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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The Nantucket Conservation Foundation currently owns and maintains nearly one third of Nantucket’s open space. We know there are many birding hotpots within those 9,006 acres and we want to know what birds are being observed. The Science & Stewardship Department is looking to the local community and visitors for help with collecting this data.…
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It’s a well-known fact that most birds fly south for the winter. But what about our feathered friends that tough it out throughout the winter, how do they survive? Our backyard songbirds such as the Black-capped Chickadee or the Northern Cardinal survive by using instincts, species adaptations, and of course, with a little help from…
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Our favorite winter residents are back, the Snowy Owls (Bubo scandiacus)! The first sighting for Nantucket was at Smith’s Point this week. If you consider yourself a birder, or just an admirer, it is always thrilling to see these stunning birds of prey with their intense yellow eyes. Snowy Owl at Eel Point (Photo: Libby…
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by Elizabeth C. Buck It may seem like August has just arrived, and there is still plenty of summertime to be enjoyed by all, but our shorebirds are already thinking about fall migration. Nantucket is home to many nesting shorebirds that now have young fledglings ready to make their journey south to their wintering grounds.…
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*Please note, this blog post was originally published in The Inquirer and Mirror on July 21th 2016 pg 6B in the article series Island Ecology. The Foundation’s Science staff will be regularly contributing to our local newspaper and reprinting articles here the following week.* As we all know, Nantucket is unique in so many ways…
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