Coatue

Josh got a hot tip that there were scallops between First and Second Point on Coatue,  and my haul on Friday inspired us to go out and check it out.  Another great spot!  And a spot to see a huge flock of red-breasted mergansers arrive in Nantucket Harbor....and to see the relative sizes of a herring gull and a ring-billed gull...and a late oystercatcher...and the colors of fall on Coatue.

Great Point Light from Coatue

Unbanded Oystercatcher at Second Point

Ring-billed Gull

Compare the ring-billed gull, on the left,
  to the herring and great black-backed gulls

Cedar Highway also known as Coatue Avenue

Rosa Rugosa in fall colors

Late sickle-leaved aster

Second "Tour de Ponds"

 I rode off on my mountain bike on the 23rd to make another "Tour de Ponds,"  visiting seven ponds on the Middle Moors,  including Gibbs Pond.  I flushed 40 or more Black Ducks and saw a solitary sandpiper bobbing in one of the Wigwam Ponds.   At the end of August a black-crowned night heron was hiding there.   No pictures here of Gibbs or Almanac Ponds.

First Wigwam...dried up from the drought

Second Wigwam

Third Wigwam

From above

Corner of Pout Pond Road and Norwood Farm

Norwood Farm lily pond from Pout Pond Road

Madequecham Valley

 The weather was glorious this week,  and Josh and I took a late afternoon trip on Oct. 22  to the Madequecham Valley.  Well, actually,  we drove past Tom Nevers, Forked Pond Valley (better known as Bunny's),  Wigwam Valley to Madequecham.  It was not particularly birdy.  But the rollers were beautiful,  as were the colors of the valley.  

And then the fog rolled in...like an approaching army.

Sumac and Groundsel, Cranberry Time

The moors are looking browner these days,  with the brightness and contrast coming from the flaming red sumac and the white groundsel.  But the groundsel is starting to blow away,  like dandelions in the early summer.  In the wet spots,  the Winterberry is bright.  The goldenrod is mostly gone,  with the exception of some seaside goldenrod in protected spots.  A few late asters dot the paths.  The cranberries sure are red!

 

Cisco, Oct 18

Milestone Bogs,  October 21

Tree Swallow over the Milestone Bogs

Squam Farm Sumac, Oct. 22

Quaise Point

 I have stowed the kayak in Polpis Harbor this summer,  and regularly kayak out to Pocomo Meadow and past Quaise Point.  I have been counting the hundreds of cormorants and gulls who are regulars,  but also the 25 great and snowy egrets which massed there the first days of October.  Black bellied plovers and ruddy turnstones are also regulars.  On October 19,  I also saw about 200 sanderlings there,  and three golden plovers mixed in among the black-bellies.

I've had a couple of mishaps with the kayak,  too.  Earlier in the month on a day with winds in the low 20s I beached the kayak on Quaise Point to get a better look at the shorebirds,  and turned around to see the kayak blown across the channel.  But I swam and rescued it;  happy that my dry bag kept its optical contents safe and dry!

After our collective failure (Josh, Charlie, Kelsey and me) to get many scallops at Pocomo on October 3,  I scouted out a spot in my kayak and came across some eelgrass near Quaise Point that looked promising.  On Friday, October 25,  I kayaked out there;  beached the kayak (this time more securely) and headed out to my scalloping adventure.  It was a very productive trip...but I hadn't counted on how heavy the scallops in the mesh bag would be as I made my tired swim across the boat channel back to Quaise Point.  I made shore, exhausted,  but  with the scallops!  

Ruddy Turnstone

Golden Plover

Golden Plover

Ruddy Turnstone

Black-bellied plover

Sanderlings

Kestrel

The last time I saw a kestrel was a long time ago...when Josh and I were headed out to Eel Point and I saw the little red falcon flying over Linda Loring territory.  Last Sunday,  I was not on the list for socially-distanced birding,  so I took off to "The Mothballs"  to check out which birds might be out there.  I hadn't connected that Andre and Suellen,  who live on Mothball Way,  were living at The Mothballs!  Their neighbor Barry Sternlicht suffered a 40-50 foot erosion event in the past month.

In any event, I parked the car near Cisco Beach and was rewarded with sightings of a kestrel and a merlin,  as well as more nuthatches and pine siskins (prevalent this year).   I've seen many peregrine falcons cruising the bluff this year,  but  the hunt for the kestrel,  and seeing it's color and facial markings,  as well as its jet-fighter flight was really exciting. A red-tailed haw and the merlin also made an appearance.

Josh and I had biked Massasoit Plains the day before,  down to Clark's Cove,  without such great raptor sightings.  

Kestrel

Merlin

 

Sunrise

 We are incredibly fortunate to be able to see the sun (and moon)  rise over the ocean from the east.  There have been a string of beautiful sunrises...and at close to 7 am!   The peregrine falcons have been with us during this month,  and now  the scoters are moving south.   The sunrise has been moving southward since the summer solstice,  and will not start moving north again until the winter solstice.