Keep Calm and Bird On: February 2022

Ginger Andrews • Feb 01, 2022
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews

February seesaws between winter and spring. Red-tailed Hawks are courting, Snowy Owls are still around and Red-winged Blackbirds never left. Snow Goose? As a Yard Bird? You never know who may just drop in. 


But it’s also a good time to reflect on our relationship to birds and to nature in general. The term “ethical birding” began popping up with the rise of Bird-a-thon fundraisers, many of which started out with competing teams. Playing tapes to attract birds was strictly forbidden, not only for fairness’ sake, but because they often took place at the peak of spring migration, when birds need all their energy to find home, food, a mate, and start raising the kids. But the same birding ethic of do-not-disturb non-interference also applies in winter. Snowy Owls defend a winter hunting territory; harassment from paparazzi steals precious survival energy from them too. 


Back at the dawn of the opera-glass vs. shotgun-ornithology split, when simple viewing pleasure and brute science were still eyeing one another askance, John Burroughs wrote that if we see things for ourselves, they are ours forever, but if we are merely shown them, we quickly forget. Documentation is one thing. But could obsessing on pics or apps short-circuit a deeper experience? With patient watching, we might see interesting behavior. And it’s worth bearing in mind that as we see birds, they also see us, usually much faster and in greater detail. Living beings must always be more than objects to list or hang on a wall. Do we just want to be tourists of life? If we spend more time in nature, won’t we come to know more about it? And even, perhaps, ourselves? Science too will be all the better for it.

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Keep Calm and Bird On: May 2024

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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