by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station One of the most charming and frankly useful things about the island is the variety of edible plants, fungi, and animals that exist naturally in almost every corner of the landscape. Over the past several years in this […]
Tag: nature
Biomimicry
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station In the past year, the UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station has offered two public lectures and a summer course in Biomimicry, and we plan to include it in our regular year round and summer offerings. Biomimicry is both […]
Dangerous Beauties – Jellyfish
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station As the summer temperatures warm up our harbor and offshore waters, floating translucent creatures begin to crowd our shores and become a concern for swimmers. Unfortunately, as ocean waters warm world-wide and we continue to over-fish or endanger […]
I’ll be Your Huckleberry
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station There is a wide range of fun and fulfilling things to do on Nantucket in the summertime, from surf-casting on the south shore, lounging with a good book at the beach, walking on the moors, or shopping downtown. […]
Nature’s Thermometers – Cicadas
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station Insects are an important part of summer and of our collective impression of the passing seasons. When I reflect upon a quintessential summer, I think of June bugs, grasshoppers, butterflies, perhaps on more cynical days, deer flies, mosquitoes, […]
Deer Fly, Don’t Bother Me
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station If you happen to see me walking around the field station maniacally slapping my head, just keep walking. We have had a beautiful, sunny, extremely dry summer. The ponds and groundwater are lower and the freshwater mosquitoes have […]
Itchy & Scratchy: Poison Ivy
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station There are so many things to love about Nantucket that I kind of hate to even bring up anything that isn’t awesome about the island. But there is one thing I do hate about the island, and that […]
Squirrels – Fluffy Invaders
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station Every time I drive down the Field Station road, I see the same gray squirrel run across the road in almost the exact same location. Today he was followed by a second squirrel and I immediately thought, “there […]
Turtle Crossing
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station While walking my dog Swegen at Windswept Bog this past week, I noticed signs installed by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation reminding visitors that June is turtle nesting month. Within ten minutes I found a nesting painted turtle and […]
