https://www.openseasonspecialties.com/columns-1 daily 0.75 2020-01-21 https://www.openseasonspecialties.com/gold-buying daily 0.75 2023-10-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1556038875208-12TCKFU2TZ2NPH60R5LZ/IMG_5278.JPEG GOLD BUYING https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1555960596828-I4GTDUDGUUCCQV6C5BSN/silvercoins-u3515-fr_2x.jpeg GOLD BUYING https://www.openseasonspecialties.com/contact-us daily 0.75 2023-10-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1555441016807-6XGMNKBGQXHFQFIKVNIG/DAD.png Contact Us https://www.openseasonspecialties.com/home daily 1.0 2023-10-17 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1556038875208-12TCKFU2TZ2NPH60R5LZ/IMG_5278.JPEG Home - Gold prices are high! CALL 508-971-5131 FOR AN APPOINTMENT. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1582647072944-7QL556XVMBKCURY4D0H0/DAD.png Home - Marc Folco: precious metals buyer, outdoor writer and sportsman. https://www.openseasonspecialties.com/1621 daily 0.75 2019-04-23 https://www.openseasonspecialties.com/penikese daily 0.75 2019-09-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561479323914-EHYBWG1D2LIQH2X3QEWX/P6192198+%282%29.JPG Penikese Terns arrive in Massachusetts in April and May to nest, mostly on islands, and depart for their wintering grounds in late summer. Through the early 1950s, up to 15,000 pairs of terns nested throughout Buzzards Bay but the population declined as the birds were displaced by gulls in addition to being injured by PCB exposure from New Bedford Harbor. By 1975 only 1,400 pairs remained. MassWildlife’s Buzzards Bay Tern Restoration Project began intensive management in the late 1960s, first with Ram Island, adding Bird Island in 1990 and expanding the project to include Penikese Island in 1998. The population has since increased to 8,000 nesting pairs and the three islands now support nearly half the Roseate Terns in the endangered Northeast population. “Productivity was excellent for both species this year,” said Carolyn Mostello, MassWildlife seabird biologists and Buzzards Bay Tern Project Leader. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561479577416-AG0PEV7H1791HJ0VEFCR/P6192205.JPG Penikese A tern chick, hatched on Penikese, shows off its new bracelet. MassWildlife biologists banded several hundred tern chicks throughout the three islands in June and early July. Each band has a serial number and remains on the bird throughout its life. There’s enough “wiggle” room inside the band for the bird’s leg to grow without constricting so it still fits comfortably when it reaches adulthood. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561482312888-XV341X8DVBJ5AHG2LBHX/P5201803.JPG Penikese An American Oystercatcher chick waits by its future nest mate, which has begun to “pip”. Unlike chicks of other seabird species that stay in and around the nest for several days to weeks, Oystercatcher chicks are up and running on the beach within a day of hatching. There were six nesting pairs on Penikese, eight pairs on Bird Island and seven pairs on Ram Island this year. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561481822875-GJQWAQXKA8RS1JA3ASSA/P6142072+%282%29.JPG Penikese Cormorant chicks certainly wouldn’t win a beauty contest, nor would they win any “parents of the year” awards. Instead of defending their nests and colony when perceived danger approaches, they bail, fly out to sea and wait until the danger passes before returning. Cormorants have established a nesting colony of about 30 pairs on the rocky Southwest side of Penikese. You can locate it with your nose if you’re downwind of the colony. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561481749455-CZBOOOO14NA89TVGMJCN/P5211831.JPG Penikese More than a century has taken its toll on the leper colony’s laundry building on the windswept Northwest shore of the island. Many seafarers passing through Buzzards Bay are unaware of the sad story behind the historic ruins. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561479431184-93ZTKB60IMVO1498YL00/P5231841.JPG Penikese Welcome to Penikese Island, a 75-acre island at the West end of the Elizabeth Island chain in Buzzards Bay. Over the centuries the island has been home to Wampanoags, a sheep farm, school of natural history, turkey farm, leper colony, wildlife sanctuary, thousands of nesting sea birds and a school for troubled teen youths. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561479796227-I9FWJLUR13B08HU7PV4L/P6202237+%282%29.JPG Penikese he Roseate Tern is listed as Endangered under both the U.S. and Massachusetts Endangered Species Acts. This bird differs from its “common” cousin as it has a black bill and a longer, more graceful, lyre-shaped tail. The Roseate Tern also displays rosy colored plumage on its breast during the breeding season, hence its name. It’s has a much more timid nature and nests within Common Tern colonies for the benefit of protection from predators from their more aggressive cousins. Both tern species are long-lived, with the oldest birds reaching their mid- to upper-20s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561478918570-0FZP16L49IQT6V5H1GLZ/P6192214.JPG Penikese Common Terns usually lay a clutch of three speckled eggs in the open on a rocky beach, sometimes on a clump of seaweed. Roseates usually lay a clutch of two eggs under the cover of vegetation above the beach. The parents don’t incubate the eggs until the clutch is complete so they hatch around the same time. One tern chick in this nest has hatched and one egg is “pipping”, meaning the chick inside has begun to break through the shell. “Starring” is when the egg begins to crack before it begins pipping. Chicks most always hatch through the blunt end of the egg. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561481770105-IRKLSDRB13940H7DGY9V/P5211830.JPG Penikese Penikese was the site of the Massachusetts State Leper Colony (now called Hansen’s Disease) from 1905 – 1921. Dr. Frank Parker became the Superintendent of the Penikese Island Hospital in 1907 and together with his wife, Marion, treated the patients until the hospital closed in 1921. The couple never contracted the disease. Rusted steel-frame bed frames are askew in the hospital’s foundation. A total of 14 patients had died on Penikese. The remaining 13 patients were transferred to the federal hospital in Louisiana in 1921 when the National Leprosarium opened in Carville. Penikese is said to be haunted by the ghost of Goon Lee Dip, a Chinese patient who is buried on the island. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561482427282-D2FLLLB1DMFLXDKWTS2I/P6112016+%282%29.JPG Penikese A Herring Gull chick. Both Herring Gull and Black Back chicks resemble puff balls when dry after hatching. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561482486040-ITLXFZLKFHUWZH0J76MF/P7042492+%282%29.JPG Penikese https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561481655893-S5ZXQRFOFKACLXEORI6U/P6162191.JPG Penikese Looking like two dropouts from the Phyllis Diller Beauty Academy, a Great Egret chick tries to establish the pecking order over its nest mate https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ca7e6e565a707bb2efe4f34/1561479766590-26QJYRKWHI081809A15R/P7012295+%282%29.JPG Penikese The Common Tern is a familiar seabird but is listed as a Species of Special Concern in Massachusetts. These graceful, yet aggressive, birds viciously defend their nests and colony against any and all intruders. Entering a tern colony can be compared to swatting a hornet’s nest. https://www.openseasonspecialties.com/new-page daily 0.75 2020-02-25 https://www.openseasonspecialties.com/new-page-1 daily 0.75 2020-02-29