A Tale of Two Kayaks

When my Walden kayak was stolen from Polpis Harbor Land Bank kayak rack in October 2022, I thought I might be at fault because I left it in the rack too late in the season.  I loved that 30 year old kayak, purchased in Nantucket in the store that now sells Vineyard Vines clothes.  I found that Walden kayaks had gone out of business, a victim of the pandemic.  I bit the bullet and bought a new Eddyline Skylark kayak from REI for the 2023 season, complete with chain and lock. Excellent 2023 season kayaking out to Quaise and Pocomo Meadow to see baby oystercatchers, whimbrels, plovers, turnstones and other shorebirds.

Imagine my disappointment today when I went to take an Independence Day kayak at low tide at 6:30 am and my new kayak had been stolen!  In frustration, I decided to hike from Wauwinet out to Coskata Pond in hopes of adventure.  The hike was 4 miles, and I observed much erosion along the Head of the Harbor,  ( I ignored all the 4 wheel drive vehicles heading out to Great Point.). At one point, Rosa rugosa bushes have died and a new inlet was formed.

Tricolor heron,
Egretta tricolor

Tricolor heron

The willets were warning me away, but I observed a heron that from afar could have been a great blue heron,  but didn't have the right shape or coloration.  It was a  tricolored heron foraging in the inlet.  Apparently they are the newest heron to breed in Massachusetts.  I counted 45 horseshoe crab shells, and saw thousands of hermit crabs scuttling.  A family of 5 oystercatchers walked away from me toward Coskata.  Bank swallows swerved dipped and careened  around the fallen tupelos at the Coskata cliffs, where new holes revealed their nests.  An osprey pair surveyed the pond while more oystercatchers and snowy and great egrets fed. Kingbirds hawked insects.

My consolation hike eased my frustration, and I headed back to a Fourth of July party at the Moldenauer’s.  

Northern Harrier

Willet

Willets

Bank Swallow

New inlet

New cliff at Coskata

Target Species

 

Swamp Candles, Lysimachia Terrestris

Swamp Azalea,
Rhododendron Viscosum

As a birder, I’m used to thinking about what species I might see when I head out for a walk. During July, as the bird species are more stable and there is a smaller chance of seeing a new species, I often hunt for wildflowers. 

I have described the procession of flowering plants which I love following in Nantucket. Early July means colicroot ( aletra farinosa) and ghost pipes( monotropa uniflora) for me. Oh…and swamp candles ( Lysimachia Terrestris) and Swamp Azalea ( Rhododendron viscosum).

Colicroot,
Aletra Farinosa

Ghost Pipes,
Monotropa uniflora

So today I headed off to Stump Pond with those target species in mind. The last of the Quaker Ladies were there in the shade, and the tail end of the ox-eyed daisies. The arrow wood viburnum’s bloom are also losing steam. The yarrow is starting.

Common yellowthroats were the most numerous birds; I guess that’s why they are called “common.” Yet they hide so well, I haven’t got a picture of one yet this year. Towhees, robins, red-winged blackbirds, song sparrows and blue jays joined me on the walk, with a red-tailed hawk, barn and tree swallows and a couple of yellow warblers. The great crested flycatcher and red -eyed vireo were highlights. A brown thrasher and black-and-white warbler were heard but not seen.

The Carolina roses were blooming in profusion in Windswept bog, where last month the wild iris blue flag flourished. Our threatened sand plain blue-eyed grass is along the edges. We are eager to see how the renovation of the old cranberry bog changes the landscape. Now there is more standing water and new greenery, but no new flowers that I could see.

I found my target species, as well as an American wintergreen, pyrola. A successful hunt!

