News and Events for Nantucket Island
~ 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 ~ 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 […]
-by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay, Director, University of Massachusetts Nantucket Field Station- For the first time in many years, we have a new mammalian intruder who has managed to stowaway on a boat and make their way to the island. What would be a farcical children’s book story for the […]
• 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 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 • 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 […]
