Coronavirus Diary March 27 2020

I am blessed to be able to see spring arrive to Nantucket.  It has been blustery,  raining each of the last three days,  with high winds.  It's settling down now,  with the temp at 51 degrees and the wind from the north at 7 mph.  

It hasn't stopped us from exploring.  On Wednesday,  the northeast winds brought the gannerts in.  Harvey Young pointed out how great to get a view from above. The angle of the bluff  (and my 400 mm telephoto lens) helped me out.

dozens of long-tail ducks fly north in the late afternoon,  along with all three kinds of scoters, eiders, gulls and red-throated loons.

Stump Pond

Yesterday we hiked Stump Pond in the clockwise direction.  Usually we hike it counter-clockwise.  The moss is greening up and we saw early growth of what look like pyrola rotundifolia.  Pretty quiet on the bird front:  turkey vultures, crows,  the dozen bufflehead on the pond,  4 canada geese, a red tail hawk.

Pyrola Rotundifolia? Didn't look like Trailing Arbutus, Mayflower

Sphagnum Moss...but what kind?

Moss envy

March winds

Saw my first oystercatchers and osprey yesterday while rambling with the birding group (6 feet apart at all times) at the UMass Field Station.  More signs that spring has arrived, despite the fact that the wind was from the northeast at 20 mph!

UMass Field Station trail

Yesterday Josh and I hiked on the moors past the "Deer Little Pond"  and Jewel Pond.  The water levels are the highest we've every seen them. We've seen that also earlier in the month at Almanac Pond. 

Sankaty Light from Barnard Valley Road

"Jewel Pond"  high water

Tupancy Links

  
Today we hiked Tupancy Links and saw a goldeneye off the north shore.  Then we headed toward home to Windswept Cranberry Bog,  where a dozen bufflehead were swimming on Stump Pond to keep out of the 20 mph ESE wind.

Common Goldeneye

Sphagnum Moss greening up

Bush clover after winter

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Female Goldeneye

March 20, 2020 Rambles

Squam Farm Mockernut Hickory

It is 49 degrees with winds from the West Southwest, fog and some showers today.  It is the vernal equinox,  the start of spring.  The highlights of the day include a razorbill off the bluff this morning at 7:30 am,  and the first spring peepers at Squam Farm this afternoon.  

Birders look to see their "first of the season."  Skyler Kardell saw the first osprey yesterday and Shea Fee saw an oystercatcher last Sunday, March 15.

Eider going surfing

Hoick's Hollow erosion during the past week

Coskata and Coronavirus: March 16, 2020

Social distancing is easy on Nantucket in March,  at least at this point.  I hiked to Coskata Woods from Wauwinet today.  It's a little over two miles.  Spring is coming-  the new blades of beach grass are emerging,  although the heather is still gray.  The herring and great black-backed gulls joined me, along with buffleheads,  white-winged scoters, surf scoters, sanderlings,   song sparrows and yellow-rump warblers.  I had hoped to see an oystercatcher,  since they were seen for the first time on Sunday at both Jackson Point and Quaise Point,  but they were not at Coskata.   Temperature:  35 degrees;  Wind ENE 13-15 mph.  Bumped into Skyler Kardell walking back on the beach! (We kept 6 feet apart...)

Coskata Pond, looking East

Surf Scoters off  Wauwinet

Inside Road

Pi Day and Long-tail ducks

Thousand or more flying north off the bluff

Some stop for a rest

Early spring...Daffies on the Polpis Road

March 12 and 13, 2020

On March 12, Josh and I hiked the Ram Pasture out to the beach at Clark's Cove, then back via Clark's Cove Road and Barrett's Farm Road.  A peregrine falcon was watching the outwash plain.  We also saw the usual gulls (herring and greater black-backed), mallards,  and an assortment of chickadees and yellow-rumped warblers.  A red-tail hawk , turkey vultures and crows were  out hunting. Song sparrows, blue jays and a cardinal were also about.

Red-Tail Hawk

Peregrine Falcon 

Yellow-Rumped Warbler

Peregrine takes off

Peregrine takes off

Clark's Cove

Today it blew and rained.  The temperature is 50 degrees,  with the wind from the WSW.  I hiked the Squam Swamp loop.  It is like a magic forest with the lichen and spanish moss abloom in the fog.  I expected elves to put out of the trunks in the vernal pools.  The swamp is as wet as I have ever seen it.  There are many more vernal pools and the wetlands usually filled with ferns are filled with water.  I will have to look back to see if I've hiked it in mid-March.  It has been a rather mild winter;  the first daffodils are now blooming at the rotary.

Budding Red Maple (Acer Rubrum) with Spanish Moss

Pincushion Moss , Leucobryum glaucum

Broom Forkmoss,  Dicranum Scoparium

Usnea and Acer

Low Beach

Josh and I hiked out Low Beach to Tom Nevers.  A major ferry-stopping storm last weekend has eliminated part of the scarp.   The sand is brown in many spots.  There is a huge wetland in front of all the homes on Low Beach Road beyond the Coast Guard Station. We had to hike along deer trails  for some time before we could get to the road.

  We had fun watching a peregrine falcon.

..and a red-tail hawk mobbed by crows