After a long, cold and snowy winter on Nantucket, it’s nice to look forward to the coming of spring! Here are our top 10 sure signs that spring has arrived! 1. American Woodcock (Scolopax minor) The distinctive mating ritual of the woodcock has begun. The male performs a “sky dance” at dawn and dusk, where…
This winter, Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s Science & Stewardship Research Technician/Field Supervisor Kelly Omand has been working with two students from the UMass Boston “Nantucket Semester” program that links in with our local UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station, on a focused research project in Squam. The students, Adrianna Plavetsky and Zannie Duffy, are part of a group living and…
In mid-January, Jen Karberg (NCF’s Research Supervisor) attended the annual New England Plant Conservation Program (NEPCoP) MA Task Force Meeting to discuss rare plants and the state of rare plant populations and management in Massachusetts. NEPCoP is a collection of professional botanists, conservation organizations, universities and state agencies organized in order to document New England’s rare plants…
At this time of year, an incredible sight to behold around sunset on the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s South Pastures Property is murder! A murder of American Crows, that is! Whether you consider yourself a birder or not, most people recognize a crow when they see one. American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) are large, shiny black, and…
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…