Nature & Science
While it is always good to endeavor to see the forest through the trees, sometimes you just see the trees in the forest.
And that is okay if you are seeing and appreciating the beauty of the trees in winter. Without all of the trees’ green finery, you are left with sculptures in the woods.
Shapes, textures and bits of color stand out in the winter. Some trees become harder to identify, while other practically shout their identity.
I guess I will call him lonesome George for want of something better. Last year Gus Ben David got a call from someone at the Martha’s Vineyard Airport saying they had a weird partridge-like bird hanging around. Gus identified the bird as a chukar.
State auditor Joseph DeNucci delivered a hard blow to the Massachusetts Estuaries project this week, releasing a highly critical audit report on the multi-million dollar project managed by the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth to study the health of ponds and estuaries on the Cape and Islands.
The Massachusetts auditor’s report found undocumented contract costs, no-bid contracts and a potential conflict of interest in the project, a sophisticated scientific study begun in 2001 of more than 60 ponds and estuaries from Duxbury to the Cape and Islands.
Yo-yoing, a fishing technique commonly used by commercial striped bass fishermen in Massachusetts and elsewhere, should be outlawed, according to Brad Burns, president of Stripers Forever, a national nonprofit organization that advocates treating striped bass as a game fish in state waters.
Seabird Monitoring Program
Seeks Vineyard Volunteers
The Martha’s Vineyard Senior Environmental Corps and Massachusetts Audubon Society Wildlife Sanctuary at Felix Neck are teaming up with the Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine’s Seabird Ecological Assessment Network to study the health of seabirds on the Island through beached bird surveys conducted by volunteers.
Temperature: Precip.
Day Max. Min. Inches.
Fº Fº
Nov. 30 54 34 .00
Dec. 1 45 31 .00
Dec. 2 35 20 .00
Dec. 3 44 22 .71
Dec. 4 49 25 .00
Dec. 5 32 18 .00
Dec. 6 36 22 Trace
Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 41º F.
Almanac
A comprehensive guide to weather and tides on the Island.
Vineyard Gardener
I guess this past week weather-wise is called a January thaw. We did not really experience it the last several years as December was unseasonably warm.
Farm & Field
Beige and brown and tan and black, with horns spiraled or semicircular or in undulating waves, a legion of goats marched up the hill toward us, bleating in anticipation of fresh grass and leaves.