News and Events for Nantucket Island
by Sarah Treanor Bois, Director of Research & Education for the Linda Loring Nature Foundation Poison ivy, Toxicodendron radicans, is a native, woody plant prevalent throughout Nantucket. As the name implies, it is “toxic” or “poisonous” to the touch for many of the public. While 85 % of Americans are […]
by Dr. Sarah T. Bois, Director of Research & Education for the Linda Loring Nature Foundation Until recently, Turkey Vultures were a rare occurrence on Nantucket. They would make the occasional Christmas bird count and were listed as a rarity in the 1979 Checklist of Nantucket Birds by Edith Andrews […]
by Dr. Sarah T. Bois, Director of Research & Education for the Linda Loring Nature Foundation Springtime on Nantucket is a special time when muddy roads and icy sidewalks make way for budding crocuses and nesting song-birds. Spring officially begins with the Nantucket Daffodil Festival that has always been held […]
~ by Katherine Brooks, Maria Mitchell Association ~ The story of the striped bass skeleton hanging in the Maria Mitchell Association’s Hinchman Natural Science Museum begins with an old Nantucketer, Granger Frost, who caught the striped bass off of Tuckernuck in 1971. The bass, lovingly named the 7th Earl of […]
The Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) biological collections’ oldest specimen is the Wood Fern (pictured above). Maria Louisa Owen, an expert in mosses and moss-like plants, collected this fern in 1879. This was during the height of “Pteridomania” – also known as the Victo- rian fern craze – which was sweeping […]
~ by Katherine Brooks, Maria Mitchell Association ~ The story of the orphan tropical fish sounds like it could be the nautical version of “Annie,” or a spin off of “Finding Dory,” but the story of the orphan tropical fish hinges on the theme of displacement and is an example […]
~ by Katherine Brooks Maria Mitchell Association ~ Have you heard a piercing shriek in the night accompanied by a flurry of white light? Although it sounds like the making of a summercamp ghost story, what you might be observing is the barn owl – unique in its aesthetics with […]
~ by Katherine Brooks Maria Mitchell Association Volunteer ~ What is black and orange and has six legs? Nicrophorus americanus, commonly known as the American burying beetle. American burying beetle is striking with sleek black & orange wing markings, and acts as nature’s recycler. Nantucket is the site of the […]
E. Vernon Laux: Nantucket’s Bird Man • by Sarah Teach • Editors Note: We were saddened today to hear of the passing of Vern Laux this morning in Nantucket Cottage Hospital. To honor his contributions to life on the island, we are reprinting an interview from 2012. Fly high, Vern! […]
