July

“Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity”. Psalm 133:1

Those are the words we look at in Sconset Union Chapel, where all manner of Christians worship and celebrate.  It makes me think of  dwelling in harmony with nature as well, here where it is so close to me.

What is dwelling in harmony with nature? Is it only using organic fertilizers?  Is it getting rid of lawns and hydrangeas and planting endemic varieties?  Is it recycling and cutting my carbon footprint? Living simpler?  We still drive what is likely to be our last internal combustion engine car, our 2016 Toyota Forerunner. Many unanswered questions, even as I roam the island on foot and by bike.

I just finished reading The Blue Machine by physicist Helen Czerski, which lays out the systems of the ocean and asks that we respect an dwell in harmony with it.

In June temperatures  were a mean of 64.8,  with 2.95 inches of rain.

Now the island environment is changing again. The Arrowwood viburnums are finished flowering, and the grape vines are blowing brown and green along the roads and meadow as the wind tosses their leaves. Chicory has started to open and  St. Johnswort is in full swing on the verges. The pond across from the Sconset Golf Course has pickerelweed (pontederia cordata) in bloom. The ox-eye daisies are waning.

Wigwam Pond

Wigwam Pond

On July 6, I sought, but did not find, the yellow-crowned night heron at the UMass Field Station.  A kingfisher rattled over the pond, and a black-crowned night heron foraged in the Folgers Marsh near the Life Saving Museum. A great crested flycatcher sung at Reyes Pond, and the Toothed white-topped asters (seriocarpus asteroids) are beginning to open.  Sandplain Blue-eyed grass was still blooming at Wigwam Pond, along with pickerel weed and burr-reed.

On July 10, I did a birding Tour de Madaket and spotted a family of black- crowned night herons through the fog from the Long Pond dock by Massasoit bridge.  Driving back along Barrett Farm Road, the Madaket Moors stretched out, pine warblers sang and kingbirds flitted.

As the winds have shifted to the south, it is warmer, muggier and foggier.

I am looking forward to the return of the least sandpipers, semipalmated sandpipers, whimbrels, yellowlegs.  And the wood lilies.

Black-crowned night heron

Black-crowned night herons