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June 11, 1999 |
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purple and white |
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June 11, 1999 2 great egrets Reading: Before the Dawn by Shimazaki Toson
Copyright © 1999, Janet I. Egan |
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Today's Newburyport Daily News has a front page article about the piping plover population on Plum Island. Somehow it's hard to make a stable population sound like headline news. But the 29 birds that have paired off into either 13 or 14 pairs are just about the same as last year. Not all of the pairs have selected nest sites yet. It's getting awfully late for them to nest because the chicks have to be ready to fly when the adults assemble for migration in August. Actually, it's only June 11 - there's still time I guess I just feel like this summer has sped by. By the way, Massachusetts beaches are crucial to the piping plover. The Atlantic coast population has shown considerable growth - unlike the inland populations, which have declined. There are an estimated 490 pairs of piping plovers nesting Massachusetts, which is a pretty big chunk of the national estimate of 2,437 pairs. For comparison, the same source lists 115 pairs in New Jersey. I should get out the atlas and compare how many miles of coast each state has, but I'll leave that to another entry. New Hampshire, which has only 18 miles of coast, has an estimated 5 pairs of piping plovers. That would be a pair for every 3.6 miles. Hmm, what other states do I know offhand? Rhode Island has 400 miles of coast and 51 piping plover pairs, which comes out to 7.8 miles per pair. Somehow, I doubt that calculating this is meaningful because I have no way of knowing how much of that beach is sandy and suitable habitat. A more interesting measurement would be pairs per mile of suitable habitat.
The Boston Road Cafe closed. That didn't last nearly as long as Bagel Shop did at that location. And BRC had way better breakfasts. I was just getting used to having my omelets and pancakes there. Grumble. Why is it every breakfast place I like closes prematurely? |
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I
wanted to attempt photographing the Wilson's phalaropes and
also avoid being home when the cleaning lady came, so I
toted the camera up to Plum Island after lunch and coffee
with Tom. The Wilson's phalaropes were there all right, in
exactly the same place they were on Wednesday, but the
afternoon light made them blend in with the mud of the salt
pannes. On the other hand, the snowy egret was close to the
road and in good light.
The
dominant color in the fields right now is purple rather than
green. Maybe I should plant these things in my yard instead
of a lawn. That would drive the neighbors crazy. Actually,
last night Nancy suggested I should build a salt marsh - a
compromised salt marsh - in my yard and fill it with
Phragmites, really tall ones. I should plant them in
Pajama
Woman's yard too so they'd block my kitchen and bathroom
windows for privacy when she's sitting out there with
Carthage the dog, her son, and Busy Body. I could just hide
behind the reeds in my kitchen and not worry about her
looking in and seeing me watching her. But the purple things
are prettier. Not that they'd grow here either, but it's a
fun thought.
When
I got home, the cleaning lady hadn't been here. Now I'm
confused. Did I get the week wrong? Genius that I am, I
check voice mail. Sure enough there's a message from her. So
I wasn't mixed up after all.