Day 37: Pole adjustments

No ospreys visited the platform this past week, although I saw one circling overhead today. The best camtrap capture was this juvenile night heron, who dropped by for a quick survey.

I think I set a record for how many starlings you can fit on an osprey platform. Eighteen by my count, not including the fifty just out of frame, squabbling over who gets to defecate on the camera next.

I mount and retrieve the camera trap using a 28' pole made from two pieces of PVC pipe with a hook jammed into the end. Someday I'll post a video of the process, which has been described to me as both mesmerizing and pathetic. The pole saves me from hauling an extension ladder back and forth from the marsh, but I pay for it with wracked nerves and burning forearms. It's always a wobbly affair that can take up to five minutes. As the camera whips around, it sometimes captures Dali-esque visions of the marsh.

To speed the mounting process, the pole would need some high-tech mods. So I replaced the zip tie spacers with bolts and wing nuts to keep the hook from swiveling. Then I clipped the "safety barb" off the end of the hook, to keep it from snagging the wire. And finally, I replaced my old wire with a shorter loop of heavier gauge. The upgrade works like a charm. 

It used to be easy to get dramatic before-and-after cleanup shots. But now, most of the heavy debris lies beneath the surface.

A few plasticy corridors remain, however.

I called it an early cleanup day and headed back to the shop where acres of reclaimed marsh plywood await the table saw. I still aim to recycle as much of the wood as I can. Next project: bat boxes. 

They'll be the wall or post-mounted type, like this. And they'll be free to anyone who's willing to pick them up, so leave a note if you want one.

High of 80, max humidity 87%, average wind (na) @ 8 MPH, 5.2 high tide @ 11:41 AM. Moon 84% visible.

Water level recorded at 10 inch mark.

Birds seen in marsh: common tern, unidentified peep, mockingbird, green heron, white egret, osprey, forster's tern

Birds seen in bay: common tern, laughing gull

Day 36: Marsh casserole, with a side of bad juju

Bad juju would have been understandable on day 13, but day 36? I'm only marginally superstitious. But I tend to believe that rotten luck comes in threes. And today, it did indeed.

#1

Last week, Russ graciously offered me the use of his jumbo double-wheeled wheelbarrow. Being alone today, I was going to get a lot done with that bad boy. But the tires needed air. A few seconds after I plugged in, something started crackling inside. Before I could hit the release valve, an ominous bubble blistered up and without further ado went off like a howitzer. Russ, I owe you a tire.

#2

I usually wear Tony's size 12 rubber boots, a bit big for me. Today I saw a pair of size 11's flopped over in the corner. They were ancient, covered in dust, and had a strange aroma, but they fit like Cinderella's pumps. Into the marsh I went. Two seconds later that unmistakable sensation of moistness where there should be dryness took hold. I leapt out of the water but it was too late, the tops of my socks were soaked. Upon closer inspection, I found the boots lacerated with more creases than Charles Bronson. 

#3

No problem, I thought. The cam trap will cheer me up. I'd been looking forward to checking it all week. The shorebirds are migrating, the raptors are chasing them, whatever. I really thought I'd catch something special. What did I get? One hundred pictures of starlings. 

They weren't even doing anything interesting, just loitering, by the dozen, playing havoc with the motion sensor. Here's the tally: starling (too many to count), osprey 1, female red-winged blackbird 1, mockingbird 1, great blue heron 1 (on marsh). My worst haul yet.

Anyway, the three pieces of juju were over, and they weren't debilitating. While cleaning up, I noticed  evidence of luck -both good and bad - scattered throughout the marsh. Like a melting jellyfish. The lives of jellyfish are about as dictated by luck as anything you'll find in nature. They drift helplessly through the ocean, their course plotted by the currents, their fate determined by the tides. Last night, a sandy death was simply in the cards for this individual.

An empty egg case. The little skate that emerged from it was no larger than a nickel. With any luck, it will one day stretch five feet across.

Even trash can be traced to past luck.

And then there's this marsh, the luckiest marsh in New York City.

High of 82, max humidity 73%, average wind W @ 4 MPH, .3 low tide @ 12:42 PM. Moon 91% visible.

Water level recorded at 8 inch mark.

Birds seen in marsh: common tern, unidentified peep, yellowlegs, goldfinch, mockingbird, green heron

Birds seen in bay: semipalmated plover, oystercatcher, common tern, laughing gull

Day 35: Platform video and new volunteers

Last week, for the first time, I set the platform camera trap to video mode. Nearly two hours of footage were captured. Here's the highlight reel (no audio).

The misplaced nesting material is especially entertaining. Not that these birds are here to entertain me. The tally for the past week goes as follows: osprey 4 (over three days), starling 4, sparrow 2, flicker 1 (first sighting at marsh).

Our cleanup crew grew to five today with the addition of Kelly M., Emma S. and Martin A.

