Nature & Science
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
June 18 79 56 Trace
June 19 83 60 .00
June 20 77 63 Trace
June 21 79 65 .00
June 22 83 65 .00
June 23 79 65 .30
June 24 81 65 .00
Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 74º F.
What a thrill to see and hear grasshopper sparrows on the Vineyard for the first time in about 10 years! Twenty years ago I could see and hear grasshopper sparrows in the fields around our Chilmark farm house at Quenames no longer. Maybe I will be lucky enough to have them back again, as the birds we recently saw were in a neighboring field at Quansoo Farm. We saw three birds. Hopefully they were three males whose mates were sitting on their round, throne-like nests. Built at the base of clumps of grass, the grasshopper sparrow nest cup is upright with a canopy of grasses domed over the top. The results are a nest that is well camouflaged. However, one worries that as ground nesters they could easily be preyed upon by skunks, raccoons and feral cats.
, The Blob! It’s revolting! It’s oozing! It’s sweeping the Island! Will no cedar tree be spared?
“It looks like something you’d see in a horror movie,” says Polly Hill Arboretum outreach coordinator Karin Stanley referring to Cedar-Apple Rust, a ridiculous looking tree fungus that has seen an unusually robust late spring and early summer here on the Vineyard.
The region’s top authority on sharks, Greg Skomal, is leaving the Vineyard. After 23 years of working on the Island as the state regional sport fishing biologist, much of that time spent researching the mysteries of the deep, Mr. Skomal is moving up within the state Division of Marine Fisheries.
Be a Citizen Scientist
Anyone interested in becoming a citizen scientist who can monitor rare plant sites on the Island and throughout the region may join John Burns, program administrator of the New England Wild Flower Society, when he leads a free plant conservation volunteer (PCV) professional day on Tuesday, June 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury. A short walk will follow the program.
The growing population of seals which congregate off the south shore of the Vineyard are about to become something more than competition for fishermen and an attractant for sharks. They will be a sightseeing attraction, bringing tourist dollars.
At least this is the hope of the operators of the fast ferry service which last year began regular runs between New York and the Island.
Almanac
A comprehensive guide to weather and tides on the Island.
Vineyard Gardener
I guess this past week weather-wise is called a January thaw. We did not really experience it the last several years as December was unseasonably warm.
Farm & Field
Beige and brown and tan and black, with horns spiraled or semicircular or in undulating waves, a legion of goats marched up the hill toward us, bleating in anticipation of fresh grass and leaves.