News and Events for Nantucket Island
by Dr. Sarah Treanor Bois, PhDDirector of Research & Education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation Last week I was walking the Linda Loring Nature Foundation trails with two of our summer research and conservation volunteers. While we were examining some of our research trees, I noticed something different. There […]
A theme of many of my articles is how special and unique Nantucket’s flora and fauna are. Often I highlight rare species that call the island home: endangered plants, rare butterflies, insects, threatened birds… life on-island that makes Nantucket’s ecology unique. Today, however, I am going to discuss the absence of a group of species which gives the island species character: mammals.
by Dr. Sarah Treanor Bois, PhDDirector of Research & Education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation It sounds like something out of a movie: predatory plants. This has me thinking zombies, Venus fly traps, body snatchers, and, possibly, giant dog-eating vines (Feed me Seymore!). However, predatory plants are not a […]
When I was a kid, the first movie I ever saw in 3D was The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The movie was from 1954, but in the 1980s the VHS tape was released, and we all had the special glasses. It was fun in the watching and seemed sort of ridiculous. However, as a 7-year-old, it instilled a fear of freshwater in me that was hard to shake. I wouldn’t go into a pool or lake for the rest of the summer without thinking about the swamp man.
I first encountered Lone Star ticks on Tuckernuck Island in 2015. I had one adult female hitchhike back to Nantucket on me, and I reported it to Tick Report. At the time, it was only the second report from Nantucket, with many more known from Tuckernuck Island. Of course, birds fly easily from one island to another, and deer swim. It was just a matter of time before Nantucket and all of its available habitat became the next place for Lone Star ticks to populate.
Ladybug season is upon us! As May rolls into June, we are at peak observation time for our myriad of ladybug species—when the larvae change into the adult stage we know and love. And even though it’s not unusual to see a ladybug around the island, it’s still a bit of summer magic to spot one.
It’s the time of year to hunt for one of my favorite spring flowers. No, not to pick, but to view and enjoy in the wild. The Pink Lady’s Slipper Orchid (or Lady Slipper Orchid), Cypripedium acaule, is emerging now in time to flower around Memorial Day. As the name implies, Lady Slipper Orchid flowers look like elegant pink ballet slippers. Of course, being a New England native orchid, these plants are much hardier that their delicate appearance implies. The Lady Slipper orchid is a hardy perennial that is able to withstand the brutal New England winters underground. The leaves emerge in springtime (usually early to mid-May) with the flowers visible late May to early June.
Spring seems to have finally arrived on the island. The Spring Equinox on March 19 officially marked the start of spring, but we all know not to be suckered in by those arbitrary dates. Traditionally, spring is marked more by the indicators of the changing season. It could be the Daffodil Festival which holds to the calendar date of the last weekend of April. Or it could be something more attuned to the spring climate: blooming forsythia, calling of spring peepers, and migratory birds arriving from their winter stays.
Do you have a favorite sign of spring?
With our changing climate, one impact we are currently experiencing is our island is becoming hospitable to new and different species. Warmer winters, fewer cold snaps, and hotter, drier summers are welcoming a suite of new species. As some species expand their ranges into new territories, they may have little effect on the surrounding ecosystem. Other species have the potential to cause ecological and economic harm – a true invasive. The Southern Pine Beetle (SPB) is our newest Nantucket visitor wreaking havoc and causing harm to our native pitch pine stands.
