The Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend
postponed to February 27 – March 1, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
updated 2015-02-19:0830h
web pdf docx | flyer | history
Overview | Press Contact | Detailed Schedule | Venues & Groups | Exhibitors | Accommodations
The Life and Art of John James Audubon | The Art of Natural History | Drawing Wildlife from Nature
Gloucester, Massachusetts
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Overview
Cape Ann is known worldwide for its exciting concentrations of winter seabirds, and birdwatchers from
New England and beyond flock to Cape Ann each February to participate in the Cape Ann Winter Birding
Weekend, a three-day festival of events for all ages and skill levels organized by Mass Audubon and the
Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce to share and enrich the opportunity to encounter these birds.
The sixth annual Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend takes place February 27 – March 1, 2015. Event
headquarters are at the Elks at Bass Rocks on East Gloucester’s back shore, and the principal events are
Saturday bus tours to the winter birding hot spots of Cape Ann guided by some of the state’s most
knowledgeable birders, and a special birding excursion aboard a 7 Seas Whale Watch boat on Sunday
morning, which offers a chance for closer encounters with many species. Registration and a fee are
required for the bus and boat trips, and space is limited. Participants may register online or by calling
contacting the Chamber at 978-283-1601 or events@TridentGallery.com.
A full program of additional events are free and open to the public at the event’s headquarters at the
Elks at Bass Rocks and at other venues in Gloucester. Expert speakers offer presentations,
demonstrations, and workshops; exhibitors showcase their programs and products; and art is on display.
On Friday afternoon (1–3pm), artist, natural science illustrator, and teacher Sandy McDermott leads a
free workshop, Drawing Wildlife from Nature at Trident Gallery in downtown Gloucester. Space is
limited: contact the Gallery to reserve a spot.
Events at the Elks also begin Friday at 1pm, when participants may register and Exhibitors’ tables open
to the public. In the evening at 5:00pm is a welcoming reception with a cash bar and an illustrated
lecture introducing the winter birds of Cape Ann by Mass Audubon Regional Scientist Robert
Buchsbaum.
Saturday bus trips depart the Elks at 8:30am and 1:30pm guided by experts and headed for the winter
birding hot spots of Cape Ann. Outside the Elks (itself a birding hotspot), naturalist Jim MacDougall
leads free programs especially for beginning birders at 10am and 2pm. Indoors at 2pm is an exciting live
owl presentation suitable for all ages, and at 4pm, David Rimmer, Director of Land Stewardship at Essex
County Greenbelt, gives an illustrated lecture, Osprey in Essex County: The Dramatic Comeback Story of
this Magnificent Bird of Prey.
On Sunday morning, weather and sea conditions permitting, a special birding excursion aboard a 7 Seas
Whale Watch boat with captain Jay Frontierro offers a chance for closer encounters with many species.
Beginning before the weekend, on Thursday, January 29, and continuing six days a week through
Sunday, March 1, the exhibition The Art of Natural History at Trident Gallery in downtown Gloucester
hosts works of art from the Museum of American Bird Art at Mass Audubon and displays works of art for
sale by gallery artists.
The detailed schedule immediately below lists all Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend events (in blue) and
many other events of related interest occurring in the region between Friday, January 23, and Sunday,
February 8 (listings for February 8 through March 1 are being compiled and added incrementally).
A complete copy of this document, a slideshow, and any late-breaking information are online at
CapeAnnWinterBirds.info. Overview information, the schedule of official events, and online registration
are at the Chamber’s home page for the event, web.capeannchamber.com/events/Cape-Ann-WinterBirding-Weekend-2015-1597/details.
Sponsors
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Each of the following sponsors has contributed in a
significant way to the Weekend’s program:
Mass Audubon; the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce;
The Retirement Center, Thomas T. Riquier, CFP;
Swarovski Optik; and Trident Gallery.
