Where Are All The Birds?

This Great Blue Heron is one of very few seen in the wetlands this summer. Autumn often brings them in greater numbers, but we haven't spotted many yet.
Some white herons, (Eastern Great Egrets) were seen earlier in the summer, but birds are a little sparse in the area this year.

A Variety of Herons are Spotted in Provincetown's Wetlands and Ponds

This Yellow-crowned Night Heron made a daylight appearance
in the pond along Provincelands Road.

This year there seem to be several types of herons in the marshes, ponds and wetlands surrounding Provincetown. Although his hairdo seems to fall a bit flat, this fellow appears to be a Yellow-crowned Night Heron, found fishing for his lunch in the salt pond along Provincelands Road. Like the Great Blue Heron, which seems to be the one most often spotted in the Provincelands, this stocky bird stands motionless, waiting for a little fish or a frog to swim by, then pounces on his prey, making it part of his lunch.
This particular bird generally does most of its hunting after dark, but around these parts, feeding time seems to have more to do with the timing of the tides rather than the hour or the daylight. Look for these birds and other herons at about half-tide, as the water in this pond and in the wetlands around it is rising with the tide.

The Spectacular Provincetown Sky, Opus 3

Sometimes I think I could spend the rest of my time on this planet just watching the colors change in the sky and in the various waters that surround Provincetown…

As this rising tide crept into the marsh and stole the golden colors right out of the sky, these little dollops of clouds parted just enough to let a few rays from the setting sun turn this sandy hillside at the edge of the wetlands a little pinkish.

Now for the High Tides...

This tide easily exceeds the average high tide line, and it's still rolling in.

My last post showed an extremely low tide that allowed folks to walk across the tidal flats all the way out to the spit of sand that becomes Long Point. This photo shows the voluminous high tide the next afternoon, and there were more to follow.
In fact, from now through September, we're likely to have many more  of these tremendous high tides during the full moon as it continues to orbit 31,000 miles closer to the earth than at any other time of the year. I've studied up a bit on all this moon and tide stuff in the last couple of days…
It seems that the moon orbits the earth in a kind of ellipse rather than a perfect circle, with the earth situated slightly off center, just a bit closer to one side of that giant oval shape the moon makes as it travels around us. That means that the moon is actually orbiting closer to the earth from July through September than it does at any other time of the year. It's called the perigee, when the moon is in the part of its orbit that brings it closest to the earth. That's why the moon looks so much larger right now than it does during the winter, when it's at its farthest from the earth, during its apogee phase.
I made it to the Far West End of Provincetown Harbor for this photo a bit before the real peak of the high tide this day, so the water actually rose a bit higher than shown in this photo. Read my June 16th, 2012 blog about hiking the breakwater to the Wood End Light, where you'll find links to a tide chart and a bit of information about the lighthouse, as well as the American Lighthouse Foundation. Unfortunately, the VISA card program cited there, benefitting the ALF, has ended, so that link is no longer valid. But you'll find info on getting to the Far West End and tips to keep you safe on your hike, as this trip can be a little tricky in spots, and may be rather strenuous for most of us.
One day soon I'll write about hiking out to the Long Point Light, at the very tip of Cape Cod. After all, I can't write about this area every day (although I actually could write about it every day, for at least two weeks or more…)
Enjoy your hike, and please, be careful. Or you could simply sit on the benches and watch the water change colors all afternoon, or watch the artists who flock to this spot nearly every summer day to paint the wetlands before they disappear beneath the high tides.

Couples Day on the Breakwater?

Provincetown's breakwater offers couples a romantic stroll across
the west end of this spectacular harbor, and perhaps a picnic along the way.

On one of these glorious spring days we've had recently (although the date on the calendar insists that it's now summer) it almost looked like couples day out on the west end breakwater.
With calm waters near high tide, and the charm of the Wood End Light in the distance, the stroll out onto the granite breakwater can have a certain romance to it, especially for those who are taking in this breathtaking sight for the first time. On this particular afternoon, everyone I could spot out on the breakwater was paired up in a couple of one sort or another, and that gave me a smile.

Wildlife Sightings Galore Around PTown

There's an abundance of fox, turkey, heron and other wildlife
this autumn in Provincetown.

