WELLFLEET — A few weeks ago, Heidi Clemmer was walking her dog on Corn Hill Beach in Truro when she noticed a sea turtle lying in the sand. Clemmer, a […]
Environment
ON THE BEACH
Bearing Witness to Climate Change on Cape Cod
A theory teaches us how to see more than what our own eyes tell us
If you scrunch your eyes enough to blur your vision slightly, it’s easy to imagine what Wellfleet or Provincetown looked like 50 or even 100 years ago, when horse-drawn buggies […]
IDENTITY CRISIS
Not a Cedar. Not Berries, Either.
A female Eastern red cedar, exploding in fruit, stands at the harbor end of Commercial Street in Wellfleet. The species is dioecious, meaning it comes in two different sexes, so […]
MORNING FLIGHT
A Saw-Whet Owl, by Night
These smallest predatory birds are well adapted for darkness
As the sun sets on a late fall evening, an unfamiliar silence falls on the marshes of Wellfleet. The frogs, whose calls are inescapable all summer, are silent now, and […]
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Dec. 5 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
RADIOACTIVITY
Nearly 200,000 Gallons of Pilgrim Nuclear Waste Vaporized
DEP is waiting to see ‘if they choose to evaporate the water in an active way’
PLYMOUTH — While the debate over the proposed discharge of 1.1 million gallons of radioactive wastewater from the Pilgrim nuclear plant into Cape Cod Bay goes on, Holtec Decommissioning International, […]
PENALTY
Wellfleet Select Board Chooses $4.5M Penalty Over Mitigation Plan
After 2 years of work, dredging task force members quit, citing verbal attacks
WELLFLEET — The select board has directed the dredging task force to pay $4.5 million for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers instead of moving forward with […]
PLOVER PLIGHT
It’s Been a Record Year for Piping Plovers
The ‘cultural norm’ and the numbers have shifted on a threatened shorebird
WELLFLEET — Nearly 40 years ago the plump, sand-colored shorebird known as the piping plover was on the verge of extinction in Massachusetts. Now, following decades of conservation, the birds […]
THREE SEASONS
The Beach Plum’s Fall Show
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Nov. 28 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
MARINE LIFE
Speeding Boats Are Still Threatening Right Whales
Enforcement lags in waters that were once ‘open cowboy plains’
PROVINCETOWN — When right whales visit the seas around Cape Cod in the winter and early spring, large boats in the whales’ favored areas are barred from going faster than […]
MORNING FLIGHT
Rare Birds in Truro
A blackbird and a lark sparrow illustrate the ‘Patagonia Picnic Table Effect’
Late fall is a good time to find rarities on Cape Cod. A few far-flung birds can be counted on to arrive from the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, and […]
VELVETY SUCKERS
Pedal Right Past the Staghorn Sumac’s Velvety Antlers
ROADKILL
The Unseen Toll of Traffic on the Outer Cape’s Animals
Closures, crossing signs, culverts, and just slowing down can prevent squishings
EASTHAM — Eight downy ducklings tried to cross Route 6 near Nauset Road in Eastham on Aug. 1, led by a streaked brown hen. Sometime before 7:30 a.m., a car […]
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Nov. 14 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]