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Venues of the Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend
The Elks at Bass Rocks — event headquarters
101 Atlantic Road, Gloucester, MA (map) (directions)
Trident Gallery
189 Main Street, Gloucester, MA (map) (directions)
978-491-7785
events@TridentGallery.com
7 Seas Whale Watch and The Gloucester House Restaurant
63 Rogers Street, Gloucester, MA (map) (directions)
Halibut Point State Park (Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation)
Gott Avenue, Rockport, MA (map) (directions)
Venues of Events of Related Interest
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Sawyer Free Library
2 Dale Avenue, Gloucester, MA (map) (directions)
978-281-9763
Cape Ann Discovery Center at Ravenswood Park (The Trustees of Reservations)
481 Western Avenue, Gloucester, MA (map)
978-281-8400
capeann@ttor.org
Crane Wildlife Refuge on the Crane Estate (The Trustees of Reservations)
The Crane Estate / Essex River Estuary
Ipswich and Essex, MA (map)
978-356-4351
castlehill@ttor.org
Joppa Flats Education Center (Mass Audubon)
1 Plum Island Turnpike, Newburyport, MA (map) (directions)
978-462-9998
joppaflats@MassAudubon.org
Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary (Mass Audubon)
87 Perkins Row, Topsfield, MA (map) (directions)
978-887-9264
ipswichriver@MassAudubon.org
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Groups Leading Outdoor Events
Kestrel Educational Adventures
The Get Outside Center, 186 Main Street, Gloucester, MA (map)
978-515-7177
Garry Dow garry@kestreleducation.org
Brookline Bird Club
BrooklineBirdClub.org
Newburyport Birders
NewburyportBirders.com
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Press Contact
Kerry McKenna (Director of Events, Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce)
978-283-1601
events@CapeAnnChamber.com
A zip file of images for the press is being prepared and will be posted online when available.
Meanwhile, please contact individual organizations for images.
Detailed Schedule
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Of the Sixth Annual Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend ( February 27 – March 1)
And Events of Related Interest ( February 3 – March 1)
Official Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend events are in bold with a blue background.
Please note that some programs overlap.
Thursday, January 29
14B13 B
Time
Location
Event
10:00 am – 5:00pm
Trident Gallery
The Art of Natural History
See details below. Continues through March 15.
Tuesday, February 3
15B14 B
Time
Location
Event
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Crane Wildlife
Refuge
Full Moon and Folklore Hike
Registration and fee required.
Contact the Crane Wildlife Refuge at the Crane Estate for
details.
Wednesday, February 4
Time
Location
Event
9:30 am – 12:30 pm
Joppa Flats
Wednesday Morning Birding
Field trips to birding hot spots in the Newburyport and
Plum Island area, for birders of all levels.
Fee.
Contact Joppa Flats Education Center for details.
Friday, February 6
Time
Location
Event
4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Ipswich River
Pre-K Owl Prowl
Indoor/outdoor program suitable for ages 3–6.
Registration and fee required.
Contact Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary for details.
Saturday, February 7
Time
Location
Event
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Joppa Flats
The Merrimack River Eagle Festival
A full day of free activities in Newburyport and Amesbury
celebrating the return of Bald Eagles to the area.
Registration required for some events.
Contact Joppa Flats Education Center for details.
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Crane Wildlife
Refuge
Snowy Owl Prowl
Registration and fee required.
Contact the Crane Wildlife Refuge at the Crane Estate for
details.
Tuesday, February 24
Time
Location
Event
7:00 pm or 7:30pm
TBD
Sawyer Library
The Life and Art of John James Audubon
An illustrated lecture by Mass Audubon’s Chris Leahy.
Snow date Thursday, February 26. See details below.
Friday, February 27
Time
Location
Event
10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Trident Gallery
The Art of Natural History
See details below. Continues through March 15.
1:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Elks
Check-in and materials pick-up
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Trident Gallery
Drawing Wildlife from Nature
a free workshop with artist Sandy McDermott
Registration required. See details below.
1:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Elks
Exhibitors’ Tables
See details below.
5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Elks
Welcome Reception with Cash Bar
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Elks
Winter Birds of Cape Ann
illustrated lecture by Robert Buchsbaum, Mass
Audubon Regional Scientist
Saturday, February 28
16B15 B
Time
Location
Event
7:00 am
Elks
Coffee, bagels, and late check-in and materials pick-up
8:00 am – 12:30 pm
Elks
Guided Bus Tours to birding hotspots of Cape Ann
Registration and fee required.
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Elks
Field Introduction to the Winter Birds of Cape Ann
Outside the Elks, birder and naturalist Jim MacDougall puts
local birds in focus with his spotting scope and wealth of
knowledge. The program is stationary. A few binoculars
and scopes will be available to use.
10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Elks
Exhibitors’ Tables
See details below.
