Keep Calm and Bird On: May 2024

May 8, 2024
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews

For most birders, the month of May is celebrated with warblers—migration season’s crown jewels for sheer color, variety, satisfaction, and bragging rights. Nantucket doesn’t make this easy. Compared to the mainland, our beloved island can be a warbler washout. The chilling effects of the ocean, even our mere thirty miles at sea, slows down the emergence of blooming plants and insect life. It often deters the warblers that specialize in dining on them. With a short window to the breeding season, birds are in a hurry to get settled; they have to be.

 

That said, we sometimes catch a rarity that is less common on mainland routes. Southern species such as a Prothonotary or Yellow-throated Warbler may make a pit stop on a trip of exploration. This is how birds adapt to changes on the ground; ranges expand north or east. But we can’t count on it. With luck, we might get a sudden mini-fallout if weather shifts and sends a few ashore at the west end or Sconset. These typically last an hour or less, so it pays to be prepared for a quick chase.

 

For easier looks at a greater number of species, it’s worth a trip to America. Try Cape Cod National Seashore’s Provincetown beech forest, or Cambridge’s Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Known as “The Birders’ Cemetery” for the famous ornithologists interred there, it is well worth a pilgrimage. And while long-gone birders are a pretty silent crowd, contemporary observers are frequently there, watching, listing, and willing to help.

 

And to catch up on partial eclipse birding observations, one observer reported no change, while another noticed a sudden silence, followed by some roost-ward movement, which ceased when light increased again. If you took notes during the eclipse, please send them along.


Image Credit: Wilson's Warbler shows you never know what will turn up on Nantucket. Photo by Trish Pastuszak

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Mallow!

By Jascin Leonardo Finger • August 31, 2026
I’m sure you’ve seen it as you trek about the island – near the beaches and ponds. This image is of the swamp or marsh mallow that we have on Vestal Street in our garden out front of the Observatory. It can grow in drier places – though it’s not as lush as at Capaum Pond or out in Quaise. It’s in the Hibiscus family – and is fairly tropical looking and always a delight to see.  “When in bloom, one of the most showy plants of the Island, for a mass of the magnificent, large flowers on the edge of a blue pond causes one’s heart to thrill at the wealth of deep pink colour . . .” from Nantucket Wild Flowers, Alice O. Albertson (cousin of Maria Mitchell), 1921. JNLF

A Piece of a Clay Pipe

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • August 24, 2026
I have always wanted to find a piece of a clay pipe. I know – weird – but if you have ever read any of my blogs here for the MMA then you know I have a thing for pottery shards. I sort of figured I would not find a piece of a clay pipe – not even a piece of a stem. But the other day, walking in a place where I have found quite a few shards, I found a piece of clay pipe! Now, I’m not talking about water pipes – I am talking about tobacco pipes. And I know very little about clay pipes. Yes, I am a curator of a historic house museum, but this family did not smoke. They were Quaker and among the many things they abstained from, tobacco was one of them. Therefore, I am not up on clay pipes so I am doing a bit more research.  For one, age can be determined by the width of the hole inside the pipe. So based on this one, I would say it’s fairly late. Since they were so fragile, and those holes pretty small, if it got filled with tobacco, the person just broke off the stem creating a shorter pipe and one that was not clogged with tobacco. Apparently, stems could be recycled – in fact, 15,000 broken stem pieces were uncovered at a historic walkway at Colonial Williamsburg – they were used as fill! And pipes were made into the early twentieth century – falling out of favor around World War One. It makes sense – they were cheap, easy to make, and affordable. Typically, one could last a few years – unless you dropped it of course. An,d pipes were used by men, women, and (eh, em) yes, children. I can see that Nantucket may not have had a lot of tobacco smoking residents – not just that some were Quaker – but because of the Quaker influence. I t does not mean people here do not smoke – I just think there may have been fewer smokers on the island in the nineteenth century and earlier. JNLF

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • August 17, 2026
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