Artist Aldro T.

Birders everywhere grab their binoculars and head out to look for birds during a storm. The blow we had last weekend was no exception.

Felix Neck is hosting a stroll through the sanctuary grounds to admire the changing seasons from 10 to 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 11.

New regulations aimed at increasing the coastwide population of striped bass have been approved by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The rules will reduce recreational catch limits by half and commercial quotas by 25 per cent.

As elected officials up-Island balk at the prospect of offshore sand mining, Oak Bluffs is voicing support for the venture. At a selectmen’s meeting early this week, town administrator Robert L. Whritenour said town beaches stand to benefit from new information laid out recently in the draft state Ocean Management Plan.

Sandplain grasslands are extensive on the Cape and Islands and include a variety of grasses, wildflowers and shrubs. But it is the native grass little bluestem that creates the ochre hues in fall, and helps sustain the diversity of the grassland ecosystem.