Keep Calm and Bird On: August 2023

Ginger Andrews • July 31, 2023
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews

On Nantucket, August is a peak time for Shorebirds. But our inland breeding birds are also worthy of attention. Birds of the year—HY as in “Hatch Year” to bird banders—are flopping around learning the ropes. Their curiosity is entertaining. Some, like the Red-bellied Woodpecker, are new here. Seen mainly in winter for several years, they are now breeding. 

As the bird life of a place changes, we need to keep reporting those changes. Over the years we have seen a lot of birds, once unknown here, become common. Some, like the Carolina Wren, have moved up from the south with climate change. Others are experiencing restoration to their former territory when some hazard has been removed. 

Many—perhaps most of us—use the Cornell website eBird to keep our lists. It is now one of the largest “citizen science” programs in the world, providing vital data to researchers and wildlife managers. So, with changes in our world, reporting becomes ever more important. When something pops up as “rare” and the eBird algorithm flags it, don’t assume that just because the machine knows more, by volume, that your identification lacks weight. Never be afraid to argue with an algorithm, or it will never learn. So, take the time to respond. 

But the corollary is that good data is essential. Photographs or sound recordings are best. But detailed written descriptions can also be used. To discourage wishful thinking, draw or write down what you observed first, before consulting a book or website. Think of a common look-alike and ask yourself how you would advocate for that if it was what you really wanted to see. Then check yourself against higher authority, and humbly change your mind if necessary. Anyone can make a mistake. But think of science, and take the time to correct yourself when you get it wrong. You’ll be glad you did. 


Photo by Photo by Trish Pastuszak

Recent Posts

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger May 5, 2025
I have posted this during Women’s History Month before but because it is March and Women’s History Month, I think it’s worth repeating. It’s clever and helps to tell an important story in women’s history while giving it a bit of a 21 st century twist. It comes via the National Women’s History Project .  JNLF
May 1, 2025
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.” -Edith Andrews
By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger April 28, 2025
Lynn, Ap. 25 1869  My dear President, I am not sure I told you how long I must be away from the College. If I took only the Sunday’s rest, it would be possible for me to reach the Obs. By Tuesday, but I feel the need of more than one day of quiet, before I enter upon the new and incomprehensible life before me . . . William Mitchell died on April 19, 1869 and for the first time, Maria Mitchell was alone. Save for her trip to the southern United States and Europe in 1857 and 1858, her father was always by her side. She did not know much of a day in her life without him nearby and she knows that. It was difficult for her – and her siblings worried about her and this new world she was now in. She had been – expect for that trip – the caregiver for both of her parents. Her mother, Lydia Coleman Mitchell, died in 1861 on Nantucket and Maria had cared for her as well. She was the child who became the caregiver of the family – both in her youth as her siblings sought her out for care, humor, love, and adventures while their mother was busy with younger children and household duties – and then her parents as the only child who did not marry and remained by their sides. JNLF
Show More