Keep Calm and Bird On: November 2021
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews
Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind as we slide into winter on Nantucket is maintaining situational awareness. Yes, birds can be great, unusual, even record-breaking, as the annual dispersal of young birds brings unexpected or unlikely species to our shores, fields, woods, ponds, and back yards.
But November is also hunting season: archery season for deer, shotgun season for Ring-necked Pheasants and some other birds, a confusing pastiche of overlapping regulations. The best way to comprehend them is to spend some time studying the State’s Fish and Wildlife Service website as it applies to Nantucket. It also helps to know something of Nantucket’s ecology—no need to worry about Bear hunting, for instance, as no one has imported any of those—yet. But, in addition to white-tailed deer, pheasants, crows, squirrels, racoons, and later in the winter, rabbits, remain on the menu.
So, to be out and about in nature, research into land ownership and the rules imposed by different conservation property owners—more than ten in all—is useful. Some are closed to hunting; some are open.
When you are out in nature, take note of what’s around—a deer stand next to thick brush probably indicates that this is not the trail to take at dawn or dusk, not simply for safety, but as a courtesy to the hunter whose shot you may be spoiling. Hunting is an important piece of species management, and no activity is more closely observed and regulated.
So, how to go birding under these conditions? Know your location, wear bright clothing, maximize visibility, with full light and open landscapes, note paved roads and occupied dwellings.
But what’s to see? Winter ducks! The whole picture changes with the season.
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