Oyster Pond Associates
Total Rewards and Performance Consulting for Dynamic Organizations
There are many "Oyster Ponds" throughout coastal New England.  Our Oyster Pond is in the village of West Falmouth, Massachusetts.  Oyster Pond is a kettle pond - a remnant of the glaciers that created Cape Cod.  The birds that inhabit the pond and the immediate area change by season - herons, egrets and ospreys in the summer and diving ducks in the winter.  Below are some thoughts on the birds featured on our website and a few of our other favorites.
Osprey
This striking fisherman is the symbol of Oyster Pond Associates.  There are at least six active Osprey nests in the area around the pond -  three in the Great Sippiwissett Marsh and two near Chappoquoit Beach.  For the last several years, each of these nests has fledged two chicks.  In the summer, you can hear the contact whistles of these beautiful birds as the young learn to fly and fish.
Belted Kingfisher
A pair of Belted Kingfishers "own" Oyster Pond.  Their call is quite distinctive, almost a rattling sound.  When you scan the edge of the pond, you can pick out the white of their chests on a lower-level, exposed perch.  The Belted Kinfisher is unusual in the avian world - it is the female that is the more colorful.  She has chestnut markings on her chest, which the male lacks.
Great Blue Heron
The Great Blues fish on the shores of Oyster Pond and the edges of the waterways in the Sippiwissett Marshes.  Even though they are very tall birds, at times all you can see is their heads as they work the various gullies in the marshes.  They fly overhead with deep, slow wing beats and their legs trailing behind.
Bufflehead
You know the cold weather is upon us when the Buffleheads are on Oyster Pond.  Although technically a kettle pond left over from when the last glaciers melted, Oyster Pond is attached to the South Basin of West Falmouth Harbor by an outlet under the new extension of the Shining Sea Bikepath.  The brackish water of the pond is slow to freeze.  Buffleheads are diving ducks.  At times it seems you can't hold them in your binoculars as they are constantly popping up and down.
Sanderling
The sanderlings are not actual residents of Oyster Pond, but they are not too far away on Chappoquoit and Black Beaches.  Sanderlings are the "wind-up toys" of the beach - racing back and forth at the water's edge.  They arrive in West Falmouth in the early part of August on their southward migration.
Green Heron
There are a number of different herons and egrets that summer on Oyster Pond.  The Green, or Green-backed, Heron is one of the more common.  It is a fairly small heron and sometimes can be seen watching the water from the railings of the various docks on the South Basin of the harbor.  They are among the more vocal of the herons, making a sound that I think sounds somewhat like "gronk."
Great Egret and Snowy Egret
These white egrets are the showiest of the summer birds on the pond with their beautiful white breeding plumes.  The Great Egret is the taller of the two.  When trying to discern one from the other, I always think of their being opposites...the Great Egret has a yellow beak and black feet.  The Snowy has a black beak and, what starts as black legs, ends with yellow "slipper-feet."
Red-Breasted Merganser and Hooded Merganser
Two of the three types of mergansers found in the New England in the winter can be found on Oyster Pond.  Both these birds have long, narrow beaks that are quite different from other ducks.  The Red-Breasted Merganser tends to be found on or very near salt water.  The Hooded tends to prefer fresh water.  The brackish water of the pond is a perfect solution.  Both birds have a crest, but the Hooded Merganser's flashy white crest make it the show-bird of the winter season.