Keep Calm and Bird On: May 2022

Ginger Andrews • May 02, 2022
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews

May is warbler month, when breeding birds are at their most expressive. Nantucket, with its (often) late and (usually) cold spring weather doesn’t get the big flights found in the (typically) warmer interior. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look! What could be more delightful than a sun-lit Pine Warbler caressing the air above its spiky perch with its melodic rattle of song? There’s plenty of time to enjoy them. But we also get a selection of other migrants, sometimes rare for timing and location. Warblers are tiny, fleeting, elusive, frustrating, infuriating… It’s hard to get a good or even a complete look at those fast-moving jeweled puzzles with wings—there’s even a well-recognized spring birder ailment: “warbler neck.”

When it comes to identifying warblers, details are the name of the game. It helps to spend some time looking at the “parts of a bird” diagrams in the front of many bird guides. They show us the complexity of bird anatomy, and give a language for analyzing structure and plumage. It also helps to drool over illustrations, just as gardeners view seed catalogues in the winter. 

 And a new internet tool tells us when nocturnal migrating birds are passing over. Go the birdcast website, click on “migration tools” and go to “migration dashboard” to see what is moving in your area. Notable this month: World Migratory Bird Day on May 14, with events sponsored by MMA, the Linda Loring Nature Foundation, and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation. Maria Mitchell Association’s annual Bird-a-thon fundraiser to benefit our collections begins at 5:00 p.m. May 20, and ends 24 hours later. How many birds can we see in a day? Stay tuned.

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08 May, 2024
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.” -Edith Andrews

Shards

By Jascin N. Leonardo FInger • 06 May, 2024
I have written of my love for sea glass and pottery shards in the past and the recent replacement of the sewer and water lines on Vestal Street created a small shard collection over the last month. Since the work required the asphalt to be completely removed (all twelve inches of it!) and the road to be dug up multiple times as they worked to remove pipe, relay new pipe, hook up the water meters, and install drainage and manhole covers, this resulted in the earth in the street being tossed about quite a bit. And, with that, came the shards! Some of these likely came from the sewer line (yes, yuck) but others came from being simply in the dirt of the road – which was not paved until 1946/1948. Pieces were likely tossed out at times, made to act as filler in holes, or simply tossed. So I found all sorts of pieces I will keep here at the Mitchell House. They included: a lovely piece with a red floral, many pieces of plates, glass, the top of a late nineteenth or early twentieth century (medicine) bottle, glass shards, a flattened spoon, a brass knob (found by a neighbor) some nails, a spike, pieces of a larger container or two based on the size and curve and coloring of the shards, and possibly a Wampanoag stone tool. One person’s trash is another one’s treasures! JNLF

Is That A Wrap?

22 Apr, 2024
Yes. Well, almost. After about a month of working – and some living (staff and or neighbors) – on Vestal Street with all the sewer and water replacement work, the paving happened today (April 17, 2024). This is the first “layer” – a three-inch binder coat. In the fall, once time has passed, they will return for the final one inch of the finish layer. Some of the other things along Vestal Street will also be repaired and updated between now and the final coat – and a bit after that. But we are very happy, after all these years to have a modern system of piping – and all new drainage we never had before! While the curator in me loved the old clay pipes, they were riddled with roots from the trees, holes, and in some places, collapsed, and the twelve inches of asphalt had to go. Vestal Street was only paved in about 1946/1948 – and has not been paved in maybe twenty years so that is a lot of asphalt in about fifty years! And with climate change and the increase in how much rain we get in these heavy rain events, all that water rushed down Vestal Street with nowhere to go – except our cellars. I am sure the neighbors are happy too! A thank you to the Town of Nantucket’s Sewer Department, especially David Gray (who may regret giving me his cellphone number forever), N&M Excavating and Utilities (Dean, we appreciate you being so nice when we had too many questions), Victor-Brandon Corp for paving, and numerous others. We are looking forward to great flushing, powerful hose lines, and rainwater being whisked away via the new, never-before-had storm drains! JNLF And to all the N&M workers who wondered why I was constantly looking down as I walked along Vestal Street, you should see the trove of porcelain shards, glass, old nails, a bottle neck, 19 th century spoon, and even possibly a Wampanoag stone tool I found!
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