October morning

  

Yesterday (10 October 2024) Eric and I made a quick trip to Chatham, Massachusetts, and encountered a nice flock of Forster's Terns (Sterna forsteri).  

The terns flew to a sandbar, spent some time roosting and preening, then some individuals took off and started diving on a school of fish in shallow water.  The autumn light was nice and I don't often get to spend much quality time with Forster's Terns, so here are a few photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was a relatively large flock of Forster's Terns, ~250 birds.  I didn't get a photo of the entire flock, but here's one that shows the general scene.  [You can click on any of the images for larger versions.] 

 

 

 

And another showing the view to the south:

 

We left feeling grateful for an October morning on Cape Cod.

Pale beauty -- Part 2

 

 

Well, it looks like I'm going to run out of time tonight for writing more about Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetles (Habroscelimorpha dorsalis).  But I was able to sort through some photos, so here's a selection of my favorites from yesterday (photos taken on 20 September 2023).

 

Things to look for:

- very long legs

- mostly pale elytra (wing covers)

- bronze/green iridescence (especially on the thorax and legs)

- bright white labrum (the "lip" area)

- white mandibles with black tips 

- gray/purplish eyes (depending on the light and the angle)

We observed these beetles on dry sand (first and last photos), but also on wet sand/mud.  It was fun to see how their pale wing covers made them look like little bits of shell.  [You can click on the images for larger and sharper versions.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's a nice one from Eric:

 

If you'd like to learn more about this species, check out this fact sheet from the Massachusetts Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program.

 

Pale beauty

 

 

I'll share more about this species soon, but I'm running out of time tonight, so I'll post this photo of Eric's for now...because it's so spectacular!

 

Meet the Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetle (Habroscelimorpha dorsalis, formerly Cicindela dorsalis).

 

Photographed in Chatham, Massachusetts, on 20 September 2023.

  

Mellow

  

Mushroom in Chatham, MA, on 29 September 2022

Fall beauty

 

 

A beautiful DeKay's Brown Snake (Storeria dekayi) crossing a trail in Chatham, MA, today (29 September 2022).

 

This is a relatively small snake — it was approximately 12 inches long (and that's about average size for this species).  

 

Here's a view of the entire snake:

 

 

 

And I can't help ending with a close-up.  The coloration and markings are subtle, but check out the blueish iridescence on top of the head:

 

 

 

Sand painting

 

Drift lines in beach sand in Chatham, MA, back in October.  Does it remind you of shadows and light on a mountainous landscape?  I suppose some of the sand grains might have originated from mountains a long, long time ago.  :) 

Coastal scenes

A few more coastal scenes from our visit to Cape Cod and the South Shore of Massachusetts:

From Chatham:

 

 

From Provincetown (including wild cranberries):

 

 

From Humarock:

 

Dark sand

 

Close-up of a layer of dark sand — a mix of quartz, garnet, and magnetite — on a beach in Chatham, MA, photographed on 27 September 2018. 

Spotted stripes

Last week, while walking a beach in Chatham, MA, Eric and I came upon a mystery blob on the sand:

 

Luckily, Eric soon discovered a few others in the water:

 

We could tell it was a jellyfish, with noticeable reddish-brown stripes made up of leopard-like spots.  However, I was having trouble identifying the species at first. (I suppose this shows that I've been away from the Cape for too long!)

Eventually we found one in a little better shape, showing some of the frilly underparts and a few tentacles:

 

When we reviewed possibilities in a field guide, we still weren't totally certain about its identification.  But after searching the Internet for photographs, and comparing it with similar species, we feel good about these being Atlantic Sea Nettles (Chrysaora quinquecirrha).

Apparently, they tend to have darker patterning like this when living in high salinity water; they tend to be paler (and plainer) when living in more estuarine conditions.

Here's one more picture that I took with one of the jellies in a plastic bag filled with water.  You can see the leopard-like spots and the granular texture on the bell.

 

Atlantic Sea Nettles are generally a more southern species.  Cape Cod is their northern range limit.

P.S.  Note that Atlantic Sea Nettles are known for painful stings, so if you see one, be careful not to handle it directly.

Near Chatham Light

 

I wasn't sure how today was going to go, but it ended up that I had a few free hours in the afternoon, so I made a dash out to the Cape.  I stopped at Chatham Light first, and noticed quite a few gulls feeding just inside the break. 

The quick wing beat of some smaller gulls caught my eye:

 

They were Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla)!  I still haven't caught up with Black-legged Kittiwakes in California yet, so it was nice to spend some time with them in Massachusetts today.

Most of the kittiwakes were immature, with broad black stripes across their wings and dark outer primaries:

 

If you haven't seen kittiwakes before, note also the dark bill, dark spot (or smudge) behind the eye, and the dark collar across the hindneck. 

I was curious about what the kittiwakes were feeding on.  I saw two birds catch fish by surface-plunging:

 

I realized I didn't know very much about kittiwake prey.  In Alaska, three species of fish make up the majority of their prey: Pacific Sand Lance, Capelin, and Pacific Herring.  Also important are fish in the gadid (cod) family as well as lanternfishes.  It turns out that much less is known about the prey of kittiwakes wintering in the western Atlantic.  In fact, here's a quote from the Birds of North America Online (Hatch et al. 2009): "No information on food of wintering kittiwakes on east coast." 

I'm not a fish expert, but I'm wondering if the prey in the picture above is an American Sand Lance (Ammodytes americana).  It's very long and slender, and appeared to have a greenish back.  If you have any thoughts about the identity of the fish, let me know!

Here's one more picture — more of seascape shot.  It's hard for me to believe that it's warmer in Massachusetts than it is in Bodega Bay right now, but it sure was nice to spend a beautiful December afternoon with kittiwakes!

 

Persistent northeast gales

It was windy today, but the rain let up.  We didn't let the marine forecast for "persisent northeast gales" deter us.  We went for a short walk along the south side of Morris Island in Chatham, Massachusetts.  Here's the view from Morris Island looking south towards South Beach (below).  A lot of sand has shifted and things have changed quite a bit since I was last here in 2013!

 

We encountered a nice flock of shorebirds along the shoreline, including this Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus):

 

And a few juvenile Dunlin (Calidris alpina):

 

 

(With a Sanderling on the left for comparison)

 We were sad to leave Cape Cod, but we'll be back!