The halo over the sun this past weekend was meteorological, more associated with our atmosphere than astronomical.

Why stop to smell the roses when you can get a lungful of lilacs?

It is the end of the day and the sun hangs low and red over Sengekontacket Pond. The waters of Nantucket Sound are relatively flat due to a southerly shift in the wind earlier in the afternoon, but a few small waves break on the shoreline. Schools of bluefish surface about a quarter mile offshore. Terns follow the schools as they erratically move along.

The monitoring of Vineyard fish hawks, or ospreys, is an ongoing project. Although osprey comings and goings have been recorded since 1913 on-Island, the study of the osprey population did not start until the 1970s by Gus Ben David. Osprey nests had been documented in Lambert’s Cove, Chappaquiddick and on the Takemmy Trail (the road between West Tisbury and Edgartown) in the 1950s. Then came the 1960s and the uncontrolled use of the pesticide DDT. The Vineyard’s osprey population dropped to two or three pair.

Friday, May 17: Bright, sunny. The Point Way Inn is a quiet step away from the bustle of Main street. Wisteria join the chorus of blossoming flowers. Memorial Park lawn is lush. Bicyclists take a break and sit on benches, look at their maps and iPhones and appear to have a leisurely afternoon.

When a newly hatched mallard duckling crossed Clevelandtown Road Sunday, it was embarking on an odyssey. The trip would take it down a storm drain and then to a new home among chickens. It would involve police, the highway department and the kindness of strangers. It would give the duckling (gender yet unknown) a name: Stormy. Stormy, less than a week old, was observed Sunday crossing Clevelandtown Road when he walked across a storm grate and fell through to the bottom. “He was seen swimming in circles down at the bottom,” Edgartown police Sgt. Craig Edwards said.