Happy New Year everyone! New Years is a good time to take a moment to reflect on the year that has just passed and make plans for the future. During these winter months in between field seasons, our year-round Science and Stewardship Department staff get together for several group meetings. We spend valuable time reflecting…
Now that it’s officially cold and blustery outside, it’s tempting to stay indoors all the time and wait until spring to visit your favorite nature areas and beaches. But there’s always something to see on the trails, shores, and ponds around Nantucket. Since everything gets taken back to bare bones in the winter, it’s a great time…
Through this blog, we have explored the various and unique research and field work projects that NCF’s Science and Stewardship Department is involved in. It would be impossible for us to complete all of this work without the assistance of our wonderful Seasonal Field Crew. Each Field Season we hire 3-4 people to support our…
On Wednesday morning, December 4th, there were reports of 11 individual snowy owls on Nantucket and Tuckernuck, with sightings on Eel Point, Smith’s Point, Low Beach, Tom Nevers and Coatue! While the presence of snowy owls in the winter on the Cape and Islands is certainly not uncommon, this very well may be the greatest…
Last February, we posted about our science department’s efforts to document if the New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis), a rare and elusive species of rabbit, is still present on Nantucket (see Searching for a Certain “Some Bunny”). We just recently learned the exciting news that a DNA sample from one of the rabbits that we…
During the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative Conference on Nov 1-3rd, 2013, a large group of conference attendees joined me to visit some of the largest, and likely some of the oldest, trees at Squam Swamp. These exemplary trees may provide clues to Nantucket’s land use history, teaching us more about how the forest has grown and…
With the dwindling daylight and cooling fall temperatures, the spotted turtles of Medouie Creek have been preparing for hibernation for some time now. While we humans have enjoyed a beautiful warm and dry fall, the turtles are in need of some real rain soon! Their metabolisms have slowed and they’ve moved into dense shrubby swamps…
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…
June was nesting season for spotted turtles as well as other turtle species on Nantucket. Numerous reports of nesting turtles and turtles on the move towards nesting sites were pouring in throughout the month! While we were not able to document the exact locations of any nests at Medouie Creek, our turtles made some short…
The automated radio telemetry station in First Bend on Coatue (the flags on the guy wires are to prevent birds from flying into them). During the past few weeks, we have been getting some phone calls here at the Foundation’s office questioning the purpose of several towers (a.k.a. automated radio telemetry stations) that have been placed…