Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary News

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.

Marlene's Walk

Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay

February 14, 2008

It is a dark morning. I am out early in a heavy overcast following a day of torrential rain and high wind. I observe blown-over  benches as I head toward Silver Spring, removing downed branches as I pass. The pond is very high-up to the edge of the trail in several spots, with water over ice. The dark, wet bark of pine trees serves as a contrasting base for lichen. The aptly named emblem lichen draws my attention.

I proceed to Goose Pond, which is as high as I have ever seen it. There are few birds out and about today. They are probably still hunkered down from the deluge.

I head to Bay View Trail, looking for ducks along the marsh edge. The tide is low. I meet the Red-tailed Hawk at his usual spot at the Eastern end of Fresh Brook Pathway. Turning back, I pause at the bench overlooking the bay. The winter scene is strk and lovely. Winter on the Sanctuary-the time of return to the roots.

Marlene Denessen

Volunteer Naturalist

Crossbills, Crossbills Everywhere.....

Please Don’t Step on the Crossbills

With reports from Indian Neck, Marconi, and even right here at the sanctuary feeders, it appears we’re in the middle of a minor invasion of White-winged Crossbills here in Wellfleet, and we’re the only place in Massachusetts that can say that! 

I led a birding trip on Friday that was supposed to be a search for seabirds. While good looks at seabirds were few, a tame flock of quite lovely White-winged Crossbills saved the day. On a tip from a couple of New Jersey birders, I steered the van towards Marconi Beach, where trip participant Jo-Anna Ghadban spotted the crossbills in the pines just before the entrance booth. Jo-Anna was able to get the great photos you can see here. At one point the flock of 5 males and 4 females was hopping around under our van, and the two folks still in the van were able stick their heads out the window and watch them from about three feet away! Like many species of the far north, crossbills can be quite confiding.

Interestingly, the nearest place this species is common this winter is the Canadian Maritimes. These little nomads wander widely across the boreal forests mainly north of the Canadian border. When they find a good crop of spruce cones they will settle down a while and nest, whether it’s February or June – since they feed their young seeds they can nest any month of the year. It’s thought that an individual bird may nest in Alaska one year and Newfoundland the next! While their oddly crossed bills are specially adapted for extracting spruce and tamarack seeds from the cones, in years of poor spruce cone crops, like this one, they can be found south of their normal range feeding on pine cones, buds, and berries. They are often seen on roadsides taking salt and grit (sand and small rocks), which helps them digest the tough conifer seeds.

 

The first and only known breeding record of White-winged Crossbill for Massachusetts was in the Berkshire foothills town of Windsor in February of 2001. Though they are unlikely to nest on the Cape since we have no real spruce forests, we should keep an eye out for them in pitch pines and at feeders while we have them – it may be years before we see any of these unpredictable wanderers again.

Post submitted by Mark Faherty

Winter Walk

Another lovely post from Marlene

Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay

February 7, 2008

It is biting cold, windy and very grey.  There is a break in the rain in the midst of this stationary low pressure system, making it possible for me to walk. In spite of the cold, bluebirds are active in the nest box area, reminding me that we are moving quickly toward Spring.

Passing Goose Pond I disturb several Mallard ducks.  They squawk loudly as they take to the air.

I ponder the colors of deep winter.  Sepia.  This day is cast is shades of sepia.

The boardwalk is covered with the remains of last year’s marsh grass.  Today the beach is washed clean.  Gulls are all about, ducks browse the shallow waters, and I am alone.  What is the primitive stirring that this scene evokes?  The tide is rising quickly.  I head back.

With my head down against the cold I notice the disturbed soil marking a fresh mole tunnel.  Industrious little critters burrowing for food.  And then – such a treat – first heard and then seen:  a solitary loon

                                                                                                            Marlene Denessen

                                                                                                            Volunteer Naturalist

After School Nature Club Visits Shipwreck

Last Thursday morning the local paper reported that the remains of an old wooden schooner that had most likely been coverted to a barge at some point had washed up at Newcomb's Hollow in Wellfleet. It was a mild day and it seemed like it would be a fun thing to take the kids in the after school group down to the beach to see the wreck. They thought it was a great idea.

After examining all the old wooden pegs and beams they took this pose. They fit perfectly between the ribs.

Returning to the parking lot we stopped to look at the huge deposits of natural clay that have been pulled from the cliffs and stand like small mountains on the sand.

The kids were fascinated to feel the chunks of clay and see how malleable they were in their hands.

All in all, a good day for a field trip.