Friday just seems to be my day for breaking out the camera. After a day of shopping, I decided to head down to the water to watch the sunset. Because of the minimal time until sunset, I decided to go to one of my usual spots by the Plymouth Jetty. While clouds were scarce in the eastern sky over the water, but purple and pink colors of the sunset were absolutely jar dropping.
Duxbury Pier Lighthouse, nicknamed “Bug Light” added the perfect pop of red color on the horizon. This little lighthouse got its nickname because the rocks at its base that help protect the lighthouse from the ocean currents are great place to find lobsters.
Along with a beautiful sunset, there were more birds frolicking around than a normal evening. Dozens of gulls stood on the exposed beach in groups like little high school clicks. Offshore there was another group of birds flying just beyond the rocks see in the photo above. Unfortunately though, I did not see one of my favorite winter visitors, the Common Eider.
With not much light left in the day, my friend and I decided to head down the street to Nelson Memorial Park. One of my favorite features at Nelson beach is a little stream that flows from the marsh down to the ocean. It was exceptionally long as the tide was almost at its lowest. Slightly down the beach is an osprey nest that is bustling with a mother osprey and her chicks every summer. Dressed in my heated sweatshirt and Bean Boots, I went out on the beach to capture the little stream while Marissa watched from the warmth of the car. I have to say I love that my boots are waterproof, because I was able to stand in the flowing, shallow water to take some photos in the middle of January.
As the sun approached the horizon we decided to head home for the night.
Saturday started with some volunteering at a fundraising event for the New England Coastal Wildlife Alliance. I have been a part of NECWA for over 2 years now and absolutely love it. This organization is an all-volunteer nonprofit dedicated to the conservation and preservation of all marine wildlife. With NECWA, I have been a part of several Ocean Sunfish (Mola mola) necropsies, taken data and photographs of marine animal sightings on board whale watching vessels, and analyzed data from these trips back in the office photo identifying every humpback whale that was seen. This is only a few of the amazing things that I have done with this organization. Check out their website, http://www.NECWA.org, to learn more about all the different projects we have going.
Saturday night, I went down to Cape Cinemas in Dennis, MA with several other members of NECWA to watch the premiere of Saving Sea Turtles: Preventing Extinction. Mass Audubon at Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary has been coordinating volunteers to walk Cape Cod beaches for stranded cold-stunned sea turtles for a few decades.Narrated by Dr. Sylvia Earle, this documentary gives an amazing look into all the hard work that these volunteers do to save endangered turtles, as well as showing what other organizations all over the country are doing to help as well.
In 2014, a huge increase of stranded turtles occurred with more that 1,200 washing up on the bay side of Cape Cod. This film highlighted the long, stressful days and all the caring people that worked exhausting hours to make sure these turtles got the help they needed during this busy season. Without rescue, they would unfortunately die. I have attended the Mass Audubon’s trainings, walked beaches in the fall for turtles, and attended necropsy sessions in the winter, but was not a part of the 2014 season as I was still in college. It was really cool to see so many familiar faces in the film and how the work we are doing here in Massachusetts is helping the population of Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles. I highly recommend you watch this film, especially if you love the ocean! The premiere was sold out, and it was wicked awesome to see such a huge turn out for a documentary so near and dear to us on Cape Cod. Check out their website to find a showing near you!
Courtney Callahan Photography 