And of course, Rocky Point's own Sarah V.

We focused on the middle marsh, where large patches of debris prevent spartina grass from growing. When the marsh floods as it did today, we trade in the wheelbarrow for more primitive technology, as Emma demonstrates.

Martin coaxes the tiny bits of plastic out of the submerged grass.

During an impassioned raking session, Kelly went in. An exciting moment for all. To date, nobody has swamped their waders at Rocky Point. Would Kelly be the first?

Not this time - evasive maneuvers kept her afloat. Dignity suffered only minor injuries.

We cleared our target area in less than four hours. Here it is in 60 seconds:

In case you missed that:

Thanks again to Thursday's crew, come back soon.

High of 81, max humidity 90%, average wind ESE @ 8 MPH, 6.1 high tide @ 12:14 PM. Moon 21% visible.

Water level recorded at 20 inch mark.

Birds seen in marsh: black skimmer, common tern, unidentified peep, unidentified accipiter

Birds seen in bay: n/a

Day 34: Migrants and salt marsh savant pay visit

Southbound shorebirds now dominate sky and marsh.

Like these 13 charadrius semipalmatus. That's more semipalmation than some birders can handle.

Rocky Point serves as a rest stop during their Canada - Caribbean migration. While the plovers relaxed, least sandpipers piped their hearts out. Yellowish legs distinguish them from their look-alike cousins the semipalmated and western sandpipers.

These minuscule birds (about the length of a chickadee) probed and piped everything, including hollow  phragmites stalks.

This one fancies itself a heron.

At times they piped each other.

But the day's most exciting visitor was the salt marsh matriarch herself, Dr. Judith S. Weis.

Judith and her husband Pete, also a biologist, have spent five decades investigating salt marshes, mangroves, estuaries, and man's impact upon them. She co-authored this book, an excellent primer, reference and historical narrative for all things salt marsh. It accompanied me throughout this entire cleanup project.

The book devotes a chapter to the myriad pollutants that end up in marshes, some of which lurk right under my nose at Rocky Point. Here, Pete points out the core of a large piece of castaway lumber. The green color indicates it's been treated with copper, chromium and arsenic (CCA). CCA wood is resistant to insect infestation and rot, which is why it's often used for outdoor applications. Copper, which causes the green tint, is extremely toxic to marine organisms as it leaches out. And a 12-foot 2x6 board of CCA-treated wood contains about an ounce of arsenic, enough to kill over 200 people. So don't throw green wood in your bonfire.

Judith was pleased with Rocky Point and recommended we continue our cleanup strategy of wood and debris removal. "Nature will take care of the rest," she added. She also remarked that she'd never seen a salt marsh quite like Rocky Point, due to the placement of the dunes and limited tidal exchange. Toward the end of the tour we were joined by NPS park interns and staff. Clockwise from upper left, Pete, Judith, Budhiono, Sarah, Jessica, Mary-Jo, Doug and Tony.
Thanks again to everyone for coming out.

Camera trapping was slow this past week. Here's the tally: mockingbird 1, robin 1, osprey 3 (over 2 days). I also caught USFWS biologist Brian in the act of cleaning up on his day off. It was exactly 95 degrees when this picture was taken.

An interesting Bushnell Trophy Cam flaw was illuminated as a result of Brian's efforts. Every time he entered from camera right, the camera would catch him dead center (above). But when he entered camera left, it wouldn't catch him until he already cleared 3/4 of the frame (below). By my rough approximation, the camera is around 40 feet from his line of approach.

Have any other Bushnell Trophy users experienced this issue? Leave a comment if so. Anyway, here's the best full-load shot I could salvage considering the limitations. Notice how Brian gets a running start to power his heavily laden wheelbarrow through the mud. Bravo.

Sarah and I cleared a section of middle marsh we call Willet Cove. This spot had served as a sort of willet headquarters during the past months. With any luck, spartina grass will colonize this bare patch next season, providing a safer and hopefully more successful nesting site.

High of 87, max humidity 90%, average wind NW @ 9 MPH, .7 low tide @ 11:38 AM. Moon 17% visible.

Water level recorded at 4 inch mark.

Birds seen in marsh: lesser yellowlegs, black skimmer, least tern, common tern, semipalmated plover, least sandpiper

Birds seen in bay: laughing gull, herring gull, common tern, black skimmer, least tern, semipalmated plover, willet, black-bellied plover

Day 33: Nest-making, and a chase scene

Today the haze sat heavier than a 300-lb plumber on his lunch break. Relative humidity was six clicks shy of 100%. Vapor and smog combined forces to enshroud the Manhattan skyline for the first time in months. Yet the marsh life seemed invigorated by this weather, lining the channels to stab at the mud. Among them was this yellowlegs, a marsh first for me.

