Keep Calm and Bird On: March 2022

Ginger Andrews • Feb 25, 2022
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews

March is a great month for birding! There are times when spring pops open and times when winter says, “not so fast”, sometimes all on the same day. But jumbled as temperatures and winds maybe, there is always something to look at. Longer days mark the changing of the guard, bird-wise. Winter birds become restless and the earliest spring migrants begin to return. Scaup will be heading north for the tundra; mixed flocks are an opportunity to study them. If you missed Harlequin Ducks, Purple Sandpipers or a Snowy Owl; if you want just one more look at a Tufted Duck, this is the time to get out and look before they depart.


There’s also the lure of being first to spot returning summer residents such as American Oystercatchers, Piping Plovers, or Ospreys? You never know who may just drop in. 


American Oystercatchers often arrive at the west end, returning to places they nested the previous year. Some return as banded pairs, others with a new mate in tow. It requires a scope to read the band in the field, but a good photo can often be enlarged, and it is fascinating to learn where the bird was banded. We have had birds stopping over from as far away as Nova Scotia.

It’s also important to help researchers keep track of this imperiled species, by reporting them to the American Oystercatcher Work Group. There have been occasions when an also endangered Piping Plover hung in here all winter, but those are rare. Ospreys usually return within a day or two of the 24th of March. But birds follow their own timetables. Noting them gives us updated information about the conditions of the world we share.

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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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