Meditations at the Power Plant (2)

TRANSFORMATION

Site of the power plant today, at center

 Little remains today of the building that powered the granite industry at Halibut Point.

Lichens and blooming shad bush, early May

Natural elements have transformed the barren landscape. Bacteria and lichen spores carried through the air extend their colonies over sterile surfaces. The acids they release, and those from falling rain, make nutrients available to organic life. The physical forces of freezing and thawing, solar radiation, and weather break up stone into particles of sand and clay. Humus accumulates to improve water retention and soil texture. Pathways develop for the arrival of herbaceous and woody plants as the process accelerates.

The power plant c. 1909, center
Photo courtesy of the Sandy Bay Historical Society

The transformation of this lifeless terrain in the last century recapitulates the planetary development of the biosphere that evolved over billions of years.

Oxeye Daisies growing on the foundation

With favorable moisture in June daisy flowers blanket the power plant's remaining fragments of brick and concrete.

White-tailed deer browsing in the shrubbery

Reforestation proceeds by pioneering plants in the surrounding grout piles.

Cranberry blooming at the water's edge

The large cavity blasted out of the ledge beside the power plant fills continuously with ground water to sustain novel vegetation delivered by seeds from near and far.

Garter Snake closing in on a Bullfrog

The development of this little Eden draws diverse life, including the wily serpent.

The frog's narrow escape

Familiar Bluet damsel fly on lily pad

Once they arrive at the pond, certain damsel flies and dragonflies perpetuate themselves in the aquatic environment as egg and nymph stages beneath the water surface, to emerge as winged adults into our familiar world.

Painted Skimmer dragonfly on Loosestrife flower

Dragonflies use flowers as hunting perches for preying on smaller insects. Everything about their metamorphosis, their appearance, and their fast, agile flight mesmerizes observers of all ages. 

Spicebush Swallowtail on Pickerelweed

Butterflies seek out flowers to exchange pollination services for nectar. These progeny of different kingdoms are crucial to each other's needs.

Great Blue Heron foraging in Pickerelweed colony

Birds are the apex visitors both in creation and harvest of the pond. Quite possibly, and by chance, they have introduced varied germs of biologic life to this isolated spot as those species cling to, or pass through the digestive tract of, these boundless creatures that ultimately benefit from maturing ecological niches. 

*  *  * 

In last week's meditation I traversed from the currently blooming Japanese Andromeda through photographs of plants blooming successively later in the spring, without adequately noting that those flowers are not yet on display in the local landscape. So no, the site of the erstwhile power plant, while extraordinary in many ways, is not seasonally precocious. My meditation leaned to  mood rather than clarity.

Meditations at the Power Plant (1)

 

Japanese Andromeda

En route to the shoreline, after passing the main quarry there's an intersection of five roads at Halibut Point reminiscent of Five Corners in Rockport, where the State Highway meets Broadway and Main Street. Here a quiet trail leads down to the site of the old power plant.

The Andromeda blooming

At the entrance to this trail an ornamental shrub is currently blooming, earlier than almost anything else in the landscape. It's a domesticating touch most likely introduced by the Webster family when they founded the Pitcairn Park recreational venture during the 1950s.

Cellophane Bees mating

The Andromeda grows in a relatively warm, sheltered location. It helps sustain one of the earliest of insects to break hibernation, the Cellophane Bee.

Red Maple flowering

Nearby, a large Red Maple tree puts forth its exquisite early spring flowers.

The quarry in operation, 1913
Painting by Leon Kroll

In its operational era the quarry had a central power plant feeding all the drills, pumps, and machinery by compressed air hoses ducted through a culvert beneath perimeter road. It is located at the far right of Leon Kroll's painting.

The power plant foundation today

Presumably the power plant was coal fed. Getting the fuel to the site must have been a labor-intensive operation in itself. Louis Rogers, one of the Directors of the Rockport Granite Company, told an interviewer late in life that keeping the quarry free of infiltrating ground water was the biggest expense the business faced.

The site, elevated railroad bed to the rear, ocean beyond

The train pictured in Kroll's painting moved salable granite blocks down to the shipping pier at Folly Cove and disposed of useless stone on the Overlook grout pile.

Stone terracing

Some of the granite was finely honed into structural features around the power plant. Beside it lies a small quarry now filled with water. Sometimes it is referred to as a "motion", but that term should be reserved for small pits excavated manually by independent operators, often during periods of unemployment from the commercial quarries. These can be found in the woods throughout Cape Ann and supplied local building projects, or paving stones taken to market by ox cart.

