News and Events for Nantucket Island
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station We have had three visitors this week, a Mola Mola otherwise known as an ocean sunfish, a beautiful humpback whale out by Great Point and an errant washashore/rode-ashore raccoon, and I thought I would write about one of […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay – Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • Over the past few weeks, a deceased Risso’s Dolphin has been seen off Madaket as its sad corpse is returned to the shoreline by incoming waves. At least three people have emailed or texted me […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay – Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • I wrote about eastern tent caterpillars a couple of years ago but they are so prevalent around the island, literally spreading out in all directions, that I felt it made sense to write about them […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • Spring has sprung, the island is filling up with people and warm sunny weather is erasing memories of a long hard winter. This is a perfect time to become aware of how your actions can effect […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • Two photos accompany this article and they may look like an elaborate gimmick or hoax but they are photos taken by Tyler Bradbury and Mike Strazzula of a giant oar fish that washed up on Nantucket […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay – Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • As tourists and summer residents start streaming back to the island, Nantucketers are emerging from our hobbit holes to bask in the sunnier and warmer days like a pack of painted turtles and all this […]
• by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay – Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • On April 22nd we will celebrate the 45th Earth Day. It is hard to believe that 45 years have passed since the first Earth Day. As citizens of the planet, we have come a long […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • 2014 has been an interesting and eventful year for the world of Nantucket nature. Winter Storms on Nantucket In March we had a serious winter storm similar to the doozies we endured in February and March of […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • They’re back! Two great white sharks tagged in 2013 have returned to our waters over the past week. Katharine and Betsy were tagged by scientists with the well-known Massachusetts based shark research group OCEARCH (http://www.ocearch.org/) in August […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • The milkweed plants are everywhere, waiting to host one of their primary users, monarch butterflies. Hundreds of other insects occupy the plants using every inch of them for food and shelter. Two years ago I wrote about […]
