The Thors front yard is now home to about seven fast-growing third generation monarch caterpillars!
Devouring no less than three stocks of milkweed, they will soon move into their chrysalides and transform into butterflies.
Such a sight and process in my own front yard is not an everyday occurrence, and I’m curious to see where these creatures end up.
Wilson Thors, Fishers Island Sentinal
2018 Marine Debris Tent
“Conservation on Parade” is back! Enjoy the Free Family Event Sat. Aug. 3, 3-6 p.m. at the Parade Grounds. Enter through the Demonstration Garden.
Learn about local wildlife through hands-on discovery. Have an up-close visit with a bird of prey, touch turtles and snakes, meet frogs, see and touch feathers, furs and many other natural items.
Don’t miss face painting and an even bigger ice cream truck, and stop by for wine, beer and lemonade.
Also, in case you missed it, there is a second opportunity to see, “Take Back the Harbor”. The 39-minute film will screen in a continuous loop at the movie theater during “Conservation on Parade”. The documentary follows students from the Harbor School in New York City as they work in New York 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.
It was a cloudy quiet day on Fishers Island, as grass and dirt rested between soft rain showers. As I rode down the hill west of the oyster farm, I spotted an idle shape above me, a bird perched on one of the Four Corners’ telephone poles.
At first glance, I thought it was the bird all of us on Fishers know and love—the Osprey. As I passed the pole, however, looking back to admire the animal’s summer coat, I spotted the telltale…tail of a hawk.
Rust red feathers emerged from under the bird’s closed wings. Only then did I know for sure that this was not the Osprey but in fact a Red-Tailed Hawk waiting and surveying for its dinner.
Gardner Thors, Fishers Island Sentinel
Appearing otherworldly through a camera lens, dragonflies whizz and hover within tall grasses these sultry July mornings.
These predators play a key role in Parade Ground habitat, feeding on a variety of prey including mosquitoes and biting flies.
From the Field, Field Note by Justine Kibbe, July 21, 2019
Early summer at the Parade Grounds. Justine Kibbe Photo
This coming weekend is an exciting one for FIConservancy! Join us for tours of our successful grassland restoration areas Saturday at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., and Sunday at 10 a.m. Meet at the main entrance to the Parade Grounds across from Officers’ Row. Tours will last approximately one hour and will be led by Adam Mitchell, Ph.D.*
On Saturday and Sunday afternoons, Dr. Mitchell will conduct walk-throughs of private property identifying invasive vegetation and making suggestions for successful incorporation of native plantings into landscapes. If you are interested in a review of your property, email Tom Sargent (tsargent@waterwaycapllc.com), Joe Henderson (abmgt@aol.com), Kristen Peterson (kmpfic@gmail.com) or Adam Mitchell (mitchell.adam.b@gmail.com).
Sunset on the Beach, our popular annual fundraiser at the Fishers Island Club Beach Club, will be Saturday 6-8 p.m. If you have not yet purchased tickets, they will be available when you arrive at the event. The weather forecast is perfect. See you there!
*Dr. Mitchell is Assistant Professor of Entomology, Department of Wildlife, Sustainability, and Ecosystem Sciences, Tarleton State University, a Member of the Texas A&M University System.
Leslie Conant captured this image of a coyote trotting across her backyard July 16 on the north side of Fishers Island.
Mourning Dove is wide awake within this early morning’s light.
Long Island Sound is home to over 100 species of fish. July days bring recreational fishing off Fishers Island’s South beach, hoping to reel in summer flounder, striped bass and bluefish.
FIConservancy works with New York and Connecticut to conserve some 400 acres of precious Eelgrass meadows that provide vital “nursery” habitat for fish, as well as foraging for sea birds, shore birds and marine mammals.
Observation and photo by FIConservancy Naturalist Justine Kibbe
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 separate hatchings on Sanctuary of Sands and near the Race Point Parking area in late May.
In 2014 and 2015, I spotted only a single piping plover at the Big Club Beach and had documented none on the West End. How exciting to see “our” piping plover community expanding!
The New York Times recently reported that Fire Island’s piping plover population has nearly doubled since Hurricane Sandy struck in 2012. Sand and seawater washed over the island during the storm, and the combination of new sand flats and coastal repair increased plover habitat by 50 percent. (Piping plovers like to nest on dry flat sand close to the shoreline.)
From the Field, Field Note Justine Kibbe June 26, 2019