Cape Cod Spring 2013

Woods Hole, Cape Cod

ABC Wednesday: L is for Lighthouse

 This was  the second time that I specially went to photograph the Nobska Lighthouse.  It is located at Woods Hole on Cape Cod.  It is sitting right on the division of Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound.  I went there during the last day of my visit to our Cape Cod home at the end of last August.

 It was first built in 1828, then rebuilt in 1876.  The lighthouse is fully automated in 1985.  Since then, the station is the home of the commander of US Cost Guard Sector Southeastern New England.

 Here is a better view of the lighthouse and the home of the Cost Guard Commander.  I think the beacon behind is now the real modern lighthouse!!

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ABC Wednesday: K is for "To Be Kids"

We had three kids in our house on Cape Cod this August for the summer holiday.  Carmin, the big blond boy is only six months older than our granddaughter, Sailee.  But he is such a tall kid and looks like a 5 or 6 years old boy already.  He is the son of our daughter's best childhood friend in France and was visiting the US for the summer.  Maxime, our grandson weighs almost as much as his sister, but he is 2 and half years younger than Sailee.

Kids to be kids, just a simple ball in hand, there could be so much fun!   Carmin is funny, rolling on the grass all the time.  Sailee is very agile and runs like a rabbit.  Maxime is a sumo wrestler, he does not run fast, not yet.

When there was a water hose in hand, everything just went wild!

Oh! it is just so much fun with grandma's straw hat and sunglasses!

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ABC Wednesday: J is for Joyous

We have one daughter and she gave us two marvelous grandchildren, Sailee and Maxime.  Sailee is 4 years old and Maxime is 1 1/2 years old.  They live near Washington DC and we do not see them often, but they are our pride and joy.  We try to have summer vacation with them at our home in Cape Cod each summer.  Sailee has come to Cape Cod twice already.  Since Maxime was too young last year, they were not able to make the trip.  We had been looking forward to their visit this past August.  They like to sit on the floor of our gazebo.

Sailee is petite and absolutely a beauty.  She is enthusiastic and curious about everything; keeps on asking "why...?" and "why...?".  Even she only sees us a few times of year, she is very close to us.  She chats with us like a six-year old child.

Maxime is a very big boy, at one and half years old, he almost weighs as much as his four years old sister.  In contrast, Maxime is shy and not really talking yet.

As you can see, it was a gorgeous day with perfect blue sky and miles of green beach grasses.  We visited our friends near the beach of Brewster (the Bay side).  Our daughter and granddaughter were walking along the sand flat, quiet and peaceful!

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ABC Wednesday: C is for Cape Cod

 I have not been back to Cape Cod for a while.  I usually will make a trip to our home on the island in Spring or early Summer.  But this year, we could only manage to go back in August.  I came out from Taipei on Monday at 6:35 PM and arrive at Newark airport at 9:25 PM the same day, a not too bad 15 hours flight.  Since I am still hang out with my sister at New Jersey.  I have not yet gotten my pictures of Cape Cod for this year.  Here are the photos from June last year.

What we think of Cape Cod, naturally our mind drifts to the leisure Summer afternoon close by the water, fresh ponds, salt water marsh land and ocean.  Here is an old boat house at the center of the century-old town of Sandwich, Cape Cod.

A beach of a saltwater marsh land, which is only accessible by canoe.

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Camera-Critters #114: House Finch

Male House Finch

Female House Finch

Now they are together.  I took the pictures when I visited Scusset Beach at Sandwich, Cape Cod in May.

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Skywatch Friday: Chase Garden Creek

Last Tuesday, I went with Audubon's Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary to Chase Garden Creek of Yarmouth, Cape Cod for a three-hour Kayak Trip.  It was a perfect day with temperature just around 70F.  This picture was taken from Gray's Beach toward west over looking the Sandy Neck.  The lighthouse of Sandy Neck can be seen at the left hand side in the distance.

This is the view of Chapin Memorial Beach from Gray's Beach looking toward northeast.  Overall it was a very nice trip.  It was the first time that I did kayaking, I have only done canoeing before.

Paddling up the Chase Garden Creek was also very interesting with various sea birds and ospreys in the mash land on the  two sides of the creek.   The water was very shallow and tide was going out.  Here Ian, Director of the Long Pasture Wildlife Sanctuary was explaining to us about the features of the horseshoe crab that he picked up from the sand bottom of the creek.

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ABC Wednesday: U is for UsUal vs. UnUsUal

Last Saturday, I packed up my camera and went out to have the Usual drive through the picturesque back road (Route 6A) of Cape Cod.  The Unusual thing about the drive was that Grace was not with me this time.  She left two-day ago for Chicago then back to Taiwan.  Our Usual drives were also Usually not planned.  It was Unusual this time, I checked the tide table and well-planned my trip to visit some of the beaches and parks that we have not been before.

