The 112th annual Christmas Bird Count has been completed nationwide. The Vineyard started participating in the count years later, so conducted its 52nd annual CBC on Jan. 2.

Weather watchers wonder and wait, when will we see our first snow?

English novelist and playwright J.B. Priestley thoroughly enjoyed its coming: “The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?”

Winter Walk Goes in Search of Otters

The Vineyard Conservation Society is hosting a winter walk on Sunday, Jan. 8, from 1 to 3 p.m. and they are looking for otters. The walk will be led by wildlife biologists Luanne Johnson and Liz Baldwin along the protected lands around the Wakeman Conservation Center, starting at the Cranberry Acres bogs and continuing to the Hoft Farm. The plan is to explore the trails, fields, and bogs of this area while searching for otter tracks and learning about how they perceive the landscape.

For Vineyarders and their visitors, it was a dream year for weather.

They enjoyed plenty of sunshine, with most of the Island’s rain falling at night. They also dodged some of the region’s most dramatic weather, including the remnants of a large hurricane and heavy snowstorms that landed elsewhere in New England.

Farmers saw their gardens flourish, only occasionally needing to irrigate. Charter fishing captains seldom had to cancel trips because of high winds or high seas, except for a few days during the fall striped bass and bluefish derby.

For a moment, he forgot the feathers. Even the renowned bird guy couldn’t resist the gorgeousness of these magnificent mammals. Although it was likely just a moment, John James Audubon put down his binoculars to watch and wonder at the dolphins.