What a day! I spent the day with one of my daughters and a good friend heading down Cape to Provincetown. We hoped to see some whales but were generally happy to get out and about in Provincetown before the crowds hit.

It was much nicer there than we anticipated–the weather forecast had been iffy but when we got there it was pretty sunny. Later we would get clouds but the sun was nice.

Race Point was picture perfect and in the distance we saw hundreds of northern gannets diving and fishing. We even saw an Iceland gull fly by quite lazily. No pictures of these as my lens doesn’t really go that far.

Nice view though, huh?

The tide was very low and the flats went on forever into the horizon from our viewpoint on the edge of the breakwater.

This fellow and his dog were taking a leisurely meander across the sand…

Which seemed like a reasonable response to the circumstances.

Later, when we returned to Race Point we were treated to a fun show of multiple humpback whales spouting, feeding and slapping their flukes before diving. One pair seemed to be a mother and calf but from the distance it was hard to be sure, even with good binoculars. Yes, or no, it was still a spectacular show out there.

It was a great day to be in Provincetown, that’s for sure. If you go, be aware that much of Commercial St. is torn up and being worked on and walking down the street is trickier than usual. Maybe it will be done soon.

We really, really can’t complain too loudly about the month of March this year….It was so mild for so long that the little bit of cold, wind and sogginess that we are experiencing this week is nothing but a reminder of what March is usually like.

Yesterday, in fact, I found my first blooming mayflowers, trailing arbutus, in the woods. Technically, my young grandsons found them

and this morning, to counter the dark and dank day full of drizzle I brought a few daffodils inside to paint, to brighten up the day.

You can find this painting on display with many other botanical watercolors at my Mary Richmond Design Etsy Shop.

Thanks for stopping by. Here you’ll find everything about my work as a writer, artist, naturalist and educator living on beautiful Cape Cod. Please check in regularly at the blog for the latest photos, stories and updates about Cape Cod nature and natural history. Browse the shop for cards, prints and gift items made from my illustrations and other artwork. Links to my writing can be found under Writing Links and my latest class listings can be seen clicking the Classes tab.

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.

No matter where I look this week I am seeing violets everywhere. Known as the common violet this little lovely was once a wildflower. It has become so entrenched in our suburban landscape that few think of it as wild any more, however.

The purple ones are the most common…

but I’m especially fond of these pretty little white ones. I have pretty much let the violets have free run in my yard but I know people who spend a lot of time and energy pulling them out, cursing as they do so. As you might imagine, many of my neighbors now have violets all over their yards as well. Fortunately most of them don’t mind.

And of course they make a great drawing and painting subject as well….

We tend to think of areas next to the sea and full of sand dunes as being salt water environments, right? Some of these areas, most on the Cape in fact, are actually very diverse areas and have freshwater areas as well. Many of these freshwater areas are ephemeral, meaning they come and go according the seasons and in many cases they qualify as vernal pools. This spring has brought us a lot of rain and the water table is quite high, making these pools a bit larger than usual. It is hard to imagine many will dry up by mid July…

One of the obligate species, meaning one of the animals that must be present, of Massachusetts vernal pools is the yellow spotted salamander. This one is being held in a container by Ian Ives of Mass Audubon’s Long Pasture Sanctuary during a recent program he gave on Sandy Neck.

This jelly like mass in his hand is actually a mass of spotted salamander eggs. Like most amphibians the salamanders lay their eggs in water. When the young hatch they will look more like fish than tadpoles and will even have gills that look like tiny feathers on their necks.

In the forefront of this photo you can see the silvery water of this shallow vernal pool. On wet spring nights spadefoot toads crawl out of their sandy holes to mate and lay their eggs in places like this.

Their eggs look more like little dots than little worms like the salamander eggs do…

It’s a busy world out there on wet foggy nights in spring….

You can read the full article on our walk on Sandy Neck that I wrote for the Barnstable Patriot here.

Please let the editor of your town’s paper know….some towns are putting it in every week while others are dropping it due to the demise of the Region Section and space issues. I have been told by the editors that if they hear from readers it makes a difference so if you’re missing my column in the Enterprise….please let them know!