The leaves are out, the weather is (mostly) warm, and the field season is in full swing for all of us here at BiodiversityWorks. We love this time of year! Our incomparable island is at its loveliest, and its famed biodiversity is at its most evident. Each day brings a new discovery: a plover nest in an unusual setting, three new spotted turtles captured in our effort to update the status of that rare species, a fly that's never before been recorded on the Vineyard. It's what we do: study and protect the precious wildlife of this odd little pile of sand. But we couldn't do any of it without you, our partners, supporters, and volunteers. Thanks for being at our side for our important work! Read on for look at how the field season is shaping up.
Spotted Turtle Survey Needs Your Help
This is our third and final year of an island-wide spotted turtle survey documenting their current abundance and distribution. While live trapping is an effective sampling method in many areas, we cannot access some of the wetlands spotted turtles may occupy. So we need your help.
Spotted turtles are small (five inches or less) and easily recognizable by the small yellow spots on their black carapace (top shell). They have dark skin on their heads, their necks and legs have orange or yellow spots, and the the skin underneath is orange to black. Their plastron (bottom shell) is often orange and black. While painted turtles like basking on logs and rocks in open ponds, spotted turtles tend to bask in secluded, mossy or boggy areas and shrub wetlands. These turtles are easiest to find when they venture onto dry land.
Help Us Find Spotted Turtles: Late May through the first week of June is prime time for female spotted turtles to be out of wetlands in search of nesting spots. They often nest after rain has primed the soil for digging. Watch for these turtles when walking in sandy or grassy areas close to shrubby, swamp-like wetlands or bogs. If you come upon a spotted turtle, please (1) take a photo of it if possible, (2) contact Liz Olson right away at (508) 494-0061, and (3) remain with the turtle if you can to help us find it. Your effort can help us map the current distribution of these rare reptiles and learn about their movements and breeding biology here on Martha’s Vineyard.
American Woodcock Survey Says....
From April 20th to May 10th, volunteers and staff surveyed 124 points along 21 routes to count 'peenting' woodcock in 38-minute survey windows after sunset. Surveying routes via bicycle and car, we counted 34 American Woodcock. We believe this is a conservative estimate — the surveys did not cover all suitable habitat on the Vineyard — but it is a good start for long-term monitoring. These carefully controlled surveys are not meant to count the entire population; rather, they provide a baseline number of breeding males. Future surveys following the same procedures may detect declines or increases over time, in the same way that the Christmas Bird Count helps monitor population trends.
A huge thank-you to all of the volunteers who trained for and completed these surveys, and to the Edey Foundation for supporting the project! And congratulations to Irene Tewksbury, who won our Woodcock Survey guessing game: Irene guessed 32 woodcock and was the closest without going over the actual number.
Join the Atlas of Life to Bioblitz Long Point
The Martha's Vineyard Atlas of Life is thrilled to announce our first-ever Bioblitz! Partnering with The Trustees of Reservations, we're planning an intensive survey of the wildlife of Long Point Wildlife Refuge, the gorgeous, 632-acre Trustees property on the Vineyard south shore. Running from 5:00 p.m. June 17 to 5:00 p.m. June 18, the event brings together wildlife experts and naturalists of all skill levels to study and celebrate the biodiversity of this remarkable property. We'll use the "citizen science" platform iNaturalist to gather data and assist with identification.
There are two ways you can participate. You can sign up in advance here to join a team for a half-day or full-day outing led by an expert naturalist (please sign up early - space will be limited). Or you can participate on your own: iNat observations from Long Point during the 24-hour period of the Bioblitz will automatically sweep into the Bioblitz project. So with just the iNat app on your smartphone and a visit to Long Point during the event, you're ready to contribute data. The Trustees will be running family-friendly, drop-in surveys of aquatic life on the refuge shorelines.
Part biological survey, part social event, a Bioblitz is a great way to learn about wildlife, gain experience using iNaturalist, and explore one of the Vineyard's premiere conservation properties. We hope you'll contribute.
The MVAL is a collaborative project with
the Betsy and Jesse Fink Family Foundation.
Preventing Bird Collisions with Windows
Birds are busy nesting in our yards and some are already feeding chicks. But window collisions, often fatal for birds, can leave chicks orphaned. It is a perfect time of year to help your feathered friends see that your windows are not the forest they perceive.