Route 6A goes alone the coast of the northern side of Cape Cod and it is Unusual because it goes through some the most picturesque and least touristic parts of Cape Cod.  It is lined with old towns, century-old houses, small museums, antique shops and fine-restaurants.  My first stop was Corporation Beach of Dennis.  Dennis is a bit Unusual because the town covers a land stretches from the Cape Cod Bay at north to the Atlantic Ocean at south.   Thus it has beaches on both sides, a plus for local residences because you need beach sticker, only the local residences can have, to park at any of these beaches.  Corporation Beach is facing the Cape Cod Bay.  As all the beaches facing the bay, it is quite Unusual as compares to the Usual sand beaches, such as those on the south side of Cape Cod.  When the tide goes out, the sand flat can stretch for miles out into the bay.    Various birds come in to feed on this sand flat.

This Laughing Gull is quite Unusual.  Unlike the Usual laughing gulls that group together far away on the sand flat, this one mixed with all the other usual sea gulls and come close by to the beach goers. I was able to get really close to it.  Look at its Unusual red beak, it is the Usual sign of this bird in the breeding season.

Laughing Gull has an Unusual media exposure this past week.  The picture of a completely oil-covered Laughing Gull from the Gulf Coast was shown on the TV, newspaper and internet all over the world.  It dived into the ocean covered with oil leaked from the damaged BP  deep sea oil well.  Luckily it was rescued.  I am happy that our Laughing Gulls on Cape Cod are still soaring high in the sky.

Well, this is just another one of the Usual sea gulls picking on a crab from the sand flat.  But, exactly what sea gull is it?  Look at the Unusually beautiful pink legs, it is a young Herring Gull!

Here is the Usual adult Herring Gull that we often see.  Click on the photo to enlarge it to see the Unusually blood-shot eye.  It is the breeding season for it also and the red orbital ring around the eye is the Usual sign of a breeding adult bird.

Anything is Unusual of this Gray Catbird?  Nothing except I usually only see them up on the tree branch and they do not let me get too close.  This one came very close to me on the picnic table while I was having my fish 'n' chips at Kate's Seafood at Brewster, the next town from Dennis.  Does the Catbird eat fish also like a cat?

What an Unusually beautiful scene looking out from Kate's Seafood!  The field was covered with wild flowers.  Kate's Seafood is such a local institution, people travel miles to sample its fried seafood and ice cream.

This is another bird came near me at Kate's Seafood.  It is the Usual House Sparrow. Its Unusual black face and breast caught my attention.  It is the Usual sign of an adult breeding male.  The Unusual thing of this little bird is that it is like all the Usual American, it is an immigrant.  It was introduced to New York in 1850.  By 1910, it has spread to California.  It is the most widely distributed wild bird on earth.

After the Usual satisfying lunch at Kate's, I went to have a walk on the John Wing Trail to the Wing Island in the Cape Cod Natural History Museum at Brewster.  As much as I like about the sand flat of Cape Cod Bay, if you are a summer tourist, it is almost impossible to get to.  All the beaches need a local town sticker for parking.  The Unusual thing of this trail is you can park at the museum then take a walk on the trail which takes you to the beach and sand flat of Wing Island, no parking sticker needed!

Next to the museum is the Old Higgin's Farm Windmill.  It is over 200 years old and has been meticulously restored.  I did some trick on the computer to make it look a little bit Unusual!!

One more Unusual event happened on that day, I now have officially taken over 10,000 pictures with my Nikon D700.  It restarted counting from 0001.

This is an UnUsUally long blog than we UsUally have.  Hope you have enjoyed following me on this trip.  To see more entries of ABC Wednesday click here.

Camera-Critters #112 & ABC Wednesday: S is for South Cape Beach

South Cape Beach is about 20 minutes from our house on the Cape Cod.  I have shown recently the Willet on the beach and my walk through the Great Flat Pond Trail of the pine barren.  In May and June, it is the migratory Season, we can see many birds returning or passing through.  Quite a few pairs of willet nest on South Cape Beach.  This one was away from the beach and seeking food at the Swamp area.  I like the photo which shows it in a different habitat.

Usually we see Swan in man-made lakes in the parks.  Only on the Cape Cod, do I see Mute Swan in the wild and during migration.  I have shown their magnificent figures in flight last year.  I was glad to see them coming back to the Sedge Lot Pond of the beach this year again.

Look how magnificent they are, coming in for the landing against the morning Sun.

I was so happy to see the egret, the first time for me on the Cape.  We have large, middle, little and cattle egrets in Taiwan.  But this one is different.

See its black bill and yellow feet, which it raised up for us to see.  It is a Snow Egret.

It was very Shy and flew away the minute it saw me approaching.

Here is a common Sparrow on the beach.  I love the color of the background of this picture.

This is a female Tree Swallow.  The Tree Swallows have established well in the many man-made little bird boxes over the mud flat.

This male Tree Swallow was trying to dive-bomb me, see its brilliant blue feathers. 

You can click on the pictures to see more details of the birds.

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