Looks like this little fox has a meadow vole (think gray and fuzzy and a bit bigger than a mouse) for an appetizer on this particular afternoon. He's been seen a lot near the Province Lands Visitor Center over the last couple of weeks, usually late in the afternoon when travelers and their dogs have left the area to get to the beach for the sunset. He's sometimes spotted making his rounds around the edges of the parking lot where people have been walking their dogs over the course of the day. He re-marks his territory where the dogs have been, just to make sure everybody knows who's boss around here.
I saw an American gold finch yesterday, a little late in the season for them to still be around. And the herons are here in pretty good numbers this year, by all appearances, seen most often in the marshy wetlands of the Far West End or in the little pond across the road from "the bike rack" where the boys all pile their bikes on the fence on a bright summer day. These stately birds are most often seen standing knee-deep in the water around half-tide, waiting for a little fish or a frog to swim by and become part of their lunch. Turkeys have been seen this week on the edge of route 6 feeding in the grasses anywhere between Shank Painter Road and Snail Road.
Take a moment to enjoy the wildlife that is part of the natural world that makes Provincetown such a unique environment.

The New York Times Called Him "The Johnny Appleseed of Environmental Art"

Roy Staab's work can be found near the breakwater in the West End, while it lasts.

A number of years ago I was strolling in the West End, and as I walked a little closer to the breakwater I saw that someone had stabbed long reeds into the tidal flats and then woven more reeds between them, forming a sort of free-standing sculpture of geometric shapes that seemed to float in the air a foot above the water. I watched as the tides rolled in and out over the next few days, variously exposing and then hiding this amazing creation as the water level rose above, and then dropped below, half-tide. After several days this sculpture began to break up a bit with each new tide, and eventually it disappeared altogether. A couple of years later another amazing sculpture appeared in this same spot and then slowly disintegrated with the tides, and over the years I have seen several of them, each one a different design.

For years i've been wondering who was coming into town and creating this amazing art in the open, at the edge of the wetlands. A few days ago I happened onto another one, freshly completed, and finally met environmental artist Roy Staab. He has traveled the world creating this large, open-air, public art in tidal flats, river basins and marshlands from one edge of the world to the other, using natural materials he finds and gathers in each area he chooses for the creation of his art.

Timing is important in seeing Roy's work at its most dynamic. Optimum enjoyment of his amazing sculptures can be had when the water level is low, but not all the way out at low tide. Having a little water covering the base of the vertical reeds, especially when the water is still, along with the sun being out, gives the best conditions for enjoying the work as the reflection of the shapes rests on calm waters. I was having trouble getting all these factors working together in the short time I have available for myself in the summer months, and I wanted to share this treasure with my readers, so Roy was kind enough to send me the photo above. The rosy, golden color on the loops of the horizontal reeds seem to be the deep colors you will only find when the sun is very close to the earth, near the time of sunrise or sunset.

Roy Staab at work on one of his giant reed sculptures.

Once I knew his name, I could look up Roy Staab's website, and there I found the image above in the form of a You Tube video of this still image with Will Walkers article from the 2012 Provincetown Arts magazine scrolling over the screen to a somewhat haunting bit of music. Here's a link to this Meandering Moment.
Roy created a sculpture in the Pamet while he was here as well. He left yesterday for Saunders Farm in Garrison, New York, where he'll be creating a work for the local Collaborative Concepts group. Roy says "Life is special and always fleeting and my art is as well." Visit the West End as soon as you can and reflect on this splendid, timeless bit of environmental art. It may not last much longer.

The West End Breakwater is One of PTown's Greatest Recreation Areas

Kayaking, picnics and sunbathing are popular activities at the breakwater.

The breakwater in the Far West End is a great spot for all kinds of recreation. You can fish for striped bass off the left side, casting toward the Long Point Lighthouse. You can picnic on the edge of the breakwater, or you can walk out to the lighthouse at Wood End and have a picnic there, along with a swim and a little sunbathing in a spot where you aren't likely to have many people around you. You can practically have your own private beach, especially if you're willing to walk a bit farther once you get out to that little spit of sand across the harbor.
You can launch a kayak or a canoe or an inflatable raft and paddle out to Long Point, the very tip of Cape Cod, where you can also fish, swim, sunbathe and picnic to your heart's content, with hardly anyone around you. Folks I talked to last week rented a kayak and paddled out to the far side of Long point, on the edge of Cape Cod Bay, and found seals all along the beach there.

During a very high tide you can swim through the wetlands.

