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Flight Feathers
In Chevak, Alaska, right now (January 29, 2020), the temperature is twelve below zero, but it feels like forty below zero with a strong wind out of the northwest. Chevak is a village of Cup’ik people on the coast of the Yukon River Delta. While the coastal village is currently deep into winter, with just seven hours of daylight, rapid day-length gains during the next few months with eventually bring light onto the land for almost twenty-four hours a day. The sun will pump new life into the tundra of the vast Delta surrounding Chevak and other villages, bringing a virtual crescendo of wildlife activity by late May. In the spring seasons of both 2015 and 2016, Manomet’s shorebird biologists...
Ospreys: A dramatic recovery story
Ospreys might be one of the most famous conservation success stories of all time, with populations dipping dangerously low during the mid-20th century due to pesticide use post World War II. Today, Ospreys have bounced back in huge numbers and can easily be found throughout the coastline during the spring and summer months here in New England. But, did you know that Ospreys are actually found on every continent except Antarctica and migrate tremendous distances, just like the landbirds and shorebirds our program staff study? Dr. Alan Poole has been studying Ospreys for 35 years and has written two books on his work with the species. We sat down with him to talk about Ospreys’ amazing resurgence, thoughts on their...
First recorded sighting of a Smooth Mud Crab in Maine
Brunswick, ME – October 8, 2019 – A Manomet scientist found the first recorded Smooth Mud Crab in Maine while doing research on quahog aquaculture last week. The Smooth Mud Crab, which has a native range from the Gulf of Mexico to Massachusetts’ Vineyard Sound, is commonly found in shallow coastal habitat and is known to prey upon juvenile oysters and other small invertebrates. “After checking numerous sources, we believe this is the first recorded sighting of a Smooth Mud Crab in Maine,” said Dr. Marissa McMahan, Manomet’s Fisheries Division Director who found the crab in an oyster bag in the New Meadows River in West Bath, Maine. “The Smooth Mud Crab typically likes warmer waters than are found here....
Marcela Castellino
Marcela is native to Córdoba, Argentina, where she lives in Miramar de Ansenuza, a small town on the shore of Mar Chiquita Lake, one of the very first WHSRN sites (designated in 1989). She joined the WHSRN Executive Office team in 2019 as a Flyway Conservation Specialist, focused on the conservation of saline lakes. Among her activities, Marcela is working on an update of the Wilson’s Phalarope conservation plan and developing a protocol for boreal winter/austral summer surveys for the species. She is also working to strengthen the connections between communities and conservation efforts at inland salt lakes, with a primary focus on existing WHSRN sites. From 2014 until recently, Marcela was one of the two site representatives for Mar...
We Are Biodiversity
This article was included in our Summer 2019 issue of Manomet Magazine. In March 1932, despite conservation efforts, “Booming Ben,” the single surviving Heath Hen, a grouse-like bird, was seen for the last time on Martha’s Vineyard. A year later, Henry Beetle Hough posed a rhetorical question in the Vineyard Gazette ‘Is nothing to follow the extinction of this bird except one more lesson in conservation for school books, and a sentimental mourning?’ Indeed, the extinction of the Heath Hen was nothing more—another lesson for school books. Many such lessons have since followed, avian and otherwise. A species winks out. The earth rotates just the same, unencumbered by the loss. Every two years since 1998 The World Wildlife Fund publishes...
Meet ‘the Birdnerd’
As part of our 50th Anniversary celebrations, we’ll be sharing interviews with Manomet’s current and past staff, former interns, and Board members. We’re kicking this off by catching up with Jason “the Birdnerd” St. Sauver, Director of Education & Outreach for Audubon Nebraska and a Manomet banding intern back in 2006-07. Jason recently was awarded the 2019 “Educator of the Year” by National Audubon Society. Looking back, Trevor Lloyd-Evans, Manomet’s Director of Landbird Conservation, recalls Jason as “a very charismatic teacher for groups when he was a banding intern here at Manomet” so he wasn’t surprised by this “very well-deserved recognition of Jason’s talent for teaching, innovation, and leadership.” “Manomet – and Trevor’s - impact on young banders/biologists cannot be...
August 2019 kicks off Manomet Inc.’s 50th year
50 years ago this August, Manomet Bird Observatory (MBO) in Plymouth, MA officially opened its doors on August 4, 1969. Now known as Manomet, Inc., Manomet’s work over its 50-year history expanded organically from the research and banding of landbirds to include projects on shorebird conservation, fisheries, forests, climate change, and working with the for-profit sector to create a more sustainable future. “Manomet is a science-driven sustainability organization. Our goal is for the next generation and the one after that to be able to thrive and support themselves sustainably, as well as to be able to enjoy the natural world like we have today,” says John Hagan, Manomet President. “The reason that we’ve been able to do what we do...
Building Bridges To The Future: Looking back from 1995–present day and making plans for Manomet’s next 50 years.
Materials (content and images) taken from the Manomet archives. Manomet’s work over its first 25 years expanded organically from landbirds, shorebirds, and forests and opened the door to a broader understanding of the world around us. This understanding of how the many facets of our world are connected—and a belief that we cannot solve the complex challenges that we are facing by ourselves—is integral to understanding our most recent past and how we are preparing to lead in our next half-century. When Manomet’s banding program celebrated its unofficial 30th anniversary in the fall of 1996, Linda Leddy, then President, shared in her cover letter of the spring 1997 issue of Conservation Sciences, that, “Bird populations are in trouble; the causes...
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...