Author Archives: admin

Barn Swallows

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We have several kinds of swallows on the Cape including tree swallows, barn swallows, bank swallows and rough winged swallows. Tree and barn swallows are by far the most common but the others can be locally common so depending on where you are you might actually be seeing more of them. I believe the largest group of bank swallows on the Cape is in Truro…We also have purple martins which look quite different, being darker and larger..

Barn swallows are among my favorites and have been every since I was a kid and they nested in our garage. They build nests with mud and saliva and often are found in colonies that can range in size from a few nests to hundreds. On the Cape they are found in any area with old buildings or open buildings, as long as there is an opening they can come in and out of. They also nest under docks and piers and can often be seen around local harbors.

These two were resting after a busy time catching bugs and feeding the babies in the nests just inside the building.

They could leave the babies knowing they were safe since Harley the llama was keeping watch….

Sitting Silently….

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can save your life….

especially if you are a tiny bunny hiding in the grass…

Most predators watch for movement so most prey animals have learned to stay very still when they feel in danger. This little cottontail rabbit was only a few inches long but already it knew to freeze when it heard my footsteps. I used my zoom lens to take this picture and once I got within about 8 feet of it the little guy took off into the briar bushes just as little rabbits have done throughout time….

We saw LOTS of baby rabbits and chipmunks on our walks last week so keep your eyes open to see one of these sweet little guys. Kids love spotting baby animals and these little guys are easy to spot if you know where to look. They often feed near sunny open grassy places with lots of vetches and clovers that have low bushes and brambles nearby.

Handsome Herring Gulls

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I know, you’re thinking, huh? Handsome gulls? Yes. When they are in their full breeding plumage I think gulls are really handsome. And beautiful. This is a herring gull and if you’ve ever hung out watching them wolf down herring at the herring runs you know why they were given that name.

I don’t believe there is a way to tell a male from a female unless you follow them around and see which one does what during mating and egg laying times. They both guard the nest and they both feed the chicks and protect them. They seem to know which is which and really, that is probably what is most important.

You may have noticed that there aren’t many gulls around at area beaches right now. That is because they are nesting. Gulls are colonial nesters and nest in huge colonies, often numbering into the thousands. Here the biggest gull colonies are on the Monomoy Islands in Chatham. They often nest with greater black back gulls though usually the nests of each species are in separate parts of the location.

A gull colony is an interesting and often scary place. There is a lot of noise, a lot of stink and a lot of death. Gulls regurgitate food for their young and the little ones peck at that red spot on the bill to let mom or dad know they are hungry. Gull colonies are filled with guano, regurgitated fish and half eaten birds. Gulls will kill and eat each other’s young so the nesting colony is often filled with angst and defense.

It isn’t exactly a peaceful place and they are not fond of human trespassers either. My times in a colony were with people doing research and we had proper permissions from the state agencies that monitor such things. Let me just say that a big gull flying straight at you in an obvious aggressive move is pretty scary. I’ve seen really big men dive for the ground to avoid being pecked at. I found this short video of a gull and tern colony on YouTube that isn’t exactly what it is like here but it gives you a good idea of the overall racket and commotion.

Tern, Tern, Tern….

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Sorry, couldn’t resist the tern pun…

If you’ve been to a beach on the Cape lately you have probably seen and heard terns. Lots of them. Terns are colonial nesters and gather in large groups to court, mate, nest and raise their young. They like sandy spots with some grass to afford good hiding spots and also like spots that tend to be a bit more isolated and surrounded by water.

Tern colonies on the Cape tend to be pretty localized but they may also change from season to season. Kalmus Beach in Hyannis, Town Neck in Sandwich and South Monomoy all have sizable tern colonies. There are others, too, of course but these popped into my head first.

There are several types of tern that nest here including the tiny least tern shown above. Note the yellow bill. They are also quite small which is easy to tell when you see them mixed in with other terns such as the common tern. Roseate and arctic terns are rare breeders here but can be found in certain locations and in the late summer and early fall all bets are off for the Cape hosts huge flocks of mixed terns as they stage for migration and we never know what kinds of terns may show up then.

This last picture shows a typical nest area. Like the plovers, terns build very minimal nests that are really not much more than shallow scrapes in the sand.

Terns are easy to tell from gulls if you pay attention to just a few things. The terns we get here tend to be smaller than gulls but mostly they look slimmer, more aerodynamic and have long pointy wings. They can hover and dive as well, something you won’t see a gull doing.

Because terns tend to hang out by the water’s edge many people confuse them with sandpipers. Unlike sandpipers, however, terns do not run along the shore. They tend to be either resting, grooming or getting ready to lift off.

You can learn a lot more about terns by following this link to the Cornell Bird Website.

Beach peas are everywhere!

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Not only are there lots of beach roses in bloom at the beach but the beach peas are in bloom, too.

Beach peas really are wild peas and are found all over Cape Cod, especially in areas that have dunes.

Their sweet purple blossoms attract lots of bees and butterflies and have a subtle scent that even we humans can enjoy.

Once they are done blooming the plants will be setting up their seed pods which of course are full of tiny peas. They are safe to eat but good luck finding any that are ripe enough –the pods are really too tough to be enjoyable–and not occupied by other hungry little critters.

Beach roses are in bloom again…

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and are already almost past their prime. They began blooming in my area just last week and yet most of the ones I saw yesterday are already fading and losing petals! That doesn’t seem quite fair, does it? We wait all year for them and then, boom! Bloomed and gone….

