by Danielle O’Dell, Ecologist/Field Supervisor The Science and Stewardship staff have continued to delve deeper and deeper in to the Northern long-eared Bat world! This season, we added a new member to our bat crew! Neil Foley, our long-time Coatue Ranger and Shorebird Monitor, got his rabies vaccination, and with all of his experience removing…
Blog post by: Karen Beattie, NCF Science and Stewardship Department Director The Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s Board of Trustees recently decided to retire cranberry cultivation on our Windswept Bog property (on Polpis Road) in order to pursue a watershed level wetland restoration project. These plans werecovered in the Nantucket Inquirer & Mirror (our local newspaper on…
It is August and the days are slowly growing shorter and the end of summer is approaching. The shorebirds on Nantucket are getting ready to start their long journey south. I am happy to report our efforts to protect the endangered & threatened species this year have yielded some very positive results. The Piping Plover breeding pairs…
Nantucket has experienced an uncommonly wet growing season so far this year. The abundance of rain has produced lush and verdant vegetation across the island that is persisting into the recent hot and dry weather conditions more typical of summertime on the island. Take a walk on any of the Foundation’s beautiful conservation lands and…
This summer, with reduced mowing at the Windswept Cranberry Bog on Polpis Road, you may have noticed a field of towering white flowers in the fields surrounding the cranberry bogs near Stump Pond. The white spikes are the flower stalks of an unusual native wildflower called “colic-root,” “stargrass,” or “unicorn root” (Aletris farinosa). This is…
Meet Brendan Connolly By Brendan Connolly: The natural world has filled me with awe and has been a constant driving force throughout my life. In particular, botany has been a large passion of mine, one that I have focused on through my undergraduate education, previous work experience, and a small addiction to collecting unique succulents…
Stand outside on the warm nights of June, as spring folds into summer, and turn on a light. Soon enough you will hear the engine-like thrum and eventual collision of a June Beetle (sub family Melolonthinae) clumsily seeking the source of illumination. Keep the light on and hang a sheet to attract the multitudes of…
The answer to that question might surprise you. Ponds are hotspots for insects, birds, amphibians, and reptiles. The combination of wildlife and ever-changing lush landscapes also attracts the human eye. We are fortunate on Nantucket; while sometimes we have “too much of a good thing” in terms of over-exuberant pond vegetation, most of our aquatic…
As if we all needed another reason and reminder to slow down a little bit, warmer weather has arrived finally and June is high time for turtles to start moving out of wetlands in search of nesting locations and summer habitat. Unfortunately, these slow moving creatures often have to cross busy roads to get from…
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.…