Journal of a Sabbatical
The Plover Warden Diaries

May 14, 2001

no radio

Plover Count:
Pairs: 12
Nests: 6

Today's Bird Sightings:
Plum Island
oldsquaw (36)
double-crested cormorant (22)
herring gull (lots)
great black backed gull (lots)
ring-billed gull (7)
barn swallow (2)
common loon (2)
Coast Guard Asset Sightings:
helicopter (1)
boat (1)
Visitors Contacted: 1
Refuge Biological Staff sighted: 2

Today's Reading: A Walk to Wachusett by Henry David Thoreau

Today's Starting Pitcher: day off

The wind is from the northwest. The tide is going out. The waves are a lot smaller than they were on Thursday.

The early shift plover warden told me the radio didn't work when I arrived. He took it back to the gatehouse with him to ask for a replacement to be sent to me on the beach. I gather the backup radio had a dead battery too because I never got a radio. Biologists on ATVs stopped by as they started their survey of the plover nests. Debbie phoned headquarters about gettign me a radio, but none appeared by 3:20 PM when it started raining 10 minutes before the end of my shift.

Not that I needed the radio. I spoke with exactly one visitor, who was looking for a bathroom. No humans or dogs trespassed on the closed area. I saw no piping plovers this time. I did have a flock of noisy, splashy oldquaws to keep me company. Some Coast Guard assets put on a show too, practicing some kind of helicopter procedure. Boy do those helicopter rotors throw up a lot of spray!

A quiet day at the beach, with no radio.

<