Hanging Out to Dry
These very still and hazy early mornings of summer are just the thing for deep diving double-crested cormorants. Waterlogged feathers actually help these birds dive deeper for fish, while low […]
Author Archive for: BARubinow
Entries by Betty Ann Rubinow
A Pocketful of Plovers
For the first time ever, I saw 8-10 piping plovers (adult and growing chicks) scurrying around “together” on Sanctuary of Sands. Fishers Island’s piping plover chicks were born in two […]
Indigo Blue
An Indigo Bunting and a White Throated Sparrow pause in their preferred habitat: thickets and bushy wood edges. Indigo Buntings, abundant songbirds, are sometimes nicknamed “blue canaries”, but are part […]
“Take Back The Harbor” Screening July 14
Don’t miss, “Take Back the Harbor” at 5 p.m. July 14 at the Movie Theater. The 39-minute documentary follows students from the Harbor School in New York City as they work in the harbor and travel to Fishers Island to learn about growing oysters as part of the Billion Oyster Project, an unprecedented program to restore once-bountiful oysters to New York Harbor.
The Clearing Continues
Pictures do not do justice to the amazing transformation along South Beach Road approaching the Parcourse FitCircuit. Individual stops along the circuit are now visible, as is access to South Beach in the distance.
Crow’s Thievery
A band of crows that regularly patrols both ends of Elizabeth Airport runway have discovered “easy pickins”, while mother Killdeer sounds the alarm circling around her clutch of eggs hidden […]
Standing Up to Phragmites
Phragmites: A relentless enemy. The towering reeds grow an inch apart and are choking the Island’s tidal marshes, overtaking native vegetation and leaving no room for ducks, herons and egrets to land. FIConservancy plans to fight back, starting in November.
Alone No More!
A lone spotted sandpiper has returned to Fishers Island each spring for the past five years. This year, she may have brought a mate. Female spotted sandpipers arrive early at breeding grounds to establish and defend territory. The males incubate eggs and care for the young.
Protecting Killdeer Eggs
FIConservancy Naturalist Justine Kibbe reported: “As Fishers Island prepares for a very busy July and August, it’s wonderful to witness the rallying of community to protect our precious wildlife.”