travel – Wellfleet Conservation Trust

On Saturday, Sept. 5th, WCT Trustee Jen Elsenshon received a call from the Wellfleet police letting her know that some folks called to report an osprey or other raptor stuck in the mud by Uncle Tim’s Bridge. She and her husband Jon got some equipment and walked down to Duck Creek to see if they could spot it. They met a man named Doug who showed them where the bird was. Doug had tried to rescue him, too. At this point, the tide was coming in and taking the bird towards the Head of Duck Creek.

Jen walked as far as she could into the marsh to see if she could grab him while Jon went home to get their canoe. Jeff Kemprecos helped Jon get the canoe onto the car. Jen couldn’t get close enough to the bird before the mud became treacherous, so she headed back to Commercial Street. Doug kept an eye on Cooper (they called him that because he turned out to be a Cooper’s Hawk) while Jon and Jen got the canoe into the creek.

Jen contacted Wild Care, the police, and the Conservation Agent to let them know that they would be accessing the creek through a WCT property, the marsh to the right of the bridge. The tide took them to Cooper quickly, and Jen was able to grab him from the marsh grass that he was hung up on. He must have been exhausted because he didn’t resist Jen’s picking him up at all.

The Elsenshons paddled to the trail by Cannon Hill, and Doug helped pull them to shore. Jen disembarked with Cooper, and Doug gave her a shirt to wrap him in. Jen walked back to Commercial Street to meet Jon when he tied the canoe up at Party Duck’s house. They allowed Jon to keep the canoe there overnight.

Another volunteer from Wild Care, Jan, met Jon and Jen at their house on Main St. and took Cooper to Wild Care. She happened to be in the area to pick beach plums but ditched her endeavor to get Cooper. It had a small injury under his wing but seemed okay otherwise besides being tired and cold. He was doing ok as of Sunday. Jen will get an update this week on how he is recuperating.

This isn’t the first time the Elsenshons have encountered an unusual situation involving a juvenile hawk. I spring, they observed a young, red-tailed hawk visiting their house, contemplating how it might approach a squirrel sharing railing space on their deck. (See photo)

Jen and Jon are quickly becoming our resident hawk whisperers.

Our Annual Guided Walk set off from the Cape Cod National Seashore Headquarters in the Marconi area. Partly sunny skies and a breeze at our backs made walking easy for the thirty-seven walkers set out at 9 a.m. to a crossroad in the middle of the area. There President Denny O’Connell greeted the participants, and South Wellfleet historian Pam Tice gave a brief history of the creation of the Cape Coc National Seashore.

The walkers headed east through the Seashore’s recycling area, where pallets and old wood were stored. Advice to all was to keep walking. At the top of the high bluff above the ocean, Denny O’Connell discussed beach erosion, and Bill Iacuessa distributed photos of the Camp Wellfleet’s unmanned target planes and told how the military trainees shot at them until the sock trailing behind or the drone plane itself went down.

From there, the walk took a turn to the north and followed a path along the top of the bluff. Dwight Estey, historian of the Wellfleet Museum and Historical Society, outlined the area of notable shipwrecks including the end of the Castagna.

At the end of the path, Alice Iacuessa gave information about the famous Marconi Station a little further to the north. She concluded the history of the Marconi area with more history of Camp Wellfleet during WWII and through the 1950’s and 60’s.

The walkers turned west and crossed the paved road leading to the Marconi towers site and entered a trail that led them to a portion of the Old King’s Highway. Bill Iacuessa gave the final presentation on the history of Old King’s Highway, which ran from Sandwich to Provincetown. This section brought to everyone back to the rear of the headquarters building, completing a full circle from where they began.

Back in the parking lot, many tired, but happy, walkers commented that this walk was one of the best walks ever.