2007.09.23

Belle Isle Marsh

7:00 - 9:30 am dst

Dave Cowell, Soheil Zendeh

High tide: 9 dst

Sky: clear

Temperature: 68°+ F (20° + C)

Wind: nw 5 - 25 mph (8 - 40 kph)

Visibility: excellent

Tide: high

Belle Isle notes:

A cold front slowly worked its way through our region and the winds picked

up to pretty brisk by mid-morning before slowing up, but the temperature

started at very comfortable and got hotter throughout the day.

Shorebirds were extremely scarce, with yellowlegs at Belle Isle in the

majority. There were some dowitchers in a distant salt pan, but they could

not be distinguished to species. At this time of year, Long-billed,

Short-billed or a mix of the two is quite possible.

A very small, dark Merlin was perched in one of the dead snags near the

Geoff Wood platform. Dave and I agreed that it was almost definitely a male.

The oddest thing I found today was non-avian. It wasn't even a life form,

but certainly gave evidence of life. As we approached the Boardwalk from the

marsh, I noticed a small pile of bricks and rocks on top of a plastic

container. I lifted them off and opened the container, which contained an

assortment of objects such as nail clipper, good -luck charm in the form of

a monkey, a playing card, a pen, and a ziplock bag with a small notebook. I

opened the notebook and it appeared to contain dated log entries starting

around the beginning of July 2007. There was also a printed sheet in the bag

explaining the purpose of the box and its contents.

The item I found is apparently part of a game (hence my assertion that it

was evidence of life). Geocaching players hide container like this at

various places and leave clues to their whereabouts at the web site

www.geocaching.com. The main clue is a set of gps coordinates. Anyone with a

gps unit can then attempt to find the item. The rules are that you may take

something from the box but then must leave something else in exchange. As

the box was quite small (about 6 x 6 inches, and 2 inches tall (it was one

of the smaller-size ziplock food storage containers) there isn't a whole lot

of room to leave items or exchange gifts.

I found the box totally by accident, of course. Immediately and for a moment

I had an odd sense of disconnect. Belle Isle was no longer Belle Isle--my

Belle Isle, where I have spent so much time over the past 30 years. It was

all of a sudden part of the globe. It was located on someone's global

positioning system map and device, seemingly without any reference to its

history or the people who go there or the wildlife there.

But of course, that perception changed as soon as I looked in the logbook.

There, people who had come to discover hidden treasure had obviously also

discovered Belle Isle. Delight and wonder at the place came through on the

notes people had made. It was simple stuff. "Nice place," said one. "Glad I

found it." Indeed. I'm glad I found it!

Belle Isle birds. Number of bird species: 30

Canada Goose 2

American Black Duck 2

Mallard 3

Green-winged Teal 4

Great Blue Heron 3

Great Egret 10

Snowy Egret 12

Merlin 1

Black-bellied Plover 1

Greater Yellowlegs 14

Lesser Yellowlegs 3

dowitcher (species?) 9

Ring-billed Gull 2

Herring Gull 3

Rock Pigeon 15

Mourning Dove 1

Downy Woodpecker 2

Northern Flicker 4

Blue Jay 1

American Crow 15

Black-capped Chickadee 1

American Robin 1

Gray Catbird 2

Northern Mockingbird 1

European Starling 30

Cedar Waxwing 2

White-throated Sparrow 2

Bobolink 1

House Finch 1

American Goldfinch 2

House Sparrow 2

Snake Island notes:

I dragged Dave over to Joe Pike's to pick up the canoe and then down to the

landing at Plummer Ave to get over to Snake Island. it was only 10:30, so

there was still some high tide around. The lagoon inside of the island, I

reasoned, will have a good number of roosting shorebirds. We couldn't see

the dowitchers at Belle Isle very clearly as they were in a distant pool,

but I was hoping we'd see dowitchers up closer on Snake and get a chance to

sort out their species and ages.

No such luck! Initially, it looked like there was nothing in the lagoon on

the island. Then, in fact, we managed to pick out a few shorebirds resting

on the pebble bars and occasionally flying about and coming back to their

roosts.

Snake Island shorebirds:

Semipalmated Plover 5

Greater Yellowlegs 2

Short-billed Dowitcher 1 (identified by call in flight)

Semipalmated Sandpiper 4

Least Sandpiper 2

Winthrop Beach:

Last week Bruce deGraaf and I saw upward of 100 shorebirds of 7 species at

Winthrop Beach. This week, hoping to see more variety and possibly a

September specialty like American Golden Plover, we checked out the pebble

bars at Winthrop Beach on a falling tide. Aside from 2 -3 Laughing Gulls

roosting with other gulls on the beach near the rack line, we had absolutely

no shorebirds, though a Common Loon and a White-winged Scoter were off the

northernmost of the Sisters.

Soheil Zendeh

42 Baker Ave

Lexington, MA 02421

home phone 781-863-2392

cell phone 617-763-5637