If you are prone to tromping around the woods at this time of year on the Cape you might come across this lovely little tree. It has smooth bark and the stems grow up and out as if forked which is one of the ways it got its common name. The word witch comes from”wych”(not witch) and is actually an old English word describing a stick that has a pair of flexible forked branches. The “Hazel” part of the common name comes from the resemblance the leaves have to those of the hazelnut.
Witch hazel is a funny bloomer and not always predictable. Often they will bloom in February if there is a warm spell but some bloom late in the fall and others bloom quite a bit later in the spring.
You can see here that the blossoms have lovely little tendrils.
This tree is quite well known to have medicinal qualities due to the volatile oil content in the bark and wood that also makes it resistant to pests and diseases. Over the years witch hazel has been used to cure or assuage all sorts of ills and can still be found on many drug store shelves as an astringent. It has a sharp, not unpleasant scent.
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The Eagle has Landed!
If you live on Cape Cod you probably know that sighting an adult bald eagle is not very common, even in winter when we do get a few eagle sightings.
This winter there have actually been a fair number of eagles about, including this adult that has been hanging around in Mashpee. This photo is by Mary Noonan Keleher of Mashpee for although I did get to see the eagle I have no pictures to share. Let’s just say the eagle is a dark speck with a white head in my photos.
Bald eagles nest a bit to our north and also to our south and west but so far not on the Cape itself. As you probably know, eagles are birds of prey and eat just about anything from ducks to mice to fish. They are also scavengers and will eat the prey of other animals as well as hang out at the dump.
Have you ever seen a bald eagle?
Mallards
Mallards are so common that we often take them for granted so it’s always nice to take a kid along to remind you to really appreciate these lovely ducks.
The female is not as showy as the male but still quite beautiful in her subtle way.
The drakes are in fine dress all through the year with that bright yellow bill and shiny green head.
Mallards are easily recognizable to most families thanks to the famous story about the ducks at Boston’s Public Garden, “Make Way for Ducklings” by Robert McKloskey
Ruddy Turnstones
One of the first shorebirds I could identify for sure as a kid was a ruddy turnstone. They have very distinctive markings, are not very shy and if you watch them long enough they do exactly what their name suggests. They turn over stones to look for food.
These guys were found at Dowse’s Beach in Osterville this week. There were about a dozen mixed in with the local winter sanderlings. Turnstones don’t generally winter here though they are seen sporadically. I don’t know if these have been here all winter or if they are early arrivals on their way north. They are in winter plumage that is turning.
They have the most wonderful markings.
Here is one getting behind a stone or shell to turn it over.
What did it find? Mostly they are looking for invertebrates to eat such as worms, small crabs, etc.
In this picture above you can see the orange on the legs. Have you ever seen one of these birds?
Winter Sanderlings
I love sanderlings and sandpipers. They accompany me on many a beach walk, especially in the fall and winter….
For many folks all the little birds running around on the beach are sandpipers and although that is not always technically correct it is often close enough. Even good birders refer to the whole group as “peeps” or “pipers” and sometimes indentifying them, especially in winter can be tricky.
I took this photo at quite a distance but I believe these are sanderlings in the top picture. The area I took the photos in has had both dunlins and western sandpipers over the last few weeks as well as sanderlings and winter shorebird plumages can be a tough call. You need to look at the overall shape, size, behavior, etc.
I believe the bird in the second photo is also a sanderling. I thought it might be a dulin, which are a bit chunkier and have a longer bill that curves down a bit but another birder I spoke with is pretty sure it is a sanderling. I am happy to be corrected so please feel free to chime in.
These two shots are definitely of sanderlings. Jaunty little guys, don’t you think?
They are often on our beaches all winter and will soon be molting and getting their summer plumages. The dunlins will, too. Then they will all be off to the north where they will mate and nest. They will return here in the fall.
Eider Ducks
If you walk along the Cape Cod Canal or along the Sandwich beaches you will find huge rafts of common eider ducks. These northern ducks gather here by the thousands late in the fall and stay here all winter. Although smaller groups may be found all along the coast of the Cape each winter these mussel loving birds really congregate in this area due to the huge concentration of mussels, sea urchins and other favorite foods.
