If you would like to know more about my process, please join me at my new blog as well. I no longer have my old Mary Richmond Design blog. This will fill some of what that did but will also be more specific in terms of art, writing, rambling and so on…
Please come on over to Of drawing and birds, dogs and words….
The view from Coast Guard Beach this week….
Walking the dogs with a friend at First Encounter (and yes, we did bring our little bags and clean up what was necessary 😉
The rock walls at Fort Hill are always evocative, especially in winter…
Today we started our walk at Mother’s Bog in Brewster and ended in Nickerson State Park, also in Brewster but on the other end. We passed through the Punkhorn area also, a beautiful woodland area filled with ponds.
We saw many of the usual woodland suspects including this sassafras tree.
We saw clumps of sheep laurel, also known as lamb kill. Most of this has passed by but there are still some beautiful blooms left to enjoy.
Wild grapes or fox grapes are not uncommon here.
But the most surprising thing was seeing milkweed almost in bloom and in some cases, already in bloom! It is very, very early for milkweed. This has been such a crazy spring!
What a beautiful day we had for a walk today and we got in just over 12 miles from Yarmouth to Brewster. We stopped for lunch here at Crab Creek in Dennis where we got some shade and rest for our weary feet.
We saw so many beautiful things along the way like these wild blue flag irises.
These are Indian Pipes, the little white flowers hidden among the leaves and poison ivy. I had to sort of take the picture on the run since the group will leave you behind if you stop for too long.
By the end of the day most of us were very tired and had very sore feet. I know I did. I am hoping I can wrap my feet well enough for tomorrow since we are going to places I really want to go but tonight I’m putting my feet up for sure.
This was some of us on our last break before heading for the cranberry bog you see in the picture above. That is me in the shades and tangerine shirt 😉
Okay, I skipped Day 2. There were severe thunderstorms predicted and I admit it, I wimped out. Taking 9 days off from work meant I had plenty of work to do but by about 2 yesterday afternoon I was feeling pretty dumb. Of course it never rained or thundered on the Cape all day…
Today we walked from West Barnstable to Yarmouth. We saw wild cow parsnip that is from the wild carrot family so if you think it resembles Queen Anne’s lace you are right. This plant blooms earlier and is much taller, however.
We stopped to take a scenic overview of Hyannis and Nantucket Sound, neither of which show up well in the above photo….
We walked around the Jenkins Cranberry Bogs in West Barnstable…
And had some wonderful views of area ponds…
After waiting out a pretty impressive thunderstorm in our cars we began the 9 day walk across Cape Cod in West Falmouth yesterday morning. There were about 35 of us.
We walked on the Falmouth bike path and then up Rt. 15 a bit before turning into a trail on the Crane Reservation. An old cattle farm, this piece of land is huge and has been maintained as open meadow, allowing for all sorts of field flowers, birds, butterflies and other animals to flourish there.
The trails meander in and out of woodlands and there are lots of ferns as well.
I think spring greens against dark bark is one of the most delicious sights at this time of year and I never get tired of it.
And look who we saw going to lay her eggs? Box turtles, like all turtles, travel to the same warm sandy place each year to lay their eggs. Box turtles have a pretty small range and if you live near one you may see it return each year to within yards of where it was last year. This one had spectacular markings.
Today more thunderstorms are predicted and I am not sure I’ll venture out on the walk but I’ll be posting here each day that I do.
Many of our beach flowers are blooming early this year. Lovely pink rosa rugosa is everywhere. Some areas have white blossoms as well but pink is the predominant color. Did you know that this iconic flower is actually a non-native? It arrived here from the orient in the mid 1800’s…
The other beach flower that is blooming up a storm right now is the beach pea. Yes, it is a real pea and also edible if you can find one not eaten by rabbits or other animals. Right now they are flowering like crazy. Look for plants that are low to the ground filled with violet or red-violet blossoms. In some areas they cover large swatches of sand.
You can find these at almost any Cape beach. These were photographed in Hyannis.
Yesterday I found these piping plover chicks, newly hatched, on Kalmus Beach in Hyannis!
They are born able to stand and run very quickly after hatching and then they forage with their parents.
When the parent senses trouble it peeps to get your attention and the little ones scatter in different directions to stay safe while the parent or parents lead you away from the babies…
I saw three separate families–one with 4 chicks, one with 3 and even one with 5!
I think they are the cutest things ever, don’t you?
Piping plovers are little shorebirds that are among the few that actually breed and nest here on Cape Cod. Although we have many shorebirds at area beaches and marshes in the spring and fall most are just moving through and stop to feed here and rest before heading farther north where they breed.
If you live anywhere near a beach on the east coast you are probably well aware that piping plovers are endangered, mostly because they happen to like the same sandy beaches we humans like. As you can see in these photos piping plovers are very well camouflaged and many people probably walk right by them on the beach without seeing them.
Their good camouflage protects them from predators but it also causes problems for them and their little ones. Their nests get stepped on, the little ones get separated from the parents and animals, including dogs, chase them or scare them. Many beach dog walkers insist that their dog would never harm a bird and that may be true. What they don’t realize is that the very presence of a dog can scare these birds in a way that may result in nest abandonment and even death. A dog, after all, resembles natural predators such as foxes and coyotes which these birds are programmed to avoid and fear.
Other things that can threaten these nesting birds on the beach are kites, noise and vehicles. Kites themselves are not dangerous but many birds, including plovers, have an instinctual response to large flying shadows. They don’t look to see if it is a kite or hawk or crow. They just respond to the potential of imminent danger and this can cause them so much stress that again, they may abandon their nests.
For nesting! Bet you know whose eggs these are….
They belong to someone who looks like this!
Special thanks to Vanessa LaVoie for sending me the photo of the nest 😉