And this peep. In case you're not acquainted, peeps are a complex of five small sandpipers that look more like siblings than distinct species. Please leave a comment if you can ID this one. [update: it's a pectoral sandpiper in transitional plumage, ID courtesy Don Riepe]

The platform camera captured a green heron in a state of intense concentration on some mystery object. At this altitude, probably not a fiddler crab.

This sparrow also made a few appearances. Please leave a comment if you can ID. [update, it's not a sparrow at all... it's a female red-winged blackbird. ID courtesy Don Riepe]

The platform camera trap tally for the week ending 07/20/11 included: sparrow 5; red-winged blackbird 1; starling 3, green heron 1; osprey 6. The osprey pair visited 6 of 7 days, usually in the morning, spending an average 90 minutes each time. Though it's too late for them to lay any eggs, they have begun nest-building.

The building material appears to be largely composed of dried algae and phragmites. Here's their week's progress.

Guest marsher Jon Santos, having recently survived a nasty bout of whooping cough, dropped in to help clean up and fill his battle-weary lungs with marsh freshness.

Higher parts of the marsh were about as parched as I've seen them, thanks to the recent heat and low tides. The scattered, desiccated bodies of hermit crabs in the bay front channel attested to the harsh conditions. Aside from a few puddles, water was restricted to the main channel, and it wasn't pretty. But clean up is always easier when the debris and ground are dry. We managed to clear a respectable swath from the marsh middle.

As we raked, a large shadow suddenly sliced through the grass, drawing our gazes skyward to a massive female peregrine falcon towing a solitary least tern in hot, angry pursuit. "Brass balls," Santos muttered. Indeed. The tern appeared less than least, roughly the size of the falcon's tail feathers. It brazenly chased its would-be assassin around the marsh, coursing through the reeds and bashing into a tree before disappearing into the east. For want of a camera at that moment I offer this rendering.

High of 85, max humidity 94%, average wind () @ 4 MPH, 5.0 low tide @ 12:18 PM. Moon 79% visible.

Water level recorded at 4 inch mark.
Birds seen in marsh: great egret, yellowlegs, black skimmer, least tern, common tern, mockingbird, unidentified peep, peregrine falcon

Birds seen in bay: laughing gull, herring gull, common tern, black skimmer, least tern, semipalmated plover

Day 32: (Almost) all work and no play

Our customary pre-cleanup marsh exploration yielded a dead adult Atlantic silverside, found in the bay front channel. This photo doesn't sufficiently illustrate the brilliance of it's 'silver-side', a blinding stripe of chrome so impossibly luminous I took the fish for a brand-new lure when I first saw it.

It might have been swept in with the recent high tides. But it was so fresh, I suspect it died after swimming into the marsh. Cause of death: a pencil eraser-sized hole near the ventral ridge, in front of the anal fin. A hit-and-miss by a piscivorous bird? That's one theory. But how did the bird manage to stab the underside of the fish? It looks more like a hole bored by a parasite. I'll be eager to hear any other theories.

Last week I spent most of the day shadowing the nekton monitoring crew. It was fascinating and a lot of fun, but it left me with the guilty feeling of marsh neglect. So today was a day of heavy labor. Sarah and I warmed up by first clearing the west channel. Each new moon tide seems to push in less and less debris, which is encouraging.

We then turned to the most challenging cleanup site, an area I'd been avoiding for the past nine months. The dreaded middle marsh. This area is perpetually muddy regardless of water level, never wheelbarrow friendly, and buried in wood and debris.

Trudge-force was the only option. We removed wood by the armload to the nearest dry point where we could bring the wheelbarrow. And we tackled the wet, heavy debris by pitchforking it into trash cans, and hauling it out one load at a time. Effective if not hi-tech.

While moving logs we disturbed a few little fiddlers. He might look like a monster but this guy was only an inch wide, buried in Sarah's glove.

The camera trap has finally found its Goldilocks position. Not too low, not too high, and with the added benefit of expanded marsh coverage. It now captures both what lands on the platform, and what lurks below. Clockwise from upper left: great blue heron (first record for marsh), green heron, mallard, Moshe.

As for the platform, starlings (5 visits), osprey (3), red-winged blackbird (1) and a willet (1) were recorded. Perhaps this willet returned one last time to lose itself in a moment of retrospective contemplation. How's that for anthropomorphisation, Tony?

The osprey visits lasted for 10, 80 and 40 minutes. One drawback of the current camera positioning is that I won't always be able to see what the osprey is eating. But maybe they'll humor me now and then.

High of 89, max humidity 49%, average wind NW @ 14 MPH, 0.1 low tide @ 12:57 PM. Moon 93% visible.

Water level recorded at 8 inch mark.

Fish recorded in marsh: adult Atlantic silverside (dead)

Birds seen in marsh: great egret, spotted sandpiper, black skimmer, least tern, common tern, cardinal

Birds seen in bay: laughing gull, herring gull, common tern, black skimmer, least tern