Oh Carp!

Hundreds of carp are frantically trying to enter Great Meadows through the lower impoundment spillway. The water is currently too low for them to be successful. I remember years when refuge staff had to pick up hundreds of dead carp and bury them in the dump area.

  

Lower Impoundment Spillway

The fallen tree blocking the entrance from West Bedford along the railroad bed was removed by Ziggy and Frank.

Cannabis Culture Day at Great Meadows

Did you notice the appearance of graffiti along the railroad bed; two benches and one sign were tagged by unskilled "artists". The main message was "smoking weed everyday". On Friday (4/20/12) from about 300 ' away, we noticed 3 teens, (all of them males) lighting up near Butternut Circle. They made a hasty retreat when they noticed us approaching. I wanted to ask them if they had seen anyone marking up the benches or would like to help us remove the graffiti.

I have since learned that April 20 is a counterculture holiday in North America. And, that it might be better to let the NWR Law Enforcement deal with problems like this.

Smokin Weed Friday?

After Graffiti Remover

Organic, Biodegradable Graffiti  Remover

I can't read this one

After Graffiti Remover

Bad News - Good News: Electric Truck

For about a year we've been trying to identify squeaky noise coming from the front of our Ford THINK electric truck. We found out last Friday when there was a loud bang and the vehicle came to a sudden stop. 

My first thought was that this is going to be a big, big problem to get repaired. Ford stopped selling these vehicles in 2002 and donated their inventory to organizations like the US Fish and Wildlife.

Today, I called Rodman Ford, who donated the vehicle, and was thrilled to find out that they can fix it.

Something doesn't look right.

Ball is no longer in the Socket

Early Dry Spring in Bedford

No rain. Temperature often in the 70's, sometimes 80's. Soil is like dust. I've soaked the bushes planted last fall.

Azalias

Flowering bushes planted last fall

My curbside hostas always do well

Hawk Watch at Plum Islaand

Tree Swallow nesting in Purple Martin house

Saturday I went to Plum Island aka Parker River National Wildlife Refuge with Will and Larry. I'm trying to learn how to take pictures through my spotting scope with my Point-And-Shoot camera. We attended a photographer's meeting on this subject at the refuge visitors center.

Hawk Watch Deck

The Hawk Watch is conducted on the deck in parking lot 1. We saw several kestrals and a couple of Turkey Vultures.
Down refuge we saw a Snow Owl

Ursula & Dave with Marjorie

My Plover Identification Problem

These un-retouched pictures were taken on March 12, 2012 on the Gulf beach at St. Georges Island on the Florida panhandle (near Apalachicola). I had been puzzled by this bird for several days wondering if it was a Semi-palmated Plover or a Piping Plover.
Many of my birding friends gave me their opinion, most thought my pictures were of pretty poor quality.


Finally, one friend who watches shorebirds all the time forwarded the pictures to his friend who has handled lots of museum birds and got this response.
I can't make this into anything but a piping plover. Look at how the white supercilium joins the forehead patch without interruption, and the breast band is darker than the border of the hindneck collar. The bird is very fat, short-legged, and stubby-billed, too, and the neck ring is decidedly incomplete ("melodus" type--which also explains the relatively dark upperparts of this bird compared to pale "circumcinctus" types). 


To which he replied
"I particularly like the darker back of the southern variety (melodus) explanation for why it looks more like a SEPL. And I like the note about the contrast between the neck band in front and in rear. The stubby-billed comment is another way of saying the bill is conical?
 
However, I have trouble with "how the white supercilium joins the forehead patch without interruption". On page 51 of O'Brien, there are several photos of non-breeding SEPL with a similar supercilium effect.  There are also pix of SEPL with seriously reduced (not incomplete) neck bands. Alan's bird's band is also reduced, not incomplete--see 5107.
 
And your calling it "very fat, short-legged"--geez! didn't your mother teach you manners? Seriously, SEPL looks equally vf, s-l in photos.
 
All in all, you've convinced me. I didn't know there could be this difficulty with plovers in FL. Alan, thanks for sharing the pix."


I was advised that Michael O'Brien's The Shorebird Guide (2006) is a very good guide. I've been using Shorebirds-an identification guide by Hayman, Marshant and Prater(1986) and am ordering the O'Brien book now.


Thanks to all for their comments. Not being able to identify a bird can be a lot of fun and a great learning experience.

Water Control Structure Grate Refurbished

Ziggy and Frank reinstalled a refurbished grate at the mid-dike water control structure. They had the work done at Cavalier Steel Yard in Acton and painted the grate at Weir hill. The gate was so rusted that it could not be opened. Cherrie Corey took the photo.