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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Spring is the time of year when there just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the work day for our Science and Stewardship Department’s full-time staff. There are winter writing projects that need to be wrapped up, early season field work to fit in when Nantucket’s fickle spring weather is cooperative, preparations to be…
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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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The Foundation has always strived to manage its properties to provide for public access and protect rare ecological resources. These goals can often be at cross purposes, so succeeding at both requires a great deal of strategic planning. Developing property conservation management plans that achieve this balance is one of the primary tasks of the…
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by: Libby Buck, NCF Shorebird Monitor For the past three seasons, there has been resident pair of Ospreys nesting on the ground at Eel Point. This is a very rare occurrence, since Ospreys typically nest off the ground in an old dead tree, an artificial structure such as utility pole, or a human constructed Osprey…
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By Libby Buck, Shorebird Monitor and Invasive Species Field Assistant I have a very unique position at Nantucket Conservation Foundation. For the first part of the season I was the Shorebird Monitor and as the shorebird season wound down, I became the Invasive Plant Species Field Assistant. I was able to be immersed literally in…
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By Neil Foley, NCF Coatue Ranger/Shorebird Monitor Those who have had the opportunity to visit Coatue this time of the year know how gorgeous and interesting the property is, separated from the bustle of downtown and covered in windswept cedars, blooming native flowers, and flocks of birds. The beautiful beaches and marshes, wealth of interesting…
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Over the last few months we have been watching shorebirds return to Nantucket – as Karen Beattie mentioned in her previous blog post, we are happy to be welcoming back our shorebird friends! By now, you may have noticed that we’ve erected fencing on our beaches to protect the nests and young of American oystercatchers,…
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Spring is a special time on Nantucket for those of us who live here year round. The days are getting longer, and there is a bit of light at the end of the winter tunnel – because no matter what happens from here on, January and February are already behind us! Houses and businesses start…
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It’s hard to believe, but the shorebird nesting season on Nantucket is winding down, and we are already starting to see large groups of fall migrating birds stopping by the Foundation’s beaches and marshes to fuel up before pushing their way southward to wintering grounds. All in all, 2013 was a productive year for American…
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