American Copper on Yarrow

Rosa Carolina

Sandplain blue-eyed grass,
Sisyrynchium fuscatum 

Windswept Bog roses

Sunrise, July 2, 2024. 05:11

Summer Solstice

May 18, 2024

June 23, 2024

The Summer Solstice was on June 20, and the Strawberry Moon was on June 21. I didn't get a chance to see it because of the clouds. I had been reading Dorte Nors' A Line in the World, set on the west coast of Denmark, and thinking about Midsummer rituals like bonfires in Scandinavia. So the days slipped by me, without any witches burned. Here, our fireworks are for Independence Day on July 4. But the sun rises at its most northern point in the east in the morning, and now begins its march south, hitting its southernmost rising point at the Winter Solstice. The days are beautifully long, and the sun sets at its most northwestern point, shedding golden light on our grasses and the sea.

The mean temperature in June has been 64.6 F, well up from May's 52.8. No heat wave here.

I am experiencing the comfort of place in Nantucket, with its well-worn procession of light and flora and fauna. The sea is changing colors every hour: from shimmer silver gray with an almost white horizon  to deep blue turquoise green against a blue dome of sky.  Now white caps. The rate of growth is so fast in the spring that it has to slow down. The Norwood Oak is now fully leafed out, while a month ago it had just buds. The first pasture thistles are plump, frostweed is on the moors and a Red-spotted purple flits down the moor road. Odonata are flitting about. The voice of the common yellowthroat is heard o'er the land. The colicroot will be blooming soon. 

The view from the Bluff

Snowy Egret

Horned poppy

Frostweed

Red-spotted Purple

June

 

Sesachacha Pond 

How can a place widely known as a summer place for billionaires be a sacred place? It is for me and many others when we walk its trails and beaches.  The rhythm of nature is a liturgy of sorts, with well understood processions of flowering wild plants.  Now the white multiflora roses are climbing everywhere, and the ox-eye daisies fill the verges and the meadows. Next up will be the arrowhead viburnum and then St. Johnswort.

The sacred chorus is the music of the red-eyed vireo, great crested flycatcher, common yellowthroats and eastern towhees.. with a bit of robin and blue jay thrown in. it enables the forgetting of self and merging into something bigger.  I can experience it alone, on a hike with Josh, or communally with the Sunday morning birding group.

Rosa Rugosa

Rosa Multiflora

The change we experience  in the world around us may seem more unpredictable.  Here the acceleration of growth in the spring is expected  and savored.  in May, the  yellow greens were mixed with the red of grapevines expanding  and new  red leaves.  Now we have full Green.  The ponds which were dry in December are refilled. The baby birds are fledging.

But nature is not precious bulwark against the world of human beings.  Predators are preying.  The power of the sea is devouring our humble coir bags at the bottom of the bluff.  But that herring gull eating a crab does seem less threatening than a demagogue.

In the gardens, irises and ladies mantle (alchemilla). Daisies and anemones are crowding out others. Grasses swaying and blooming which were only inches a month ago.  Spring makes it seem like time is speeding up.

The longest day approaches, today Sunrise at 5:07 and sunset at 8:15.  Time can widen as well as speed up.

Sunrise, June 17

Piping Plover

Herring Gull eats a crab

American Oystercatchers from afar

Eel Point

A Cool Late May

 

Coming to Nantucket can feel like going back in time...literally.  The spring is early here,  with the wood anemones, quaker ladies and starflowers dotting the forest floors.  It's been foggy and gray.  The scrub oak is flowering and the tupelos have not leafed out yet.  The sweet pepper is greening up and the blueberries are blooming.  The beach plums are ready to pop, and the shad is looking gone by.  The cherry trees are blooming,  but many have the pink puddle surrounding them from the wind and rain's pummeling.

The quiet and gray are calming and relaxing. (At least compared to the frenzied hunt for warblers at Mount Auburn Cemetery and the environs of Boston!)

