Plymouth Beach, Cape Cod and Bay of Fundy

2010 and now 2011 has in fact been very busy for yours truly. As some of you know last year I made two trips to Louisiana to document the BP Oil Disaster. After my return from the second trip and to date I have presented over 30 lectures on my time there and have two more scheduled next month which will be the last. Yet much of the damage BP did to that part of the Gulf remains and still the people and wildlife continue to suffer. BP got off easy and for that they should be ashamed. For now that’s all I will say on this topic.

So other then that what have I been up to in the past twelve months? Plenty and then some! A quick look at some photos and locations from this past summer are as follows.

Saturday June 4, 2011 I made a trip to Nickerson Beach Park on Long Island, NY with another photographer friend to photograph Oystercatchers and Skimmers. The weather was quite pleasant and the birds were GREAT! So much so I am looking forward to returning next year for even better photos and video.

Oystercatcher
Oystercatcher: Canon Mark IV 600mm + 1.4x 1/1000 f8 ISO 400

Once again I spent many mornings and afternoons this spring and summer at one of my favorite Mass Audubon Sanctuaries, Daniel Webster (DWWS) in Marshfield. I photographed a new bird (for me) on Saturday July 19th, Black-billed Cuckoo! I also got some nice photos of both Glossy Ibis and Little Blue Heron on the same day a few weeks later. However the real interesting project I have been working on at DWWS is a series of photos and video taken each month from the first observation blind which I have gathered into a kind of time lapse. I have posted the photos and video on line, if you view the photos you need to do so as a slide show. This will show you the change of season month by month starting in January 2010.

Mass Audubon Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary “Seasons” Photos/slide show

Video (best to view at 480p)

Black-billed Cuckoo
Black-billed Cuckoo

July had some rather nice highlights. First of which was a visit from my home town by two good friends and fellow photographers, Scott Gorring (who I’ve known since I was five) and Sam Stull. This was this first “photo trip” to Massachusetts for both of them and the weather and the birds were VERY GOOD! I was able to take them to Mass Audubon Daniel Webster and three days photographing on Plymouth Beach. The first day on Plymouth Beach I lead the second annual “Photo Round-up” for the Goldenrod Foundation which I now serve on it’s Advisory Board. We had twelve photographers spending the day photographing birds, other wildlife and landscape starting at 5:30 AM and ending 7:30 PM. While that is a long day the weather was perfect that morning and with many Piping Plovers, Common Terns and Least Terns it made for a wonderful experience for all who attended.

Link to photos for this blog.

Sam Stull, Scott Gorring and Alex Couter

My final summer adventure took place just this past weekend. Co-producer (Migration Production) and good friend Jim Grady and I made our second trip to the Bay of Fundy in Canada and Johnson’s Mills (outside of Sackville, New Brunswick) to video record and photograph the Semipalmated Sandpiper migration. Three years ago when we visited our goal was to interview many people for our upcoming shorebird video. While we were able to see over 100,000 birds on that trip the weather was less then desirable with overcast days and light rain. We wanted to return last year to follow-up with better “bird” footage. However when the BP Oil Disaster unfolded I changed my plans and headed south, so, Johnson Mills would have to wait until August 2011. Needless to say it was well worth the wait. We witnessed 120,000 to 150,000 birds on Saturday, August 13. This was a sight to behold! If you any interest in birds and have yet to visit this wonderful location you must do so next year. From Boston it’s 550 miles or a nine hour drive. You will want to stay in the town of Sackville, a 20 minute drive to the Bay of Fundy which is where the birds are. Be sure to check the tides. The best time to view is about two hours before high tide until about 1.5 hours after high tide. Also you will want to visit the Nature Conservancy Canada Interpretive Centre at Johnson’s Mills where you can often view the birds from their observation deck during hide tide.

Piping Plover with young. Click on photo to view video.

The last weekend in July had me returning to Mass Audubon Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary on Cape Cod to teach a 3.5 day photo workshop with good friend and fellow photographer Eric Smith. This is the fifth year in the past six that we have taught this workshop which was sold out back in May. We had a great group of people attending and once again the weather was for the most part good. Photographic highlights were a Cecropia Moth caterpillar, Monarch caterpillar, Box Turtle and several species of birds the highlight there was Green Heron and Kingfisher. After the workshop was completed I stayed on the Cape the following week for vacation and spent each morning at MAS Wellfleet Bay photographing from sunrise until 9:30 AM. The highlights from that week for me were a Stilt Sandpiper and a few images of a new species of Kingfisher which I named the “Phoebe Kingfisher”. Because the water level was so low at the Goose Pond this year (lower then I have ever seen it) there was a very small pool of water next to a perch that this Phoebe was using to hunt insects. In that pool of water which was no more then an inch or two deep these very small fish were caught there with no place to hide. I believe the Phoebe being an opportunist just took advantage of the available food supply. The other interesting “subject” I photographed was a Spadefoot Toad  which I have been trying to see and photograph for the past ten years or more. So by chance when the Caretaker at MAS Wellfleet Bay dug one up I made sure I got some photos and video while I had the chance.

Cecropia Moth caterpillar: Canon Mark VI with 180mm macro

My final summer adventure took place just this past weekend. Co-producer (Migration Production) and good friend Jim Grady and I made our second trip to the Bay of Fundy in Canada and Johnson’s Mills (outside of Sackville, New Brunswick) to video record and photograph the Semipalmated Sandpiper migration. Three years ago when we visited our goal was to interview many people for our upcoming shorebird video. While we were able to see over 100,000 birds on that trip the weather was less then desirable with overcast days and light rain. We wanted to return last year to follow-up with better “bird” footage. However when the BP Oil Disaster unfolded I changed my plans and headed south, so, Johnson Mills would have to wait until August 2011. Needless to say it was well worth the wait. We witnessed 120,000 to 150,000 birds on Saturday, August 13. This was a sight to behold! If you any interest in birds and have yet to visit this wonderful location you must do so next year. From Boston it’s 550 miles or a nine hour drive. You will want to stay in the town of Sackville, a 20 minute drive to the Bay of Fundy which is where the birds are. Be sure to check the tides. The best time to view is about two hours before high tide until about 1.5 hours after high tide. Also you will want to visit the Nature Conservancy Canada Interpretive Centre at Johnson’s Mills where you can often view the birds from their observation deck during hide tide.

Link to photos for this blog.

Semipalmated Sandpipers, Johnson’s Mills, Bay of Fundy

Directions from Sackville to Johnson’s Mills
Follow Main Street / Route 106 South to
Left onto Water Street to (shortcut)
Left onto Route 935, follow for a few miles as you drive down a long hill you will see the Bay of Fundy in front of you. Johnson’s Mills will be the open area on your right.

I wish I could end on a positive note however I must share with you some rather sad and disturbing news I received from Florida last week. The past two years I have photographed a pair of Crested Caracaras that were nesting in the front yard of a woman living near Myakka River State Park in Sarasota. She informed me that a little over two weeks ago someone shot and killed the female and the male was also shot and has a broken wing. These birds nested on her property for the past four years and needless to say she was (as I am) sad and VERY ANGRY that someone would be so heartless as to do such a thing.

Shawn Carey
Migration Productions