Fourth of July Weekend, 2019

I am so glad to be back on Nantucket!  We missed coming this spring because of Josh's endocarditis.  Spring was very rainy and late,  so I still got a chance to see a few Quaker Ladies  (Hedyotis Caerulea) on my hike at Norwood Farm today!  Ponds high.

Towhees and common yellowthroats abounded,  3 or 5 Eastern Kingbirds.  

Profusion of Swamp Azalea - Rhododendron Viscosa-

Mullein- verbascum Thapsus

Yarrow- Achillea Millefolium

Milkwort - Polygala polygama

Viburnum

High Bush Blueberry

Common St. Johnswort- Hypericum Perforaturm

Swamp azalea

Sheep Laurel-  Kalmia Augustifolia

Ox Eye Daisies - Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum

Pasture thistle- Cirsium Pumilum

Viburnum

Milkwee Asclepias Syriaca

Eastern Kingbird

Virginia Rose- Roas virginiana

January 20, 2019 Winter Walk

I hiked from Wauwinet to Coskata Pond today before the onset of a winter storm. 

Lichen in winter

Saw 5 dead razorbills on the beach

Didn't see a Snowy Owl, although lots of Nantucketers are posting pictures.  I did see herring and black-backed gulls,  scoters at sea, crow and turkey vulture,  bufflehead in Coskata Pond,  and a red-tail hawk overlooking Polpis Harbor.  Hundreds of Canada geese were seeking shelter.   The sparrow species moved so fast I couldn't identify them.

There were 5 deal razorbills along the beach.  On the Birding Nantucket Facebook page,  someone said "Nantucket is where razorbills go to die."   I have often seen dead eider on the beach between Sconset and LowBeach in January,  but haven't got down there this weekend.

I saw many new and interesting feathers,  including many tern feathers.

Looking out toward Coatue from Wauwinet

Coskata Pond

Looking toward Coskata Woods

Found these tern feathers in the truck tracks on the beach

And these too,  from what bird?

Fall 2018

Fall progresses from the goldenrod yellow and grasses to the mahogany of the Tupelo and bright spots of Groundsel to huckleberry red and cinnamon fern gold.

I missed seeing a 'Swall-nado"   this year,  but there were several hundred tree swallows here on the bluff  this weekend.  And still an Eastern Kingbird at Stump Pond,  while dark eyed juncos were also at Windswept Bog.   Last week's Sunday bird group at Madaket was amazing!   From peregrine to merlin to osprey to CapeMay Warbler and many shorebirds in between.  And at Squam Farm a week earlier there were bobolink and a black-throated green warbler.

Stump Pond  October 20

Sconset Bluff October 19

Sanderling "down front"

Samphire at Jackson Point October 14

Samphire at Jackson Point

Solidago Puberula- Downy Goldenrod

Lichen Field in the Middle Moors October 13

Scalloping with Kelsey and Charlie on October 6

Gerardia Purpurea

Pout Ponds October 13

Asters and Goldenrod

Summer's End Septmember 9, 2018

Josh and I took a great hike out to Eel Point on Saturday.   Lots of  shorebirds:

Mourning Dove  1
American Oystercatcher  6Black-bellied Plover  24Semipalmated Plover  3Sanderling  10Willet  15Herring Gull  50Great Black-backed Gull  12Common Tern  1Double-crested Cormorant  20Great Blue Heron  1Great Egret  1


Too late to see the Sea Lavender in bloom,  but beautiful colors throughout the marsh.  Two monarch butterflies.

At the Sunday bird group,  a Kestrel over the Cranberry bogs was the best bird seen,  although we counted 31 species:

Canada Goose  24
Wood Duck  0
Mallard  7
Green-winged Teal  3     Folgers Marsh 
Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  4
Mourning Dove  2
peep sp.  1
Greater Yellowlegs  5
Lesser Yellowlegs  6
Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs  10
Herring Gull  30
Lesser Black-backed Gull  1
Common Tern  9
Great Shearwater  0
Double-crested Cormorant  10
Great Blue Heron  2
Great Egret  1
Snowy Egret  2
Black-crowned Night-Heron  5     In the Pond at the field station
Turkey Vulture  3
Osprey  2     Hatch year bird 
Red-tailed Hawk  2
Belted Kingfisher  2     Flying with a fish
American Kestrel  1     Cranberry bog 
Blue Jay  1
American Crow  6
Black-capped Chickadee  1
Carolina Wren  1
American Robin  1
House Finch  1
American Goldfinch  1
Song Sparrow  1
Eastern Towhee  3
Common Grackle  1


There was a lot of discussion of our finding Bidens Cernua,  the Bur-Marigold,  in the ditches at the Cranberry bog.

Later,  Josh and I hiked the beach and the Sconset Bluff Walk- always beautiful with the Autumn Clematis at this time of year.

Bidens Cernua,  But-Marigold

Clematis paniculata

July 8, 2018

Full summer!   From a Norwood Farm hike

Swamp Azalea  -Rhododendron Viscosa

Yarrow- Achillea Millifolium

Pasture Thistle- Circium Pumilum

Racemed Milkwort- Polygala polyglama

Swamp Candles-Lysimachia Terrestris

The viburnums along the roads,  in full bloom last week,  are now fading, and the daisies are on the wane.  Privet is starting to bloom.