Seasons

Sunrise, August 9, 5:44 am

 

Winds swung around to the East this morning, and brought rain about 7:30 am as I kayaked back from Pocomo Meadow.  I watched the oyster men as well as sixty some common terns.  Whimbrel, oystercatchers, greater yellowlegs, black-bellied plovers, egrets and osprey.

After drying off, I set out on my mountain bike to ride the moors, which is easier when the rain keeps the sand more compacted.  The sickle-leaves asters are most predominant, perking up the middle and sides of Barnard Valley Road.  There are also Queen Anne’s Lace and a few leftover yarrow.  The low bush blueberry is turning red, and the early goldenrod is coming on.  It’s still the time of sweet pepper, although the blooms are looking spent in the sunny spots.

I visited Gibbs Pond and the Wigwam Ponds.  The smaller pond had morning beauties and cross-leaved milkwort. The larger had water lilies and pickerel weed.

I've been reading about phenology,  the science of measuring the natural cycles of plants and animals.  I have been doing that since I started my nature journal in 1980, more than 40 years ago.  Unfortunately,  it has not been as systematic and is required by science.  I learned that Thoreau kept journals of when 500 plant species first budded and bloomed in and around Concord.  There is now a National Phenology Network,  which is peopled by citizen scientists.  I am going to investigate.

Lowbush blueberry
Vaccinium Angustifolium

Wigwam Pond with waterlilies

Wigwam Pond
with Morning Beauties

Gratiola Aurea 
near Gibbs Pond

a Pearl Crescent,
Phyciodes tharos

Early goldenrod,
Euthamia caroliniana

Boneset in the trenches 
of the Milestone Bog

The Wheel of the Seasons

 

Pearl Crescent on Goldenrod Aug 7
South Road near Tom Nevers

  

Pearly Everlasting stands
dot the Madaket Moors

Seeing the goldenrod start to open makes it seem like summer is beginning to end.  The beach plums and grapes are still on the bush and vine,  but the early summer is gone.  The pearly everlasting stands lighten the Head of the Plains.

Today  I hiked Squam Farm to Squam Swamp and back to the Farm.  It was 74 degrees with winds from the west at 10 mph while I walked from 4:30 to about 6 pm.  The clethra is just past its peak,  but the walk was so fragrant.  The woods were so quiet.  There were only a handful of catbirds and towhees in evidence,  along with a yellowthroat chugging.  A pair of kingbirds were the highlight in the huge field near the former sheep barn.  I was surprised more birds weren't out taking advantage of all the insects,  including lots of dragonflies.  There were also a couple of blue jays, a chickadee and a group of red-winged blackbirds. 

The St. Johnswort is past,  but the marsh St. Johnswort  (hypericum virginicum) was thriving in the wet places.  And the St. Andrew's Cross (hypericum stragulum)  was on the sides of the paths in abundance.  A few late yarrow,  achillea,  and even a late ox-eye daisy could be seen.  There was a clump of the native mint in the field near the barn. The black cherries are ripening,  and the mockernut hickories are full of nuts.  My favorite find was the "antler and spindle fungi," from the family Clavariaceae in  Squam Swamp..  

Willow-herb at the Farm 

Black cherry 

Hypericum virginicum

Queen Anne's Lace

Antler and spindle fungi 

in Squam Swamp

Shorebirds

Walking on the beach, kayaking to Pocomo Meadow, visiting the UMass Field Station...the shorebirds are beautiful companions.  

Snowy Egret at Masquetuck, Aug 4

Whimbrel takes off at UMass Field Station

Island Creek, Pocomo

Black-bellied plovers

Yellowlegs at Pocomo

Whimbrel at Island Creek

Black-bellied plovers
across from Quaise Point, Aug 3

Common and Least Terns,  Eel Point, July 30

Least tern and common tern

Sanderlings, Eel Point, July 30

Semipalmated plover

Piping Plover, Madaket Harbor side
of Eel Point, July 30

Oystercatcher

Ruddy Turnstone

Swamp milkweed

While walking on the Holly Farm Land Bank Land in Polpis Harbor today,  I chanced upon this swamp milkweed,  asclepias incarnata,  one of the three types of milkweed that grow on Nantucket.  The common milkweed,  asclepias syriaca,  is the host to the monarch butterflies which are so gaily flitting about these past three weeks,  and blooms earlier. The third variety is the wavy-leaved milkweed,  asclepias amplexicaulis.  

It always excites me to see a new species, so I was already happy.  Then, a hummingbird clearwing, hemaris thysbe,  alighted on the milkweed.   My daily dose of awe!

A pink variety of clethra alnifolia 
on the Polpis Harbor road

Summer's climax?

Josh and I hiked Norwood Farm on Saturday, July 31, in order to inhale the scent of the sweet pepper, clethra alnifolia, now in full bloom. The richness of the scent and the milky blooms contrasted with the now brown grasses. Few wildflowers were blooming except for the St. Andrew's Cross (hypericum stragulum) as a yellow carpet in spots. The tupelo have begun to turn that rich cordovan, mulberry, deep red that signals the end of summer. A couple of very early goldenrod had opened on the moor roads. 

The ponds are full of water-lilies and swamp willow-herb (decodon verticillatus) , with a few pickerel weeds at the edges. They are very low. I didn't even file an ebird because the birds were the usual towhees, robins, jays and crows. I did hear a downy woodpecker.

I see Monarch butterflies daily in the yard at bluff's edge.

Sweet Pepper,
Clethra Alnifolia

An early goldenrod

Black cherries?

The "Norwood" Oak

Almanac Pond is low, July 31

Sunrise, August 1

American Germander at Clark's Cove,
teucrium canadense

Teucrium canadense

Pearly Everlasting at Head of the Plains,
August 1,  many stands.
Anaphalis margaritacea