Come May for the past two years, a pair of ducks have come to nest on Rose Styron’s lush lawn overlooking the outer Vineyard Haven harbor. “They eat a lot, at least the mother eats a lot, and the father, a gorgeous green-necked mallard, guards her. And when she’s fat enough, she goes to make a nest under the dock,” Mrs. Styron said, looking out at the water from her porch.

Until recently, Janet Messineo never considered herself an artist. Never mind that over the past 25 years Ms. Messineo, the Island’s only taxidermist, has recreated life itself thousands of times over, as evidenced by the glistening fish of all sizes adorning the walls of her basement workrooms. Although there are a few odd birds in one room, and a set of deer hooves lying on a shelf in another, there’s no question about what Ms. Messineo’s speciality is.

At 70 years old, Jay Schofield will still be the first one in the room to tell a joke or let out a hearty laugh at someone else’s. And when he shakes your hand and tells you, genuinely, that it’s a pleasure to meet you, you might notice his white “Pay It Forward” bracelet.

The thousands of baby flounder being raised at the Wampanoag Tribe’s Aquinnah hatchery will be released late this summer at Clam Point in Nashaquitsa Pond, part of the Menemsha Pond system, according to the lead scientist of the two-year project to raise winter flounder in captivity and release them into safe waters.

Elizabeth A. Fairchild, of the University of New Hampshire, told a gathering last week at Chilmark Public Library that the Aquinnah project, overlooking Menemsha Pond, has been a great success thusfar in raising the tiny fish.