to learn and help out. Contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Cynthia Franklin, for more information by calling 508-349-2615 or email cfranklin@massaudubon.org

Photos by Carol "Krill" Carson of NECWA.

Walking Winter Trails with Marlene

Many volunteers help keep us running smoothly here at Wellfleet Bay. Some help at the desk, some help gather data, some clear trails and others help with the myriad programs and projects that go on here at the sanctuary. Every few weeks we will be featuring one of our volunteers here.

We are very fortunate to have Marlene Denessen, author of "Little Dipper" and a volunteer naturalist on board to write posts several times a month about her walks on the sanctuary. This is her first post.

Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary

Tuesday  – January 15, 2008

As I often do when I walk the Sanctuary in winter, I begin with the Bay View Trail/Fresh Brook Pathway circle, terminating upland on the sandplain grassland.  Here I find animal tracks to be particularly numerous after snow and otter sign is often visible on Fresh Brook Pathway.

I am a camper and, even though I live but a mile from Wellfleet Bay, I come here to tent with my family in summer.  Today I pause by Site One, a place of so many memories.  Small children at play – away from electronics – inventing game after game, gleefully engaged with one another having good old-fashioned fun.  I remember lying awake in the company of a little boy, entranced by the call of an owl.  The next year with an even younger girl, pulling back the canopy of the tent and peering through the netting at a sky full of stars – falling asleep to the rumble of thunder and flashes of heat lightning.  Yes, and tales told by lantern light and “smores” prepared over a charcoal grill with neighboring campers.  And fowler toads and ant lions and fiddler crabs and late-night animal sounds in the brush.  And then there were early morning walks on the Sanctuary, flashlights in hand, circling Silver Spring Trail to a chorus of frogs and birds heralding dawn – and later, counting down the sunset over Try Island.

Today I stand here at Site One amidst the tiny ghosts – remembering – and looking on toward June and new adventures.

                                                                                                            Marlene Denessen

                                                                                                            Volunteer Naturalist

Hoary Redpolls at Our Feeders!

Who's that hanging out with the goldfinches at our feeder?  This is a common redpoll male. He wasn't the only unusual visitor at our feeder last week. The following post was written by Mark Faherty and the first few photos were taken by Rich Johnson.

Hoaries!

The sanctuary was lucky to have at least one and as many as three Hoary Redpolls visiting our feeders last week. These tiny but exceptionally hardy arctic birds are quite rare in Massachusetts, appearing in small numbers during big flight years of the more familiar Common Redpoll. Both species are irruptive, meaning they periodically irrupt southwards in response to food shortages in their normal boreal habitats. Redpolls feed mostly on seeds, primarily catkins of birch, willow, and alder, as well as seeds of plants like Seaside Goldenrod, a favorite food item on Cape Cod where catkins are relatively scarce.

While the two species are very similar, Hoary Redpolls are the more northerly of the two, generally occurring in more barren, more arctic areas than Commons. Hoary redpolls, while weighing only half an ounce, can withstand temperatures down to -67º Celsius! When looking for a Hoary Redpoll among a flock of Commons, look for a paler overall bird with a bright, unstreaked rump, stubbier bill with fluffier feathering on the forehead, lighter streaking on the sides, and mostly unstreaked undertail coverts.

This last photo was taken by Dan Berard.

Back to School We Go

The holidays are over and although things are quiet here at the sanctuary compared to the busy summer season there is still plenty going on. Our education department is back in the classrooms of Cape Cod with classes in Chatham, Harwich and Brewster schools just last week. Classes included topics such as Animal Adaptations, Owls, Whales and How Animals Prepare for Winter.

Amy Ferreira recently taught 4 different lessons for 4 different classes on the same day at Holy Trinity School in Harwich. She has this to say about her lessons. The pictures shown here were also taken by her.

" The pre-schoolers learned what nocturnal means and what senses nocturnal animals
use to survive. Owls, coyotes, and skunks were the examples as they tried
seeing, listening, and smelling like they did.

In first grade the students discovered that everything that lives in a field was
important in the food chain. They sang a food chain song, watched a puppet show,
and learned the difference between a predator and prey.

Second graders were able to get face to face with a great-horned owl and screech
owl by observing owl mounts. They dissected owl pellets, felt owl wings and held
owl talons.

  Students in third grade created their own dunes by mimicking wind and blowing on
sand. They made observations on the formations that were created. We also
discussed the glacial origin of Cape Cod and played a game about coastal
erosion.