September

 

Wild Grapes

Huckleberries

I know it's not August because on my morning cycle of the Polpis loop I'm smelling the wild grapes.  The Sweet Pepper  (clethra alnifolia) is gone.  At Norwood Farm, downy goldenrod predominates, and sweet everlasting is popping up.  Asters are fewer this year, perhaps because of the drought. The St. Andrew's Cross (hypericum stragulum) is turning yellow and red and the grasses are brown. The huckleberries brighten the landscape.

The ponds are all mud:  Norwood Corner Pond and  the two on left of Pout Pond Road, Almanac Pond. Autumn Meadowhawk dragonflies buzz near the dry ponds.  Th last Virginia Meadow beauties are hidden in the grass. There was only 1.28 inches of rain in August, .74 in July and .43 in June. That's 2.45 inches of rain this year,  compared to 7.54 inches in 2024.  On September 9, the Commonwealth raised Nantucket’s drought situation to a level 2, up from level 1.

Almanac Pond

Around the corner

Deer are everywhere now.  There are 85 per square mile in Nantucket, compared to the Mass Wildlife goal of 12-18 per square mile for a healthy population. They have no natural predators.  Last hunting season only 871 were taken from a herd of roughly 4000. Deer didn't arrive in Nantucket until the 1920s and now they are pulling petunias from the pots on my patio as well as eating the hydrangea and sedum.

The angle of the sun in the fall gives the land a different look.  The groundsel tree (baccharis halimifolia or saltbush) blooms are getting ready to pop on the bluff. The clematis paniculata is blanketing hedges.

Flax-leaved Aster

Marsh St. Johnswort

Sweet Everlasting

Corn Moon rises

Autumn Meadowhawk

Bush Aster

Downy goldenrod

August

 

Full Sturgeon Moonrise

August is a busy month of grandchildren visiting; they are bursting with energy as the natural world of Nantucket starts its journey to fall. By August 1, the sickle-leaved silk grass is along the paths at tge Mikestone Bog.  The steeplebush is brown from the drought and the boneset is straggly.  With the cessation of cranberry farming's water, will the water willow continue to survive in the coming years? Dryness continues.  Only .48 inches of rain by mid- month.  The ponds are baked dry. Will there be any beach plums this year?

At Eel Point on August 6,  the colors  are red and golden brown:  the poison ivy is turning red, the marsh grasses are goldening and beach grasses browning.  Red rosehips are plumping out and silver bayberries shining. Sanderlings and ruddy turnstones forage along the shore.

Crane-fly Orchids

A highlight of my month is a visit to the Crane-fly orchids ( Tipularia discolor)  with NCF botanist Kelly Omand on August 7.  Listed by Massachusetts as endangered, they are found in Nantucket, Dukes, Barnstable and Bristol Counties. How many times I have walked near them on our Beechwood/ Norwood Farm hiking route, without knowing they were there?  The stand of Pearly everlasting is shining and the  first Little Ladies Tresses orchids (spiranthese tuberosa) are blooming.  Another Nantucket rarity, St. Andrew's cross (hypericum stragulum)  is on full display. Soon the downy goldenrod will come.

On August 8, I walked Squam Swamp.  It is so dry, so no mushrooms...end of Clethra Alnifolia, sweet pepper, and its wonderful scent, is near.  I checked out a tip from Kelly Omand that a dwarf clubspur orchid was near the Netted chain ferns (Woodwardia areolata)  between post 20 and 21, but couldn't find it. On August 12, Kelly took a group of us down the deer hunters trail before post 2, to see 5 of Nantucket's 29 fern species:

• New York Fern: pinnae narrow to base
• Netted Chain Fern: solid leaves
• Cinnamon Fern (Cinnamon fuzz where pinnae meets stalk,  and at base)
• Dioptera Wood Fern: black stalk, no cinnamon fuzz, wetter habitat ( vernal pool)
• Bracken Fern Toridium dry upland, Tripartite 

There are 10500 fern species in the world; that close to the number of bird species!

Lesser Yellowlegs, American Oystercatcher, Whimbrel

August also marks shorebird birding time, as the birds which breed in the northern regions start their journey south. Josh and I hiked to Coskata from Wauwinet on August 11. We waded across the inlet and saw hundred of terns, with some laughing gulls mixed in. Whimbrels,  a dozen Semipalmated plovers and Barn swallows were great to see. At The Creeks on August 12, there was a congregation  of great and snowy egrets. More than fifty of them foraged in the pool near the bike path, not bothered by me or dogs walking nearby. 

On August 21, Hurricane Erin brought big seas and Wilson's storm petrels to Sconset beach. I have seen them on pelagic trips, but never before from the land. I saw 20 of them dancing on the water. Young laughing gulls seem to be everywhere on the East end. Are they breeding here now,or coming from Monomoy? Erin brought a bit of a respite to our drought with .72 inches of rain.

August 22 First false foxglove (Agalanis Purpurea) at Windswept Bog.

Semipalmated Sandpipers

Short-billed Dowitcher 

Lesser Yellowlegs

Black-bellied Plover

Sanderlings

Semipalmated Plover

Whimbrel

Ruddy Turnstone

Ruddy Turnstone

Midsummer

 

It has been a summer of northern harriers!  We see at least one  daily hunting along the bluff.  It seems that whenever I am out for a hike,  there is one as well.  Are there more northern harriers than usual?

