Well, it seems to me that shorebird migration is early. I have always considered July 4 the date for the beginning of the movement of sandpipers, plovers, dowitchers, knots and the like as they head south for their winter haunts. But the shorebirds came through the Vineyard earlier, their young have hatched earlier (and now are on their own), so why not head south earlier?

The signs are everywhere: just take a look at any one of the local traffic jams.There is an unmistakable abundance of cars and trucks with fishing poles sticking out.

Take a walk on Main street in Edgartown late in the afternoon and there is more evidence. Spirited fishermen, of all ages, are walking carrying fishing poles. It isn’t just those folks dressing up for a dinner and a dance on the waterfront filling the streets. There are people walking around with tackle boxes. Memorial Wharf is busy with anglers.

I was thinking the other day about an old friend, conservationist Rusty Walton, who died last year. To say he was quiet would be an understatement. I could rarely make a smile bend on his face no matter how hard I tried. However, as I think back on the times I spent with him it always makes me smile. He was a dedicated naturalist and an accomplished ecologist. He introduced me to my first wild patch of wood lily on the Vineyard almost 10 years ago. Recently I went back to the same spot and, surprisingly, the lilies, like Rusty were gone.

The place names are familiar and unchanging: Wasque, Cape Pogue and Long Point, Herring Creek Farm, Cedar Tree Neck and Fulling Mill Brook, Waskosim’s Rock and Pecoy Point, to name a few.

But the people who admire, use and could potentially contribute to the thousands of acres of land in conservation on the Vineyard have changed, and Island conservation leaders say this is what frames their biggest challenge today.

Three southern species which are now seen on the Vineyard are making news this week.