The 67th Nantucket Christmas Count took place on January 2, 2022. Our island was divided up into 8 sections with a team assigned to each one with the common goal of counting all the birds within a 24-hour period. The response to the call was tremendous with over 60 participants joining in on the fun,…
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Nantucket Conservation Foundation has begun a new and exciting project. We have created and opened our own bird banding station! There are many bird banding stations all over the world, including the two MAPS bird banding Stations, (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship), on Nantucket and Tuckernuck. The MAPS bird banding stations focus on the breeding…
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From the 2021 preliminary data for Nantucket which includes Tuckernuck and Muskeget Islands, there was a total of 73 breeding pairs of Piping Plovers. In 2020, we counted a total of 61 breeding pairs, an increase of 12 pairs. Eel Point still remains one of the hot spots for nesting Piping Plovers with 11 nesting…
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What type of beach goer are you? Do you prefer your own private beach for miles or like to be right next to your neighbor? Depending on your answer, you may be very similar to a Piping Plover! Yes, Piping Plovers are little grey and white birds with an orange beak with a black tip…
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by: Libby Buck, Ecological Stewardship & Research Technician Have you ever wondered how many species of owls you can see on Nantucket? Right now (March-April) is the magical time of year where you could be lucky enough to encounter up to 5 different species right here on our delightful island. Our owls include common species…
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by: Libby Buck, Ecological Stewardship & Research Technician The Nantucket Christmas Bird Count went off without a hitch despite the addition of COVID-19. On count day, December 28th, 2020, the island was divided into eight sections. All the birds seen within that 24-hour period were to be recorded. There was concern during the planning of…
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Every year the shorebird breeding season has its challenges and 2020 was no different. Fortunately for us, the shorebirds were unaware of Covid-19 and still continued to nest at their respective beaches across the island. From the 2020 preliminary data for Nantucket which includes Tuckernuck and Muskeget Islands, there was a total of 57 breeding…
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By Neil Foley, Education Coordinator and Ecologist Sunrises on Nantucket are worth the effort every time, even for a night owl like myself. Before most of the island wakes for the day and the rotaries jam with the traffic, it’s a spectacular feeling to face the fog banks and listen to a chorus of songbirds…
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These days, it seems like everything we took for granted as normal is getting cancelled, closed or postponed due to COVID-19. From a socio-economic perspective, it is apparent that this coming summer will be nothing like recent seasons here on Nantucket. For those of us who love nature and the outdoors, the ongoing rhythm of…
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by: Libby Buck, Ecological Stewardship & Research Technician The National Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count just celebrated its 120th birthday, making it one of one of the longest running citizen science projects. Up until 1900, it was a Christmas tradition for hunters to go out on Christmas Day and hunt as many birds as they…
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