Sabatia 

Nantucket  has changed into its midsummer wardrobe.  The Sweet Pepper,  Clethra Alnifolia,  is blooming and casts such a sweet scent in the wet places.  (On July 27,  there was some Rhododendron Viscosa,  Swamp Azalea,  still in bloom in the north-facing low places.) Hypericum Stragulum,  St. Andrew's cross, is out.  It is on the Massachusetts endangered list and is currently found only on Nantucket in Massachusetts. The Virginia Meadow-beauty is now out around the ponds.  I spied Sabatia Campanulata again at Almanac Pond.  Or is it Sabatia Stellata?  I am waiting for botanist Kelly Omand to tell me.

At Squam Farm and at Norwood Farm,  I can see the goldenrods, but not blooming yet.  Well, maybe a few downy goldenrods are peeking.  The sumac is turning red, the grasses are browning, the tupelo is reddening and the huckleberry, too.

Virginia Meadow Beauty

Huckleberry 

Common tern

Sesachacha is regularly home to a pair of short-billed dowitchers,  semipalmated sandpipers,  least sandpipers,  killdeer, lesser and greater yellowlegs and of course the egrets, mallards,  cormorants and canada geese. Osprey love to fish there.

July was dry, with only .74 inches of rain.  There was only one day with rain over .1 inch. June had only .43 inches of rain. May had 3.49 inches and April 3.93.  Last  year,  July had 3.19 inches of rain,  June had 2.95,  May .92 and April  1.40.  So the four month total  is 8.59 inches in 2025 and  8.46 in 2024, but distributed more to the spring this year.  It has not been enough to revive the ponds .  Precipitation was 33.79 inches in total 2022, 21.59 inches in  2023, 17.24 in 2024 (but missing January and February readings)  and 14.52 so far this year.  Many ponds are just wet mud.

Norwood Pond

Almanac Pond

The  Boston Globe rain an article from the Associated Press about how there are more lightning bugs this year,  perhaps because of a wet spring.  I certainly had my peak lightning bug experience in late June.

Semipalmated Sandpiper 

Lesser Yellowlegs

Early July

July brings the scent of flowering privet; fresh Yarrow and St Johnswort bloom as the arrowwood viburnum fades. Ox-eyed daisies persist. Crescents, wood nymphs and checkerspot butterflies flutter about the Polpis Land Bank meadow. The scent of the swamp azalea (Rhododendron viscosa) is still strong in the wet places.


The rhythms of summer are taking hold: a Northern Harrier is visiting us daily as she hunts along the bluff between 9 and 10:30 in the morning. I see a monarch every day after June 30. I bike or hike most mornings. We see friends in the evening.


Then there are the non-routine sightings that bring surprise and joy because they are unexpected. On June 30 I spied Ghost Pipes ( monotropa uniflora) before post 42 at Squam Swamp. The next day I saw a Black Skimmer feeding in Madaket Harbor. The last time I saw one in Nantucket was 2019. A black tern in breeding plumage sat among the least and common terns on Esther's Island on July 1.

Ghost Pipes

Nantucket has been declared in drought by the state and I can see it in the ponds. June's rainfall was only .43 inches, according to my personal weather station KMANATU15. The town has initiated restrictions on watering lawns to twice a week. We still enjoyed a rainbow in the late afternoon of July 2.


A field of Colicroot (Aletra farinosa) is blooming at Milestone Bog on July 2. Low sheep laurel is scattered in that field. By July 12, I found a Wood Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) at Squam Farm.


The weather has been consistently foggy in the morning with winds from the southwest, but today, July 13, the wind is now from the east.


Young ducklings, cygnets, piping plovers and American oystercatchers are swimming and running with their parents. At Massaoit Bridge, the Osprey pair has three chicks.


I turn to nature's beauty as a balm to the turbulence in the world: tariffs, wars, taxes can't hold a candle to the Nantucket's sunrise or moonrise.

Piping Plover

Song Sparrow

Spotted Sandpiper

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

Wood Lily 

Aletra Farinosa, white Colicroot

Leap into summer

Cain’s Pond Sunset

 June 25

It's been three weeks since our last trip to Nantucket and it is now popcorned with arrow wood viburnum.  People are still seeing the Sandhill crane, but it was not at Moor's End farm when we passed.

I headed out for a night time bike ride to Sesachacha Pond at sunset.  The scent of swamp azalea filled the night.  A black-crowned night heron eyed the fish at Cain's Pond while a young Osprey also eyed them from above. A common yellowthroat led the bird chorus.  Sesachacha wasn't drained this spring.

At 8:34, an Eastern Whip-poor-will started calling, even as the yellowthroats kept witchedy-ing.  I decided to head into the moors toward Mirror Pond to find a chuck-wills-widow.  Fireflies lit my way!  It was like I was in a Disney Movie with fireflies as the honor guard and guardians both.  I've never see a so many fireflies at once on Nantucket-hundreds.  The most I've  ever seen was in New Jersey in Basking Ridge in 2006. Was it the hot days that sparked a hatch? Some other natural phenomenon?

The chuck-wills-widow was singing near Mirror Pond.  Probably 2. 

Mirror Pond

What  a magical night!  And a clear sky full of stars, too!  Cygnus, Ursa Major and Minor, Cassiopeia.

Pickerelweed

Azalea Viscosa

The sunrise is north and moving south now that it is just past the summer solstice.  By the equinox, the sunrise will be directly east of our bedroom window.  

Josh and I walked Norwood Farm and heard a black-billed cuckoo near the "corner pond," which is filled with pickerelweed.  Almanac Pond is ringed with yellow gratiola aurea. A few  toadflax and Quaker ladies are still blooming, reminiscent of spring as we leap into summer.

Almanac Pond rimmed by Gratiola Aurea