10:00am – 7:00 pm
Trident
Gallery
The Art of Natural History
Halibut
Point
Birding for Kids with Kestrel Educational Adventures
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Elks
Lunch available for purchase.
1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Elks
Guided Bus Tours to birding hotspots of Cape Ann
11:00 am – 1:00 pm
See details below. Continues through March 15.
Kid-focused birding adventure at Halibut Point State Park.
Registration required.
Contact Kestrel Educational Adventures for details.
Registration and fee required.
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Elks
Field Introduction to the Winter Birds of Cape Ann
Outside the Elks, birder and naturalist Jim MacDougall puts
local birds in focus with his spotting scope and wealth of
knowledge. The program is stationary. A few binoculars
and scopes will be available to use.
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Elks
Eyes on Owls
A live animal presentation by Marcia and Mark Wilson.
An opportunity to get up close and personal with these
spectacular and fascinating creatures, suitable for all ages.
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Elks
Osprey in Essex County: The Dramatic Comeback
Story of this Magnificent Bird of Prey
An illustrated lecture by David Rimmer, Director of
Land Stewardship, Essex County Greenbelt.
Sunday, March 1
17B16 B
Time
Location
Event
7:45 am– 12:00 pm
7 Seas
Sea Trip
aboard the Privateer IV with Captain Jay Frontierro
Subject to safe weather and ocean conditions.
Registration and fee required.
10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Trident Gallery
The Art of Natural History
See details below. Continues through March 15.
12:15 pm
The Gloucester
House
Wrap up and weekend checklists
Lunch available for purchase.
The Art of Natural History
a fine art exhibition and sale
Time:
Thursday, January 29 through
Sunday, March 15, 2015 (extended from March 1)
Hours:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Location:
Contact:
10 am – 5 pm
by appointment
12 pm – 5 pm
12 pm – 5 pm
10 am – 5 pm
10 am – 7 pm
10 am – 5 pm
and any time by appointment
Trident Gallery
189 Main Street, Gloucester, MA (map) (directions)
Matthew Swift (Director, Trident Gallery)
978-491-7785
TridentGallery.com
events@TridentGallery.com
The Art of Natural History is Trident Gallery’s second annual exhibition in partnership with the Museum
of American Bird Art in Canton, Massachusetts, the home of Mass Audubon's remarkable collection of
art.
Last year's evolving, trans-discipline Winter Meditations exhibition at Trident Gallery brought over thirty
works of art from the Museum for display at Trident Gallery alongside selected works by gallery artists.
Each work of art from the Museum's collection depicted a winter bird species of Cape Ann, a principle of
selection inspired by the annual Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend. The highlight was a group of six
magnificent double elephant folio prints by John James Audubon.
This year’s exhibition, The Art of Natural History, will display eight exquisitely detailed watercolor
paintings by Robert Verity Clem (1933–2010) from the Museum’s collection of over thirty. Six of Clem’s
paintings were part of Winter Meditations, including two never before seen in public. Trident Gallery
donated frames in order to display them. This year’s selection of eight includes the Northern Shrike
shown last year and a new painting never seen before in public, a gouache of Sanderlings also painted in
the late 1960s and sharing the minimalist aesthetic of Northern Shrike.
Also on display from the Museum’s collection will be four small sculptures by Larry Barth (b. 1957),
considered by many to be the preeminent contemporary bird sculptor.
Once again complementing works from the Museum's collection within Trident Gallery will be works of
art for sale: a selection of meticulous and fascinating drawings and new photographs by Charlie Carroll,
watercolors of birds by Marion Hall, and drawings by Gabrielle Barzaghi and Susan Erony.
Director Matthew Swift has curated The Art of Natural History with two organizing ideas. The first is
Charles Darwin's famous closing paragraph of On The Origin of Species, in which the figure of an
entangled bank testifies eloquently to the extraordinary complexity and interdependency of the natural
world:
It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds
singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp
earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and
dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us.
These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance which is almost
implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the external conditions of life,
and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence
to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms. Thus,
from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of
conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view
of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that,
whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning
endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.
The second organizing idea is for the art in the exhibition to straddle the boundary between
documentation and interpretation of the natural world, between dispassionate observation and
emotional responses (such as seeing “grandeur in this view of life”), between rationality and human
desires. What first appears to be a boundary is on closer inspection a zone, a liminal territory in which all
that we may discover reveals something essential about human nature—the territory in common of art,
theology, and science.