The beautiful males or drakes are marked with lovely and distinct black and white patterns.
The females are also lovely but a more muted brown. Eiders nest much farther north than the Cape (though it is thought some are nesting here now) and are colonial nesters, meaning they like to nest in large groups. The color of the females helps them blend into the sand or dirt they scrape a nest in.
In any flock of eiders you may see what look like oddly marked birds that are neither marked like males or females. These are the immature or young ducks that haven’t got their full plumages yet.
At one point eiders were hunted almost to extinction for their beautiful feathers. If you’ve heard of eider down, that referred to the soft down from the eider duck’s breast. Coats and jackets were also made from their skins. Today these birds are safe from this sort of hunting and their populations have made a good come back.
Visiting the National Marine Life Center in Bourne
We are very lucky to have this wonderful organization on the Cape. The National Marine Life Center began as a dream about 15 or so years ago and although it is far from complete plans are in motion to make this a top notch place for research and rehabilitation for marine life such as sea turtles, seals, porpoises, dolphins and even pilot whale.
The outside may not seem auspicious at first…
but inside there are many exhibits in the discovery center, most of which are hands on.
All visitors can peek into one of the “hospital” rooms and see the animals that are being rehabilitated there. Because today was a special open house we got to go on a tour of the whole facility.
This volunteer is putting together the skeleton of a porpoise…..
Inside the hospital room we were shown an X-ray of the shell of the diamond back terrapin that is a patient there. She has been there for quite a while and is actually losing her shell. She will grow a sort of replacement shell but it will take a while longer. She may be there another 2 years.
The picture is sort of distorted since she is under water but this is Patty, named because she was found on St. Patrick’s Day last year. Turtles brumate, or hibernate, and this little lady woke up too soon and was not in good shape when she was found.
In a different part of the building we got to see the tank full of the Plymouth Red-bellied cooters that the center is “head-starting.” I will do a separate post about them later.
This little baby is a hatchling diamond back terrapin that hatched late last fall, too late to winter over safely. It and 7 of its brothers and sisters are getting the royal treatment and each has its own small aquarium.
Next the director, Kathy Zagzebski took us into the room where the big turtle and seal tanks are being installed. This area is not finished yet but she explained what would need to be done before they would be ready to be used.
This last shot is of the area where the really big pools will be for the dolphins and even pilot whales. At this point the center needs to raise more money to complete their project but it’s pretty amazing all that has been done so far. If you didn’t make it to the open house today there will be another one in April. Check it out!
Robins at High Head
It’s a beautiful morning here on Cape Cod and I thought I’d share these pictures of robins sitting in the sun that I took up in the dunes at High Head in Truro earlier this week. As you probably know by now, these robins are visiting from up north and are eating berries from our cedars, privets, hollies, etc.
They seem a little larger than the robins that nest here but don’t forget that birds puff themselves up to stay warm.
Soon they will moult and grown new, fresh feathers and their colors will be more vibrant.
By the time spring arrives they will be full of rich, beautiful color.
Waiting for the snow….
These photos were taken a few days ago when it was sunny but very cold. We are waiting for snow to fall here on Cape Cod so I thought I’d just post these for fun. The first gull is a greater black backed gull.
These gulls look black against the light but that’s just because the sun is behind them, making them look like silhouettes.
These gulls were in the parking lot sitting out of the wind, at least the wind off the water. Most of these are ring billed gulls.
Stay warm!
Horned Larks
Do you see the little birds in this photo? It was taken at the edge of the marsh next to some low dunes and you can see how well camouflaged they are, if you can see them at all….
They moved into the sand area so you should be able to see them better now. There is one standing in the sand and one still in the grass.
These lovely little birds are horned larks. You can almost see the yellow on the face/chin area in the top picture but it really shows up in the picture below.
These birds are about the size of a sparrow and they have black feathers that stick up on the sides of their heads that look like horns, hence their names. Pretty cool, huh? You can often find horned larks in our sandy dune areas such as Sandy Neck and Coast Guard Beach. These birds were photographed at First Encounter Beach in Eastham where I almost always see them in fall and winter.