Lighthouses on Cape Cod, Part One Addendum

As I had mentioned in my first blog on Cape Cod Lighthouses, Long Point Lighthouse marks the entrance to Provincetown Harbor.  When I posted my blog, I did not have a picture of the lighthouse.  As I continue to search through my files, I finally found a picture of the lighthouse which I present here for your perusal.  The picture was taken from a whale watch vessel as we were traveling out to Stellwagon Bank.  The history of this lighthouse can be found at http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=490

Lighthouses on Cape Cod, Part Three

Continuing my blogs about lighthouses on Cape Cod.  Nauset lighthouse as a very interesting history.  The first lighthouse station in Eastham consisted of a group of three brick towers completed in 1838.  Because of erosion of the cliff edge, the brick towers were replaced by three wooden lighthouses, known as the Three Sisters.  In 1911, because, again, of the encroaching shoreline, the lights were moved again.  Two of the lights were sold at auction and the third was moved back and attach to the keepers house.  The original wooden lighthouses have been restored and are located up the road from the present lighthouse.

Nauset Light was built in 1877 and was originally located in chatter Massachusetts as a twin to the lighthouse that is presently, there.  In 1923.  The light was moved from Chatham to Eastham and was reconstructed at 200 feet from the edge of the cliff.  In 1940s, Nauset light was painted red and white, to coincide with its  Red and white lights.  Coastal erosion continued to plague this lighthouse.  So in 1996.  It was moved in one piece to the new site where it presently located.

Lighthouses on Cape Cod, Part Two

After we finished photographing The Race Point Lighthouse and return to Provincetown, we traveled down the road to North Truro  to visit Highland Light.  Highland Light or as formerly known Cape Cod Light is the oldest and tallest lighthouse on Cape Cod. The first lighthouse was authorized and 1797 by George Washington and operated until 1857, when it was to demolish because it was dangerous and the present lighthouse was constructed.  The lighthouse is not located on its original site, but was moved 450 feet to the West due to erosion of the cliffs.  This occurred in July 1996.  It is now located on the grounds of Highland Golf Course.
The towers 66 feet in height and is attached to the keepers quarters, which is now used as a museum.
We photographed the lighthouse at night, in order to include the milky way in the photograph and then we returned in the morning to photograph the lighthouse at sunrise.


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Lighthouses on Cape Cod, Part One

The group that I was with the weekend on Cape Cod, started out by photographing Race Point Light at sunset.  Race Point Light was the first of three lighthouses that we visited and photographed.  We reached the lighthouse by piling into a suburban four-wheel drive vehicle and Provincetown, and then driving out to Race Point and traveled over the sand out to the light.
Race Point Light original tower was first built in 1816 of white rubblestone and it was torn down in 1875 and replace with the existing tower.  The present tower is made of iron plate with brick interior.  It is 45 feet in height and ritually had a fourth order Fresnel lens.  Presently the lens is a solar powered Vega VRB-25.  It is one of the three lighthouses located at the tip of Cape Cod.  The other two are Wood End Light and Long Point Light.

Long Point Lighthouse marks the entrance to Provincetown Harbor and can only be visited by boat or by foot.  It is visible to people traveling on the will watch boats out of Provincetown.  Between Long Point Light and Race Point Light is Wood End Light.

Wood End Light as seen from the water

Both the Keepers House and the Whistle House are available to rent.  for more information see www.racepointlighthouse.net

A Rare Sparrow in Massachusetts and Birding Cape Cod

Now that my computer is back to normal, I will continue writing about my previous activities. There has been reported up in Truro Massachusetts a rare sparrow, a Cassin's sparrow which is normally found in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. This is the first Massachusetts sighting of this bird.

So on May 18, Paul Champlin and I drove up to Truro to see if we can locate the bird. When we arrived at the location where the bird had been sighted, there were a number of other birders present, who told us that we had just missed the bird. Now the reports on this bird shows that it has been showing up intermittently in the area, so we got set up, me with my tripod my long lens with a 2X telly converter and waited. Paul, being the expert birder walked through the grassy areas where he knew that the bird might be at. A number of other birders arrived and were eagerly waiting the appearance of this bird. There was a small shack on the side of the road, and from behind the shack Paul was gesturing for us to join him. There was the bird, just behind the shack and it jumped on a chair that was underneath the shack and then went beneath the shack and then flew out and started feeding. Everybody got excellent views of the bird.

Since the morning was still young, we traveled up to Province Lands portion of the Cape Cod National Seashore to bird the Beech Forest. What makes the Beech Forest so Interesting Is that people come there and feed the birds. The chickadees, titmice and even the nuthatches will come and fly on to your hand and take seeds right from it. Even some of the warbler's would come in close.
 

Black and White Warbler

Black and White Warbler

Black-capped Chickadee

Canada Goose Gosling

Northern Parula

White-breasted Nuthatch

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Northern Parula

We just didn't look at birds!

Bullfrog it cbe toldom a green frog by the lack of prominent dorsolateral ridges onts back

Eastern Chipmunk