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To Expand Beyond Banding: Looking back at the years 1969-1994 in Manomet’s history

Materials (content and photos) for this article were pulled from the Manomet archives. August 4, 1969, dawned in Plymouth, Massachusetts; warm and overcast and seemingly average. But excitement was in the air! Thanks to a driven board of directors, one full-time employee, nearly 450 members from 27 states, and a core group of volunteers, the newly formed Manomet Bird Observatory opened its doors on that first Monday in August—just in time for the first migrants to arrive for fall banding. “Manomet Bird Observatory has become a reality, the first of its kind on the Atlantic Coast of North America,” wrote Kathleen ‘Betty’ Anderson, Manomet’s first Executive Director, in the first-ever edition of the Manomet newsletter. “The value of the data...

Dragonflies and Damselflies

It’s late July, and the sun beats down. Birds and mammals retreat into the shade, waiting for the soothing cool of the evening. Meanwhile, an order of carnivorous aerialists peaks in abundance. As is the case every summer, a multitude of dragonflies and damselflies (members of the order Odonata) have emerged from their aquatic lairs to fill every corner of Manomet’s property. Ranging from high-fliers that patrol the skies to ambush predators that lie in wait in the undergrowth… they are everywhere. Odonate larvae (nymphs) live in the water, a life stage that can last several years. During this period, the nymphs pull water through their gills to capture oxygen, and their “exhale” helps propel them through the water. The...

Green Crab Week

Green Crab Week is a restaurant week taking place July 15-21 completely dedicated to the green crab harvest and soft-shell season. Sponsored by Manomet, Green Crab R&D, and New Hampshire Sea Grant, this week-long event celebrates an emerging fishery. Taste innovative green crab dishes at New England and NYC restaurants and learn how to identify and prepare green crabs. Meet green crab fishermen and scientists working to develop the nation’s first soft-shell green crab industry. Green Crab Week is the first of its kind and an opportunity to try a local and innovative delicacy applauded by the New York Times, Seattle Times, Boston Globe, and Guardian.  Green Crabs Supplied By: NYC: Jamie Bassett and Greenpoint Fish & Lobster  Massachusetts: Jamie...

Winged victory for shorebirds at Gould’s Inlet

“That’s a fish crow, flying in there,” said Abby Sterling, shorebird biologist with Manomet. “That’s one of the predators, so that’s one of the reasons these guys nest in such big groups like that, is so that they can all team up on them and drive them out. And so, last year (the colony) wasn’t successful at all because fish crows came in."

“Show me the purpose!” What the “Climate Change Generation” expects from businesses and prospective employers

This article was taken from the spring 2019 issue of Manomet Magazine. Chris Murphy is a Business Management major at the University of New Hampshire graduating this May. He is an athlete and has long known he wants to work in the sports industry after college; either at a professional firm (e.g., sports management) or for a pro sports team. Chris has spent four years pursuing a business degree to prepare him for this dream job, and has not taken a single environmental course while in college. His parents encouraged him to recycle growing up, but beyond that he knew very little about environmental sustainability. Since starting college, however, he has grown increasingly concerned about pollution and climate change, and...

Restoring sea run fish to the Gulf of Maine

On a recent sunny Saturday, a crowd of 300 people enjoyed the spectacle of alewives making their way up a tributary of the Bagaduce River to Pierce’s Pond in Penobscot, a community on the shores of Maine’s Penobscot Bay. Kids and adults alike marveled at the powerful instinct that drives the fish to work their way upstream, surmounting each rise against the flow of the stream as it tumbles down to the sea.  Students from the local middle school waded in the stream for a close up look at the fish, listening as their teacher explained the life cycle of alewives, a sea run fish that lives in the ocean and spawns in freshwater. Ospreys and eagles circled overhead, keeping...

Our busiest Arctic field season ever!

Every spring Manomet’s Shorebird Recovery Program prepares to launch field expeditions to shorebird breeding habitats in the arctic, but we’ve rarely had as exciting and ambitious plans as we do this year. Over the years, Manomet has conducted many different research projects across the North American Arctic, but usually just one major project at a time. This spring we are returning to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and will be conducting our busiest field season ever, with three projects underway at the same time. Our first project is to conduct a shorebird population survey of the entire 1002 Area, the disputed area recently opened to oil and gas exploration and potential development. Recent legislation that opened up this area to...

Monitoring waterbirds and wetlands in Central America

How do we know if a species is in decline, or if an important site is threatened? Monitoring—long-term, repeated data collection—is the foundation for managing and understanding species and the sites they depend upon. With this in mind, for the past three years, Manomet, through the WHSRN Executive Office, has overseen coordination of the Central American Waterbird Census. This census, launched in July 2011, is a regional component of the International Waterbird Census, coordinated globally by Wetlands International since 1967. The Central American Census was started by the Waterbird Conservation Council (in collaboration with Wetlands International and BirdLife International) in response to a gap in geographic coverage of regular waterbird monitoring and the interest of Environment Canada and the US...

Engaging Caribbean Conservationists in a Shorebird Training Workshop in Puerto Rico

“The workshop was one of the best I ever attended. I was very impressed with the vast knowledge that Manomet and BirdsCaribbean has accumulated and also the way you transfer this knowledge to workshop participants. It was very valuable for me and allowed me to deal with some conservation hurdles I am facing especially regarding how important water level management is for the birds.”  - Binkie van Es with the Sint Maarten Nature Foundation shares his impression of the Conserving Caribbean Shorebirds and Their Habitats International Training Workshop hosted by Manomet and BirdsCaribbean in partnership with local NGO Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña (SOPI). The workshop took place at the Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge in Puerto Rico from February 11 – 15, 2019. This...

All Abuzz in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego

November in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego is a buzzing blend of breeding and nonbreeding shorebirds. For South American shorebirds like Least Seedsnipe (Thinocorus rumicivorus), Rufous-chested Dotterel (Charadrius modestus), and Magellanic Oystercatcher (Haematopus leucopodus), the breeding season is in full swing. Birds are looking sharp in peak breeding plumage and there is an abundance of territorial behavior. Least Seedsnipe sing and perform flight displays in attempts to court a mate, or they sit atop fence posts to keep a watchful eye. Male Rufous-chested Dotterels aggressively chase each other in and out of disputed territories. Magellanic Oystercatchers elaborately distract us away from nearby nests with tail-flagging displays (Miller and Baker 1980). And Magellanic Plover (Pluvianellus socialis), the small, gray, dove-like...