Actually the beach rose, officially known as the Rosa rugosa, is not a native to our shores though it has certainly adapted to living here. It is also on almost every promotional piece related to Cape Cod so one could say we’ve certainly adopted it as well.

I hope you have a chance to walk by these wonderful bushes this week at a beach near you and take in the summery scent of these delicious smelling flowers that begin the days of summer even before the calendar says it’s here.

And no, Rosa rugosa isn’t the beach plum, even though the fat orange hips often get called beach plums. Here is a picture of a blooming beach plum shrub–beach plums were in bloom several weeks ago and as you can see in the picture, they have many tiny white blossoms….

It’s baby plover time!

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One of the simple joys of early morning beach walking is watching the little piping plovers learn to feed and run from danger. The adult plovers will often try to lead a predator in the opposite direction from where the babies are and even the babies will split up and run.

Piping plovers are very well camouflaged and in the next few pictures you might want to click on them to enlarge them to find the babies. I have a zoom on my camera but it isn’t a big one and you sort of have to keep your distance from these little guys so you don’t spook them.

Look carefully here to see the mom heading right and two little chicks heading left–these are very little ones. So cute!

This chick is a little bigger and belongs to a different family. Probably hatched a few days sooner than the others.

There are 2 chicks in the picture above–and this gives you a really good idea about how well camouflaged they are and how difficult to see if you are a driver on the beach….

The good news is that a good number of chicks have already hatched on area beaches so far and as long as the weather remains somewhat reasonable they should grow well and be ready to fledge in good time so that all can share the beaches without too much complaint.

Photos by me this morning from Kalmus Beach in Hyannis

Painting Outside…

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One of the real pleasures of life, in my humble opinion, is painting outside. Sure it may get a bit breezy or buggy and some days it may be really hot or almost raining but painting outside is almost a meditation.

One’s attention becomes totally absorbed into the landscape, in this case the wildflower garden at the Green Briar Nature Center in East Sandwich. Before long any minor annoyances fade away and all that remains is the beauty and the joy.

Finding the color patterns amidst all that green can be daunting but is always rewarding…even if the color patterns don’t always make it all the way onto the paper. They are there in our minds, imprinted on our memories. Painting outdoors isn’t just about the painting….a lot of it is about the observing, the appreciating, the being there in the moment and taking it all in.

Whether one is a beginner or more experienced, taking the time to commune with the world around you with a pencil or paintbrush in your hand may be one of the more sublime things we can do.

Every time one of these people opens their sketchbooks or looks at the paintings they did on this bright sunny day they will remember the sweet smell of the garden, the gentle buzzing of bees and the flights of dragonflies and butterflies as well as the general laughter and good time had by all.

It’s a little piece of magic, I think.

I’ll be taking people all over the Cape to paint this summer so if you’d like to join us please check out the schedule on the Cape Cod Art and Nature website.

Wildflowers everywhere!

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Everywhere I turn the wildflowers are blooming- way too many of them to name here but if you go outside pretty much anywhere on Cape Cod this week you will find many flowers in bloom. Lady’s slippers are blooming in pine woodlands, and yellow and blue flags, lupines, early vetches, red clovers and Jack-in-the-pulpits are blooming too.

Jack-in-the-pulpits are much more common than many people think. They like to be near soggy spots and are often intermixed with ferns and other lush pond side plants which helps them be overlooked. Watch for the triple leaf crown that stands like an umbrella above the actual flower.

Yellow and blue flag irises also like to have their feet in soggy places and are best looked for in freshwater wetlands like this one.

I don’t know which I enjoy more, the yellow or the blue–they are both gorgeous.

And one of my very favorites is the wild geranium. They are a delicate flower but tend to grow in big bunches that aren’t delicate at all. As far as I can tell wild geranium is one of those plants that is called locally common. It isn’t everywhere but where you do find it, you’ll usually find a lot of it.

Along with the flowers are arriving the butterflies so while we have this spot of sunny weather I hope you get a chance to get outside and enjoy the flowers, the birds and the butterflies.

Walking and Sketching in Sandwich

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This morning looked sunny and inviting and I had plans to go to Sandwich and do some sketching. I packed my paints, my sketchbook, my good pen and my camera along with some water and my sweatshirt. It was pretty warm but one never knows. It is Cape Cod, after all.

I started at the newly reopened Thornton Burgess Museum on Water St., where my husband had been working hard to have everything spiffed up and ready for another summer season. The museum is right on Shawme Pond and has a great herb garden so there’s plenty to draw. There are also plenty of these….

The parent Canada geese were a bit wary but as long as I kept my distance they didn’t seem to mind me sketching their little ones. By this time the sky was getting really dark and I could hear thunder in the distance.

The geese didn’t seem too impressed but the thunder got closer and closer and finally the sky began to light up with lightening and I headed inside….

The rain began but most of the storm seemed to pass north of us so before long I was able to go outside and finish sketching…

I stopped over at Green Briar and then headed to the Game Farm where I did more sketching and walking…

and as I often do, I kept a list of the birds, etc. that I saw or heard. i also fooled around with some ideas for kid’s poems…

It wasn’t the perfect sunny spring day I started out to paint in but it ended up quite a nice day to walk and sketch and sit and watch the red tailed hawk get harassed by smaller birds…