News and Events for Nantucket Island
• 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 […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • I finally got to do something quintessentially ”Nantuckety” today for the first time in the eleven years that I have lived here, namely pick beach plums. I stumbled upon a bush laden with purple fruit and was […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • Well, I wish I was reviewing a 1979 Neil Young and Crazy Horse album (although that would be a bit weird and not all that timely), but in fact I am talking about the rust tide which […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • As August winds down and the feeling that summer is slipping away creeps up on us, I try to enjoy as many quintessential elements of Nantucket as I can. Last night, while walking our dog at the […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • Bioluminescence is the creation of light by a chemical reaction by a creature. One of the many benefits of living on Nantucket is that we get to experience bioluminescence from many sources, not the least of which […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • One of the most common questions I get each year is: “What is the foam I see on the water in the harbor or in salt ponds like Sesachacha or Hummock Pond?” This foam looks alarmingly like […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • This week’s column is designed to get you outdoors to work with visiting scientists and learn more about Nantucket’s diverse and fascinating plants and animals. For the first time, the Nantucket Biodiversity Initiative is sponsoring a Citizen […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • Living at the UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station gives me the opportunity to observe the wonderful diversity of bird life that defines Nantucket. Spring signals the return of piping plovers, oystercatchers and osprey along with the wading […]
• by Dr. Sarah Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station • Spring is vernal pond season. All over the island, creatures who have adapted to the unusual conditions that are inherent in a vernal pond are hatching and going through a variety of stages as they progress to […]
