Keep Calm and Bird On: July 2024

July 2, 2024
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews

As the surprises of migration taper off and our breeding birds—both resident and migratory—settle down to raising families, birding activity changes as well. It takes more time and effort to get a good look at many of our breeding birds. Nests are hidden, females skulk, males ferry food. But they do not really like to be caught doing it. So, picking a spot and sitting quietly can be both rewarding and relaxing.

 

For help in picking a spot the “Merlin” sound ID app from Cornell can be very useful. It is particularly good for smaller land birds that nest in the tangles. Birds are constantly calling, defending, responding to threats and each other. Sometimes you can hear that you are near a nest: the chorus of screaming babies when an adult arrives with food is a big tip-off. The app is not perfect. We usually disregard a one-off identification, particularly if it also indicates “rare.” So it is really best to also see the bird, which does take time. A light-weight folding chair or stool is useful. A car can also be a good mobile blind.

 

Early summer is also a good time to practice “patch” birding, revisiting the same spot at about the same time of day. Eventually birds become used to your presence, and having learned that you are not a threat, may become less shy. As much as we watch birds, they are also watching us, probably more closely and with better vision. Some of us can be real threats, not only here, but in the tropics where many spent the winter. So, be casual. Don’t act like a predator. That would include those “gotcha” moments; squealing, pointing, flailing arms, etc. Bring insect repellant if needed. Wear appropriate clothing in neutral colors. Avoid black—do you want to look like an enormous, nestling-devouring crow? And white, at least in shady, woodsy spots—you will stand out, at odds with your surroundings. Blend in, and you’ll see more.

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Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 7, 2025
July 31, 1883. I had two or three rich days! On Friday last I went to Holderness, N.H.. to the Asquam House; I had been asked by Mrs. T to join her party. There was at this house Mr. Whittier, Mr., and Mrs. Cartland, Professor and Mrs. Johnson, of Yale . . . The house seemed full of fine, cultivate people. We stayed two days and a half. And first of the scenery. The road up to the house is a steep hill, and at the foot of the hill it winds and turns around two lakes. The panorama is complete one hundred and eighty degrees. Beyond the lakes lie the mountains.  The Asquam House sat atop Shepard Hill and was built in 1881. A hotel, it has space for fifty guests, it was located near Squam Lake and became part of a summer enclave that developed there in the later part of the nineteenth century. Today, the area is a National Historic Landmark, but sadly, the hotel was demolished in 1948. Maria would have been familiar with these people seen here – and others I did not include – but particularly John Greenleaf Whittier who was something of a family friend. He was close to one of her younger brothers, William Forester. JNLF

Keep Calm and Bird On: July 2025

July 1, 2025
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.” -Edith Andrews

The Birth of the Maria Mitchell Observatory: Celebrating Over 100 Years of Discovery

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • June 30, 2025
As we are now complete with the conservation of the historic Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory (MMO), I thought it would be good to post a series of blogs concerning it history and activities, as well as some of the amazing people who have made it what it is over the last 100 plus years. Therefore, over the next few weeks, the focus will be on the MMO. And it is now open for tours – Monday through Saturday 11-1PM. Founded in 1902, the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) had its beginnings in the Mitchell House where Maria Mitchell was born. Over the first few years, the preservation of the Mitchell House, family artifacts, and the collection and display of Nantucket’s native flora and fauna, as well as a small library, were the key components of the MMA. Special “Moon Evenings” were held on the lawn and people observed Nantucket’s night skies using several small telescopes, including William and Maria Mitchell’s two-and-three-quarter-inch Dollond telescope. The popular evenings led to the inevitable – a desire and need to expand based on the demands of the visitors to, and members of, the MMA. In 1906, Lydia Hinchman, a founder of the MMA and a family member, purchased the house and lot adjacent to the Mitchell House. The house – once the home of William Mitchell’s father and mother – was taken down. The MMA began a dialogue with the Harvard College Observatory and its director, Edward Pickering, Ph.D. The connection to Harvard was to become essential to the success of the beginning years of the Maria Mitchell Observatory and continued a legacy of friendship and work – Maria Mitchell and her father worked with the Bonds who once ran the observatory at Harvard and the families were close friends. Besides his assistance, Pickering asked a member of his staff, Annie Jump Cannon, to assist the MMA. This “provided an indispensable collaboration for Nantucket astronomy,” with Cannon spending two weeks on the island in 1906 and 1907 lecturing and teaching. While back at Harvard, she continued to teach the students on Nantucket by mail. Cannon would go on to be recognized as the leading woman astronomer of her generation and as the founder of the MMA’s Astronomy Department. JNLF
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