Green Frog and blooming Watershield,
Brasenia schreberi

The astonishing reclamation by nature of these sterile industrial zones will be the subject of the next Meditation.

Farewell to Winter

 

In the harshest part of winter, winds off the Bay formed icicles sideways along the shore.

Snow Bunting

Snow Buntings still managed to forage now and then in the coastal moors.

Lichens, ice, and minerals decorated quarry walls under the opposing influences of sun and shade.

Song Sparrow

As the snow piled up meadow residents gleaned the slim remnants of last year's bounty.

White-breasted Nuthatch

Arboreal birds searched tree crevices for morsels of food.

Mild temperatures this week have started patterning the quarry surface after the monotonous whiteness of sheet ice.

Alternate thawing and freezing has created glassy crystals and reflecting shards.

The melting enriches the beauty of elements beyond what was and what will be.

Hooded Mergansers amid ice floes

Transitory Hooded Mergansers find the first open water at Halibut Point as a very brief stopover on their way to northern breeding grounds.

The Merganser pair yesterday

Early risers can enjoy this fleeting moment between winter and spring.

Winter Thrushes

 

Hermit Thrush

A couple of shy Hermit Thrushes braved the cold months at Halibut Point. They would appear now and then at the edge of the wood line scuffling through the leaves in search of food.

It's a challenging time of year for birds that are primarily insectivores.

Hermit Thrush in cedar tree

The solution to survival lies in diet adaptation, adjusting to concentrate on fruit in trees and shrubs.

Standing on ice

During frigid weather even water can be scarce. Some birds drank at the edge of the quarry where sun-warmed stone melted a thin band of ice.

Robins eating privet berries

Robins, another member of the Thrush family, have successfully contended with similar problems. They have sometimes been present in large flocks this the winter.

Robins in the snow

Their adaptation is a surprising departure from traditional lore viewing Robins as the first sign of spring.

Eastern Bluebird this week

A few resident Bluebirds have been the cheeriest members of the Thrush family recently at Halibut Point. This one's day started at 17˚.

Bluebird in Sumac tree

Like the other species it adapted to available food. 

All the thrushes bring melodious voices and flashes of color to their environment.

Ducks on the Wing

The great compensation for winter's blustery weather is that Halibut Point's shoreline comes alive with birds. Seeing them on the ocean surface between dives for food presents an admirable view of their lifestyle and coloration.  When they fly, we get a fuller appreciation of their abilities and beauty in this challenging, stunning environment. The camera lets us take home a stop-action souvenir of these wonders.

Red-breasted Mergansers

White-winged Scoters

Harlequin Ducks

Common Eider

Buffleheads

Surf Scoters and Black Scoter, with Greater Scaup in lead

Brant

Long-tailed Ducks

Quarry Ducks, As the Ice Closed In

 

With the approach of winter, the Halibut Point quarry pond became a place of refuge for various ducks while the water remained open.

Chief among these hardy waterfowl have been Mallards and their closely related Black Ducks.

These dabblers are drawn to the quarry to rest from their rough and tumble foraging for vegetation along the ocean shoreline. There is nothing up here for them to eat at this time of year.

Mallards with a Ring-necked Duck

Once in awhile an exotic duck appears with the Mallards. Unlike the surface dabblers, these are usually divers.

Ring-necked Duck diving

I supposed they were diving to the bottom in search of mollusks or other edibles. Out in the middle of the quarry it's a long way down.

Greater Scaup swimming, and Mallards, standing

These visitors appeared just as ice was beginning to form on the quarry. They looked like bantams next to the plump Mallards, which were content to stand on the frozen surface on their broad, paddle-like feet.

Female Goldeneye

The divers busied themselves below the surface and never left the water.

Goldeneye diving

They had swimmers' feet, large and cupped for propulsion, not at all suited for standing or walking.

Goldeneye with fish

This photograph finally revealed the target of all that diving effort and the purpose of a lifestyle so distinct from the dabblers.

Ring-necked Duck

Evidently, for most of the year, the diving ducks find habitats more to their liking than chasing minnows in the quarry.

Mallards on the rim of the ice

Frigid temperatures have entirely closed the quarry to the colorful animations of ducks. For the adventurous, there's always the shoreline to admire the saltwater species overwintering in the harshest of environments.