The family of the late Edwin Newhall (Bob) Woods has gifted 500 acres of rare and unspoiled oak forest, freshwater wetlands and frost bottom in West Tisbury and Chilmark to The Nature Conservancy, the conservancy announced early this week. The gift creates permanent protection for the heart of one of the most significant natural areas on the Vineyard.

The Chilmark conservation commission voted this week to allow a house and several outbuildings dangerously close to the edge of a cliff overlooking Stonewall Beach to be relocated.

If there is a more widely recognizable on the Vineyard than the American robin, we’ve yet to hear of it. The combination of a gray back and an orange breast and belly on a robin is obvious and known to all. Sheer numbers help boost our familiarity with robins: this species is a very common nesting bird on the Island, and contrary to the cliché of the first robin of spring, robins are present and often numerous throughout all but the most brutal winter weather.

You do not need a degree in natural science to become familiar with the different ways that birds use camouflage to either evade the notice of predators or the notice of prey, or both of these. Some birds have the advantage of plumage designs that mask the outline of their bodies, disrupt recognition of their shape or even disguise which direction they are looking or heading.

A thin crescent moon rises early in the morning tomorrow. The moon is in the zodiacal constellation Aquarius, a constellation we normally associate with autumn and late summer. It appears Sunday and Monday mornings, but even closer to the eastern horizon.