WOODS HOLE — Urging a group of Chatham middle schoolers to follow their dreams, filmmaker James Cameron handed the keys to the Deepsea Challenger, the only human-occupied vehicle able to reach the deepest parts of the sea, to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in a ceremony Friday morning. “The things you get excited about today, those will be some of the most important driving forces for you in the future,” Mr. Cameron told the gathering of 12 and 13 year olds who formed a semicircle in front of him.

The moon dominates the early hours of evening in the southwestern sky.

While winter storms have threatened some waterfront homes, they’ve been a boon to nesting piping plovers, who prefer the scoured beaches left by storms and hurricanes. But this year’s population of the tiny migratory shorebird still face challenges from predators.

The Aquinnah bay scallop season ends Friday, marking what is believed to be the latest date for a bay scallop season closing in the commonwealth.

The scallop season usually runs from fall until the last day of March, but Aquinnah shellfish constable Brian (Chip) Vanderhoop said unusual circumstances led to the extension of the fishery this year.

The nesting season for the birds of Martha’s Vineyard is upon us. Last week’s discovery of the brown creepers’ nest nudged other birders to sharing their bird nesting stories. And I started thinking about all the different nests I have seen on the Island. The variety is amazing and the different architecture and material choices is immense. The range in size and shape is incredible, from the tiny one inch across and one inch deep cup of lichens and moss woven together by our ruby-throated hummingbird to our fish hawk’s massive old nests.

It was truly a tree-mendous mystery.