Sunday, June 25

 

Yellow-crowned night heron

There have been a series of articles in the New York Times about Americans “de-churching”, disengaging from church.  If they are, they are missing out on an important opportunity for community.  Some say they commune with nature instead.  If that is the case, our Sunday morning social birding is the ideal for both.  Our leader, Ken Blackshaw even calls it “bird church.”  However, next Sunday I’ll head back to Mass at Sconset Chapel, which I love.

This week I saw two  Yellow-crowned night herons with “bird church"  at the  fresh pond at UMass Field Station.  The black-crowned night herons are regulars, but the yellow-crowned is rare enough to show up in the Boston Sunday Globe bird sightings.  In the afternoon, I  tramped around Squam Farm and Squam Swamp.

Blue-eyed grass , dewberry and ox-eyed daisies lined the Squam Swamp path.   Red-eyed vireos, common yellowthroats and towhees were my choir.  A flicker and a brown thrasher were treats at Squam Farm, as was a swatch of  swamp azalea, rhododendron viscosa . The grasses and grapes and daisies stretched over the former sheep farm. 

Swamp Azalea,  Rhododendron viscosa

Ox-eyed daisies

Arrowood Viburnum

Planes approaching every 3-5 minutes on Sunday afternoon makes it hard to bird by ear!

It is the start of arrowwood viburnum time, and the Polpis road is lit up with their blooms.  The multi flora roses are faded and the viburnum moves  the summer forward.

June

Coming and going to an island makes the seasons of the spring seem more defined than they might be if I were in one place. Returning to Nantucket after a three week absence, we have moved beyond the lime green/reddish hues of early spring to the time of white and yellow: white multiflora Wild roses blooming profusely and lazily draped on anything green they can find, wild cherry bloom-candles lit, ox-eye daisies sprightly waving, Scotch broom shining out. The white waxy coating of the cedar berries dapple the dark cedars.

The semester has ended and it seems like a vacation time. The hazy smoke from the Canadian wildfires arrived but doesn't seem to have settled. I injured myself gardening and have somewhat restricted mobility, but Sconset is my place to heal.

The wild iris is blooming in the Windswept Cranberry bog and the blue-eyed grass continues. A few remnant Quaker Ladies remain, but the canada mayflower and the starflowers in Squam Swamp are complete. Soon we will have the arrowwood viburnum, rosa virginica and the colicroot. The spring has been cool and very dry. My weather station recorded only 1.08 inches of rain , compared to 3.65 inches in May of 2022. The mean temperature for May was 52.1 degrees, compared to 53.7 in May 2022.   With a third of the month gone, June has had .24 inches of rain, compared to 2.03 inches last year.   Temperatures have mostly been in the fifties,  compared to 62.2 last June. 

The sun rises at 5:07, but first light is close to 4:30 am. By the Solstice, it will be even earlier.

This is the time of year when the common yellowthroats "wichety wichity" songs fill the air as they defend their territories. The oystercatchers at the northwest point of Polpis Harbor have chicks; the osprey are fishing and the kingfisher is rattling. I head out at 9:30pm to hear the chuck-will's-widows singing in the Sesachacha Heathlands and am rewarded by their calls and the starry skies and no wind. 

Iris Prismatica, Blue Flag

Iris and Blue-eyed Grass

Cedars fruiting at UMASS Field Station

Wild Cherry

Stump Pond

Scotch Broom on the Polpis Road