Blueberries

Wild Grape

Wood Anemone

Beach Plum

Beach Plum

Quaker Ladies

Nantucket's April was cooler than the past two years.  I compared the average temperatures in 2024 to 2023 and 2022.  Mean temperature in April 2024 was 45.6,  compared to 47.2 in April 2023 and 47.3 in April 2022.  And heating degree days (days x average degrees below 65) were 582 compared to 536 and 531.  May has also been cooler,  with average temps of 49.4 (19/31 days) compared to 52.1 in May 2023 and 53.7 in May 22.  It would have to average 56.4 for the last 12 days of the month for 2024 to equal May 2023.

I explored my favorite spots:  Squam Farm/Swamp, Stump Pond, Sesachacha Pond,  Sconset Beach and Bluffwalk.  My highlights were the duetting great crested flycatchers in Squam Swamp... it is a season of love!  A male ruddy duck on Sesachacha was in breeding plumage, with a huge white cheek and blue bill (but don't they breed in the northwest?)  The eastern Kingbirds were carrying nesting material.    I heard a White-crowned sparrow singing in Sconset Village. and the sound of common yellowthroats everywhere!  An American Redstart in Wauwinet  eluded us,  and then the Sunday bird group found him.

Towhees are  hopping on the paths and singing from the treetops.    A solitary pine warbler sang in the pines on Sconset beach.  Yellow warblers trilled on most of my hikes.  And yet some of the winter lot remain:  a female bufflehead on a kettle pond in  Norwood Farm, a few northern gannets flying north.

The landscape is pied with light greens and reds and creamy whites.  We searched for,  but did not find mayflowers.  The early blooms of golden heather in the sunny spots point the way to summer. Next weekend is Memorial Day!

Revisiting a beloved landscape seems to open up possibilities.  

Norwood Oak, May 18, 2024

Vernal Equinox 2024

 I longed to get to Nantucket.  Our last visit was in December; this was the longest time I’d been away from the island in many years.  I drove the car to the ferry in Hyannis and enjoyed the rhythm of an almost empty slow boat.  Northern gannets, long-tailed ducks , black scoters, and many many surf scoters were enjoying Nantucket Sound. As we approached the harbor, seals sunbathed on the rocks of the jetty and  a purple sandpiper bopped about .  After a greeting party of eiders and gulls, I caught sight of the Brants at First Point. We have arrived!

I don’t mind the silver gray colors and drab brush.  The hints of spring are here, in the daffodils pushing themselves up through the soil, but not yet blooming. The temperature in the 40s and winds in the teens seems appropriate, as do the bare shrubs and brown lawns.  The winter ducks are still here…. Ruddy ducks and American wigeon and buffleheads at Sesachacha, and harlequin ducks off Sankaty Head.  The atmosphere is filled with potential…for the burst of life that will soon be upon us.

Equal hours of light and dark now.  And with the move to Daylight Savings Time, it’s easy to be up at or before sunrise at 6:50 am.  The sunrise and sunset at the equinox is directly in front of our house.  With the move toward the solstice, the sun will rise further to the  north.

The winter ocean is filled with bird life, compared to the summer.  Rafts of eiders and scoters sit off the bluff, and long-tailed ducks busily fly about.  The  occasional red-throated loon and razorbill spice things up.  Gannets soar over the rip.

But there were no snowy owls in Nantucket this winter…and none I think at Plum Island or Salisbury Beach, other likely haunts. I saw a picture on Facebook of one in Maine.  Perhaps the lemmings were abundant in the far north,  or perhaps the lack of snow in New England this winter discouraged them from showing themselves.

Norwood Farm is quiet …no planes overhead and no bird sound during my hike. But the ponds are full, with green winged teal, scaup and American black ducks.  Almanac Pond is still very low…but at least has some water.

Erosion was strong this winter. Winds were often from the south and southeast, rather than the northeast and northwest. 

Now, there is the Windswept bog restoration to check out.  Dinner to be had with year-round friends.  Sankaty Light has a new, brighter light that flicks into my window in the dark.  Tennis to be watched and books to be read.  Spring is coming.

O

Brant

Sankaty Light

Norwood Oak

Moor Pond

American Wigeon

Red-breasted Merganser Male