Archive for month: November, 2013
For the nature of Nature
An ever Presence
So simple
Light
Granting such Beauty
Giving Thanks on sight.
Plumage protects in branch and thicket
Pelage conceals upon rock
Cartilage safeguards among sands
Behold.
I counted 75 Harbor seals on a day filled with high winds and chop.
I am standing on a hillside, “clicking” as fast as I can the clumps of seals, on clumps of rocks. Then a recount looking for bobbing heads.
With winter approaching, tidal zones are sometimes extremely low- giving me a grander view of the state of health of surrounding eel grass ecosystems.
The opportunity to observe smaller meadows surrounding Fishers Island has sparked a personal interest for me in the Seagrass Research & Restoration Initiative for Southern NY, and New England which today has lost 65% of area eelgrass meadows.
For decades, these thick carpets of swaying grass that once provided critical habitat for Flounder, Scallops, and Clam have degraded.
Research Science supported by NOAA and coordinating with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, has conducted lab analysis of eel grass from 10 locations stretching between Long Island and Cape Cod.
While I am still learning about the specific findings of the study-the need to reduce nitrogen pollution was highlighted to protect the resilient eel grass.
Recently, I shared these photos with The Nature Conservancy in Long Island noting how diverse a feeding ground this is ….even greener pasture for a Sea Horse sighted last summer!
One Track:
Cock Pheasant find hen.
Crow find clam cache.
Stay on Track:
Snow Fence keeps back
Dune & Wave
Keep Track:
Beach Grass habitat
Converge
Conserve.
Asterias:
When I turn back the pages of my "rite in rain" notebook to early summer 2011 on Fishers Island, I was jotting observations that had me realize I had not seen so many starfish washed ashore-ever.
As I walked both Isabella & South Beaches, I would tally up to 20-40 of these delicate sea creatures.
Recently I read that researchers of invertebrate at Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. did indeed note a population explosion of starfish during the same 2011 time frame.
Last November on Chocomount I noted just one Asterias sea star in a shallow tidal pool
.
This past summer, University scientists in nearby Rhode Island observed so few starfish between New Jersey and Maine that they were asking local divers to “let them know if ANY starfish population existed that might help with area research.”
A massive die off is noticed on our East Coast.
This November, Race Point at twilight gifted me and my field notes with this lone star.