Keep Calm and Bird On: March 2021

Ginger Andrews • Mar 01, 2021
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews

March can be a formidable time to go birding. Warm sunny calm days are few, interspersed with gales of wind, rain, or the occasional surprise blizzard—but it also carries the promise of Spring. March is when we look for the first American Oystercatchers (see below) to return from Cedar Key, other parts of Florida, or even as far south as Honduras. Impervious to the chill, they will be returning home, looking for mates, territory, or just replenishing their reserves from the trip.

It’s also a great time to catch birds before they head north. What’s missing from your list of winter visitors? Long-tailed Ducks need a bit more effort this year, but they can be found in small numbers, cruising past Codfish Park. They are more or less continuously molting, so check out the different plumages as males and females alter their seasonal patterns of black and white. Razorbills also reward a persistent sea-watcher. And it usually takes a telescope, but a few Harlequin Ducks can sometimes be picked out among the Scoters at Quidnet or Hoick’s Hollow.


Pond ducks that might begin to be feeling a bit restless include Canvasbacks, Redheads, Ring-necked Ducks, Greater and Lesser Scaup, and of course our favorite perennial rarity, the Tufted Duck. American Coot are also going to be picking up stakes soon.

Ospreys (see above) will be coming back too, usually around the third week of March. One has consistently reclaimed its nest pole every year on the 24th. These powerful, magnificent birds travel thousands of miles each year. They waste no time when they get back, rebuilding the nest as part of their annual courtship.


So bundle up and remember what the Irish say: there’s no bad weather, just improper dressin’.

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“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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