Keep Calm and Bird On: October 2022

Ginger Andrews • Sep 30, 2022
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews

Confusing Fall Warbler season is finally here. While it is nice to have more of the little “feathered jewels” coming through, it can also be very frustrating as sometimes those ‘jewels’ are pretty rough, and hard to ID. Birds of the year are often still in cryptic, drab, female-type immature plumage.


Nothing, in my old-fashioned opinion, replaces Peterson’s “Confusing Fall Warbler” page, where all the most common and easily confused are grouped together, with their differences noted. But if you use the Merlin app and are able to pick a likely species, you can see it in a variety of plumages. The catch is that the bird might fly off before you get through the key. If you can get a photo, great, but that usually requires a camera with an impossibly long lens, and that the bird holds still long enough to be photographed. Neither is easy, or quite as much fun as just sitting quietly and holding out for a good look at the bird. And studying the salient points for a refresher before going into the field doesn’t hurt either.


One last caution, or plea: practice ethical birding. Birds migrate with a thin margin between exhaustion and death. They only stop to rest and refuel with insects, fruits, and berries to carry them through the next jump, which might be hundreds of kilometers long. So don’t waste their energy by playing distress call tapes. It’s the equivalent, in human terms, of getting mugged in the middle of running a marathon. And if you are birding on private property, don’t bring 20 friends along unless it’s your property. That kind of privacy violation gives all birders a bad name.







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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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