CLICK HERE to read Angela Luckey's blog post with multiple ways you can prevent deadly window encounters for birds in your yard. Thank you to Soo Whiting for donating some anti-collision window dots we deployed on problem windows at our headquarters.
You can catch up with Angela at the Edgartown Library on Saturday, June 4th, where she'll be presenting on how you can get started using native plants in your yard and garden and join the Natural Neighbors movement across the island.
Natural Neighbors is a collaborative project of BiodiversityWorks, the Village and Wilderness Project, and the Martha's Vineyard Vision Fellowship.
Beach Bird Conservation Update
Beach-nesting birds are busy incubating eggs and some have already hatched chicks! We are currently protecting 13 American Oystercatcher and 23 Piping Plover pairs as well as a few colonies of terns. We will do a full census for plovers and terns in early June. So far, six oystercatcher pairs have hatched a total of 17 chicks, and one Piping Plover pair has hatched four chicks.
Be a good egg at the Beach:
Leash your dogs and keep them away from posted nesting areas.
Give the birds space when you walk by their nesting areas. We can’t always place fencing where we want it due to tides and wave action, so some birds nest very close to the fencing. They won't incubate eggs if you are too close.
Welcome, Sarah and Parker!
Meet Sarah Haggett, our Beach Bird Conservation Assistant! Sarah is a rising senior at Paul Smith's College, studying Wildlife Biology, and she is vice president of their student chapter of The Wildlife Society. She was a part time intern with us last summer and is passionate about bird conservation. Sarah's position with us is partially funded through the Scott Melvin Memorial Fund. Scott was a dear friend and colleague, and we know Sarah will carry on his work this season and beyond!
Parker Fyfe-Kiernan is our Wildlife Intern and a rising junior at the University of New Hampshire, studying Wildlife Conservation and Sustainability. His family moved to the island in 2020 from Newton, and Parker says "Living on an island exploding with wildlife has been one of the most amazing changes of my life!" Three days a week, Parker is building his field biology skills monitoring spotted turtles, beach-nesting birds, and bats. He is also hoping to add some species to his island bird list!
Bat Scat Research
Just as bats are social animals, so are the researchers that study them. When we learned that Chris Richardson, from Lesley University, had federal funding to study persisting little brown bat colonies in Massachusetts, Canada, and Washington state, we contacted him to offer scat samples from a Martha's Vineyard colony for the study. Using plastic sheets below the roost, we will collect little brown bat scat samples that will provide data on their stress levels, immunological state, and viral loads.
White-nose syndrome continues to kill thousands of bats across N. America. Populations of northern long-eared and little brown bats have declined by more than 95% in New England, including on Martha's Vineyard. We continue to monitor northern long-eared bats at known summer maternity colonies, and we're also tracking one colony of little brown bats on the exterior of an old barn. These bats are both Myotis species, and their persistence amidst the current bat crisis offers hope for the future of these remarkable animals.
Bird Club Outings May 31st and June 14th
The Martha's Vineyard Bird Club has two group birding outings coming up:
Tuesday, May 31st, 07:30 am - 9:00 am, meet for Group Birding at Manuel Correllus State Forest Headquarters. The walk will focus on songbirds breeding in the area, with Pete Gilmore leading. Luanne Johnson will assist. We'll begin around the headquarters and pond area and then walk to the grassland management area.
Tuesday, June 14th, 07:30 to 9:00 am, meet for Group Birding focusing on shore and seabirds of Eel Pond and Lighthouse Beach. Meet at the end of Brayley's Way at Eel Pond in Edgartown. Biologists Kayla Smith and Luanne Johnson will be your leaders.
Wednesday, August 3rd, will be our annual Summer Gathering at Tashmoo Springs, from 5 - 7 p.m. We'll have staff at displays about all of our programs and projects to give you an opportunity to spend some time learning and sharing with us. We hope you will keep this evening open on your calendar.
On Wednesday, August 17th, join us at Polly Hill Arboretum's barn for an evening with Denver Holt from the Owl Research Institute. Denver will have just returned from his 31st year studying snowy owls in the arctic, so he will be able to tell us about the nesting season and perhaps whether the winter will bring a snowstorm of snowy owls to Massachusetts. We'll be sharing links to register for this event next month.