A lot of people will go swimming off the right side of the breakwater, out into the wetlands if the tide is high enough, or just paddle around within a few feet of the shoreline at the head of the breakwater, never getting more than a few feet from the shoreline. Others will try their hand at snorkeling in this area as well. And as the water recedes as the tide goes out, the tidal flats that are revealed yield shells, bits of sea glass, hermit crabs and all kinds of treasures for beachcombers. Families with small children can be spotted carrying nets and buckets to scoop things out of little tidal pools that form at ebb tide.
You can also catch the shuttle boat to get out to Long Point. The Long Point shuttle leaves MacMillan Pier on the hour all day long in the summertime, and it leaves Flyer's boatyard at 10 minutes past the hour, traveling out to the area near the Long Point Lighthouse and back again several times during the day. There is no dock out there, so you'll take off your shoes, roll up your pants legs and hop off the boat in knee-deep water. You can take beach chairs, a small cooler or whatever else you need for the day, but be considerate of others taking the shuttle, too. Don't expect to take the 80 gallon cooler, the barbecue and a side of beef on the shuttle boat. For that kind of party you want to check into renting or chartering a boat of your own.
With this glorious weather we've had recently, there are dozens of ways to use this area we call the breakwater. A lot of folks will simply take a walk out on this enormous granite barrier that forms a walkway from the land at the west end of Commercial Street out to the spit of sand that stretches into Long Point and the tip of the Cape. However you may choose to use this spot, it is one of Provincetown's greatest recreation areas. Be careful, be safe and have fun!

The Great Blue Heron Makes Its Annual Appearance in Provincetown's Wetlands

Provincetown seems to be on a kind of migratory fly-over path for nearly 500 species of migrating birds, so at any time of the year we'll find several different types of birds winging in to spend a bit of time here. Some of these birds come just for a day or two to eat things that are "in season" for a very short time.  Out in the dunes I've seen swarms of hundreds of birds descend on some of the bushes on the sandy hillsides, gorging for a few moments and then taking to the air again, swooping up and down until the leader, whoever that is, decides it's time to land again. Some of those bushes will turn almost black for a few moments at a time with several dozen birds perched on each of the branches of a handful of bushes within a few yards of each other, and then the whole colony will take flight again, darkening a patch of the summer sky as they swoop left and right together with an almost military precision like hundreds of soldiers on a parade march, all making the methodical left-face in the same instant. These bushes are on the hillsides, away from the trail. and I've never walked closer to see whether they are eating berries or fruits of some sort, or maybe bugs, or caterpillars that can appear in the dunes in great numbers for a few days at a time.
Flocks of Baltimore Orioles swoop into Provincetown in the spring, and the American Goldfinch arrives in sizable numbers, and will often spend a good bit of the summer here flitting through the trees, especially out near the Provincelands Visitor Center. But every year, like clockwork, just a few of my favorites begin to arrive within what seems like seconds after that moment when the temperature begins to drop a bit, and the summer starts to wind down...
The Great Blue Heron can be found at this time of the of year out in the wetlands near the Moors Motel, in the Far West End of town. They are most often found standing at the edges of the little rivulets of water that snake through the tall reeds and grasses beyond Provincelands Road, standing motionless as tiny fish and other small edibles pass by in these shallow waters. They are found here most often as the tide is going out, usually at less than half tide, when their long legs will keep their bodies out of the water as they strike a pose and watch for whatever might swim by and become their lunch. They feed on small fish, aquatic insects, frogs and other delicacies that happen by, spearing them with their long, sharply pointed bills. Rarely they can be seen wading from one spot to another, but are usually found standing motionless at the very edge of the water, just behind a few reeds and  grasses where they are trying to hide from potential prey, which is what makes it a bit difficult for us to spot them as well.
Your best chance to look for this stately bird seems to be during the time when the tide is fairly low during the morning hours, while the tide is receding. Look for herons on the far edge of the little salt pond that rises and lowers with the tides, where the water flows beneath the road near the "bike rack" in that little bit of forest on Provincelands Road, where these birds are sometimes spotted knee-deep in the middle of the pond as well. You'll find them more often, though, by looking very sharply out over the wetlands, or the moors, as they are sometimes called, to the right of the Wood End Light, and sometimes quite close to the road. You'll likely see only one at a time, because they fish alone, but a pair of binoculars might help you find a few of them fishing in different parts of the marsh, far from the road. And of course you'll want to take your camera with you in search of this big, magnificent bird.