End of May

Common Yellowthroat, Nantucket Field Station, May 28

Black bellied plovers, May 28

More people are arriving on the island and we have had two straight days with the temperature above 60 degrees!  Although Josh and I saw the first golden heather at a warm protected spot at Stump Pond (close to where we saw our first mayflowers), the moors are not golden yet!  

But during our walk at the Field Station,  there were more common yellowthroats singing than there were robins!  That is a first for me.  2 Oystercatchers and 2 willets and a snowy egret were in the marsh along with these plovers.

Great Egret, May 28, Field Station

Pine Warbler, May 28, Middle Moors

 I tried to hike the Milestone Bog, but it is closed for chemical application.

Wild Geranium,  Sqaum Farm, May 26

Canada Mayflower, May 26
Maianthemum canadense, Squam Farm

Golden Heather, May 24 Stump Pond

Beach Plum Blooming Time

Spring comes to the island in waves.  The shad and cherry waves are so beautiful, and leave the blossoms in their wake.  We now have the beach plum wave,  with the beautiful white blossoms all around the island.  I hope they get pollinated and result in a bumper crop of beach plums in the late summer.  It seems like more blooms this year,  but it is hard to measure,  since the pandemic has us experiencing all spring,  rather than weekends of spring.  


And the ferns are unfurling in the magical fairy swamps.

Beach Plums

Ferns emerging in Squam Swamp, May 18

Cinnamon Ferns emerging , May 18- Squam Swamp 

Beach Plums from the Bluff

Seal lounging

Squam Swamp, May 26

Flower Action

Starflower,  Trientalis Borealis, Squam Swamp

Wood Anemone, Anemone Quinquefolia,  Squam Swamp

Jack in the Pulpit,  Squam Swamp, May 18
Arisaema triphyllum

Viola Lanceolata,  Milestone Cranberry Bog

More flowers are joining the daffodil to shad blow parade.  Josh and I hiked to the Pout Ponds and saw hosts of blueish birds-foot violets (Viola Pedata).  And the swamp violets,  which I saw in the trenches of the Milestone Cranberry bog,  are also blooming in Squam Swamp.  The beach plums are starting to bloom,  as the shad blooms literally blow off.  The wood anemones,  the xxx and of course the bluets are afoot in Squam Swamp.  And I saw a Jack in the Pulpit!

Viola Pedata, Middle Moors

Bird's Foot Violets

Beach Plum,  Prunus Maritima

Huckleberry, Gaylussacia Baccata,  Middle Moors

Viola, Middle Moors, May 16

We have now been in Nantucket for 10 weeks straight,  my longest stretch since  Sam was born 39 years ago.  I am used to being here a lot,  but going off island for work. Although the pandemic is ravaging the lives of many,  it has given me the gift of being here in this beautiful place.  Sam,  who we thought had COVID,  tested negative.  Charlie,  who was sick after visiting NYC in early March,  tested positive for the antibody.  We found out today.  People walking up Baxter Road to the Lighthouse are now wearing masks.  But the Sankaty Light is back on,  if not rotating.

Bird Action

Northern Parula in Sconset on May 15

My rambles  and my Canon telephoto are revealing new birds to me! 

Baltimore Oriole  May 13

in a Sconset Cherry Tree

May 12

Red Bellied Woodpecker at Norwood Farm

Rare in ACK!

The Gannet Show

So much bird action here in early May!  We get distracted when we see fifty or so gannets diving off the bluff.... this was the scene on May 13.

The local birds

The northern gannets have been our daily companions this winter and spring. It has been such a treat to see them everyday from my perch on the second floor balcony.  The long-tail ducks seem to have already departed,  and the number of buffleheads has declined.  All three scoters still inhabit the Atlantic in our front yard.  

The tree swallows have returned in number,  and Josh and I saw many of them in flight over the flooded Milestone Bog today,  along with many barn swallows.  Canada Geese with many young paraded across the bog.  A kingfisher sat with a fish at the flooded pit.  Skyler Kardell is seeing pipits and snipes at the bogs,  but no luck for me.

On Sunday, May 3 I hiked the field station and heard and saw my first yellow warbler of the year.  The tree swallows posed for me.  The willets sang. My breath was caught (but not a great photo)  of a magnolia warbler. On April 29,  when we hiked out Wauwinet Head of the Harbor to the inlet before Coskata,  we were treated to oystercatchers, willets, piping plovers, egrets and northern harriers.   Details are in my ebird reports.

Canada Geese with 8 chicks, May 6, Milestone Bog

Kingfisher, with a fish,  at Milestone Cranberry Bog May 6

Yellowlegs at Milestone Bog May 6

Great Egret, May 6

Chickadee dee dee at Squam Farm, May 5

Tree Swallow at UMass Field Station, May 3

Here's looking at you, kid

Oystercatcher trio at Head of the Harbor, April 29

Willet at Head of the Harbor, April 29

Amelanchier

By any definition,  the arrival of the Shad Blow,  or Amelanchier Canadensis,  signifies the arrival of Nantucket's spring.  One day it just pops out,  and that day was yesterday, May 5.  As I cycled the Polpis loop,  it lit up the woody shrubs which have not yet leafed out.  And when Josh and I went to hike Squam Farm,  there it was....along with swaths of Quaker Ladies, Houstonia caerulea.  Many wood anemones, anemone nemorosa,  were along the paths and into the wood in the "hidden forest" there.  I love that the flowers are so small,  yet they gather in great numbers to light up the otherwise greyish brown landscape.

Amelanchier Canadensis at Squam Farm

Wood Anemones,  Anemone Nemorosa

Cinnamon Ferms sprouting in the wet spots

Wood anemones, Squam Farm

Shad at Stump Pond, May 4

Fields of Bluets at Stump Pond, May 4 and Squam Farm, May 5