Cape Cod Crusin'

The first of two planned summer trips: this one in Cape Cod. Charlie has been there many times but this was my first visit. Here's a recap:

Provincetown - Whale Watch
Besides the whale I saw a few new birds including shearwaters and eiders (see below). P-town is a very interesting place. Would have been fun to do some people watching - I think it would have been an eye-opener!



Monomoy Wildlife Refuge - A boat trip from Harwich Port to see the gray seals (and several lighthouses). As you can see they were very friendly.



Wellfleet Audubon Sanctuary. This hike was mostly disappointing. Lots of little crabs. Otherwise the willet and the Baltimore oriole were about all we saw. Perhaps they were all avoiding the heat.



One highlight came just as we were on the return trail. There was a great squawking sound coming from the treetops. We finally found the source: a very upset green heron. I've never seen one up in a tree but this one was at the very top, fluffing out his neck feathers and causing a ruckus. It seems that this young red-tail hawk was interested in heron babies for his breakfast. Even though the heron and a couple of blackbirds tried their darndest, the hawk would not be driven away. After a long standoff the hawk dove behind the trees and came up with something in his talons. Although we couldn't see what he had, it's likely he'd snagged a baby or two. I have never seen a heron put on such a display and you couldn't help but feel devastated that the hawk won.

We didn't bring the bikes along due to a bike rack malfunction, but we did rent bikes one day and rode part of the Cape Cod Rail Trail from Orleans to Nickerson State Park. It was a great ride!

The one small downside of the week was a crazy sixty-something lady who decided to weave her way from a very wide shoulder onto the busy highway and run into my newly leased (less than a week) SUV. It was truly scary until I found out she only suffered minor scrapes and the police officer said to me, "She does this a lot." hmmmm.....gotta wonder.

Almost every day we spent a few hours on the beach. This one is called "Head of the Meadow" in North Truro where our cottage was located. It was awesome to get several pictures of this piping plover and her chick - an endangered species. The least tern was also a lifer for me.


Here are a few more photos of the area. It was a great week. Next stop: Acadia National Park!