Warming waters around Martha’s Vineyard have discouraged what once were abundant fish. Top fisheries scientists with the National Marine Fisheries Service recently released a report citing the dramatic influence changing climate has had on at least one of the fish that used to spend a lot of time in these waters: Atlantic mackerel.

Atlantic mackerel have shifted away from the Vineyard and now are found more east and northeast, according to the report.

Mae West cynically noted that “Opportunity knocks for every man, but you have to give a woman a ring.”

An interesting ring coiled around my fingers last week. It was not the kind that Mae had in mind, but it was one that did provide me with a great opportunity to examine one of the more elusive snakes on Martha’s Vineyard: the ring neck snake.

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are tiny little bundles (3.5 grams or 0.12 ounces) of activity that must eat constantly, especially at this time of the year, when they are migrating southward to their wintering grounds in Central America. Here I report that their aggressive behavior of chasing other hummingbirds away from a food source — as reported in last week’s column — takes place even during tropical storms!