Drawing Wildlife from Nature
a workshop led by artist Sandy McDermott
Time:
Location:
Contact:
Friday, Feburary 27
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Trident Gallery
189 Main Street, Gloucester, MA (map) (directions)
Matthew Swift (Director, Trident Gallery)
978-491-7785
TridentGallery.com
events@TridentGallery.com
For the second year, artist Sandy McDermott will lead off the Cape Ann Winter Birding Weekend with a
workshop at Trident Gallery on the close observation and field sketching of birds and other wildlife.
No prior drawing experience is necessary.
The workshop is free, but space is limited to 20, so registration is required.
Description
Live animals of any type can be a challenging subject to draw. Birds especially are constantly moving.
How does one attempt to render them? Observation is key. Come to this workshop and learn how to
combine fast sketching with quick observation! You will learn how important it is to keep your eye on
the subject, not your paper. You will also learn how to focus on parts of a bird first, rather than the
whole portrait, using photographs and mounted specimens. We will discuss basic avian anatomy and
topography. Weather permitting, we’ll step outside to draw from life.
Plan
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Orientation (15 minutes)
Drawing and observation exercises (45 minutes)
Avian anatomy (20 minutes)
Sketching outdoors, weather permitting, otherwise from photos (20 minutes)
Discussion and review (20 minutes)
Participants should bring
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a 9" x 12" or larger sketchpad (newsprint pads are not recommended)
drawing pencils (4B, 2B, F, and 2H as a suggestion)
a black permanent or felt-tipped pen
a white eraser
a kneaded eraser
If you have any questions, please call or email Matthew Swift.
The Life and Art of John James Audubon
an illustrated lecture by Chris Leahy
Time:
Location:
Contact:
Tuesday, February 24 (snow date Thursday, February 26)
7:00 pm or 7:30 pm TBD
Sawyer Free Library
Friend Room
2 Dale Avenue, Gloucester, MA (map) (directions)
978-281-9763
Mary Weissblum
crueljewel@hotmail.com
SawyerFreeLibrary.org
The man whose name is inextricably linked with birds and bird conservation was a brilliant artist, a
keen-eyed naturalist, a writer, and a frontier adventurer. In a richly illustrated lecture, Chris Leahy
explores the life and work of the unique American icon.
Gloucester resident Chris Leahy’s interests in natural history are comprehensive, and he is a recognized
authority on birds and insects; he holds the Gerard A. Bertrand Chair of Natural History and Field
Ornithology at Mass Audubon; he has led natural history explorations to over 70 countries on all of the
continents; he is the author of The Birdwatcher’s Companion to North American Birdlife (1,072 pp), Birds
of Mongolia (forthcoming), The Nature of Massachusetts, The First Guide to Insects, “A Guide to Winter
Birding on Cape Ann,” and other publications.
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Exhibitors at the Elks
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Swarovski Optik
Bird Watcher’s Supply & Gift
Mass Audubon
Trident Gallery
The Trustees of Reservations
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)
Bob Brophy, duck decoys
Bruce Horne, artist
Brad Story, artist
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Accommodations On Cape Ann
Following is a list of accommodations who are offering a special to birders. For a complete listing of
accommodations, call the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce at 978-283-1601 or visit the Chamber’s
online listings.
Blue Shutters Beachside Inn
23B22 B
10% discount to any birders who stay Friday, January 30 – Sunday, February 1, 2015.
1 Nautilus Road, Gloucester, MA (map)
978-283-1198
BlueShuttersBeachside.com
Harborview Inn
24B23 B
Reserve one night and get the second night half price.
71 Western Avenue, Gloucester, MA (map)
978-283-2277
HarborviewInn.com
Cape Ann’s Marina Resort
25B24 B
$77.25 per night. Call and mention the code 'BIRD'.
75 Essex Avenue, Gloucester, MA (map)
800-626-7660
CapeAnnMarina.com
Vista Motel
26B25 B
15% discount. Book directly with the Vista by phone. Offer good until April 1, 2015.
22 Thatcher Road, Gloucester, MA (map)
978-281-3410
VistaMotel.com
Wingaersheek Inn and Motel
27B26 B
Call for 10% off already-discounted off-season rates.
46 Concord Street, Gloucester, MA (map)
978-281-0100
WingaersheekMotel.com