Bridge to Cape Cod

This is the Bourne Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal. The canal separates the base of Cape Cod from the Massachusetts "mainland" and enables ships to avoid the hazardous trip around the outer Cape, saving some 135 miles (over 200 km). Pilgrims in the early 1600s had the idea for the canal, but it was finally constructed from 1909 to 1916.

I took the shot from our hotel, as we arrived to attend a celebration of 25 years of Mass Audubon's Coastal Waterbird Program. Starting in 2005 I have contributed many of my bird images to the organization, and the evening was a wonderful reunion. Most notably we heard a wonderful talk on the whole history of efforts at bird conservation in the U.S. and Massachusetts by Chris Leahy, a senior ornithologist at Mass Audubon. Chatting with him afterwards, he mentioned he lives in Gloucester, and it turned out he had written the text for my Common Eider photo that became part of the Gloucester Harbor walk, which we visited with our French friends earlier this month