News and Events for Nantucket Island
~ by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station ~ I was sifting through a bunch of rainfall data trying to wrap my writing around the topic of drought, when the buzz of a cicada reminded me of one of my favorite sounds of the summer. […]
~ by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station ~ There are many crabs that call Nantucket’s waters their home; both native species and interlopers paddle, skulk, scamper, skitter, or crab-walk around. Common species include the lady crab, black-fingered mud crabs, spider crabs, blue crabs, purple […]
~ by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station ~ Whenever I write about invasive plants, usually when I am elbow deep pulling them up on a roadside or conservation land, I always think of the 1951 book and 1962 Movie “The Day of the Triffids” […]
~ by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station ~ We had a little bit of drama in the UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station lab on Friday. Trawalney, our 15-20 year old red eared slider turtle (named by one of our junior rangers) decided the beautiful […]
~ by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station ~ This week I am fortunate to be hosting Andy Revkin for an on-island event to support the Organization of Biological Field Stations (www.obfs.org) in my role as the current President of OBFS. Andy was the science […]
August 1 marks the 197th birthday of Maria Mitchell, who was born at 1 Vestal Street in 1818. To celebrate her life and legacy, the Maria Mitchell Association invites the public to an afternoon full of free activities and refreshments on Friday, July 31. The MMA campus on Vestal Street […]
~ by Amy Jenness, author of On This Day in Nantucket History, available at Mitchell’s Book Corner ~ On August 1, 1818, Maria Mitchell was born into the Nantucket Quaker family of William and Lydia Mitchell whose family lines went back to the island’s original white settlers in 1659 and […]
~ by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station ~ Last week I went with some of my high school interns to do water sampling at the small bridge located in Madaket at the intersection of South Cambridge Street, Red Barn Road, and Massasoit Bridge Road […]
~ by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station ~ I have always been fascinating by crows, we have several very vocal ones here at the field station that will fly off in a huff when you disturb them while walking the trails. Every day I […]
~ by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station ~ One of the many luxuries that Nantucket visitors can experience is the chance to see a humpback whale, and just a few weeks ago we had one cavorting very close to the island in the shallow […]
