Edgartown: Owl sightings and crab spawnings

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I need to express my sincere gratitude for you, my readers, for banding together to offer your support and encouragement in my search for the snowy white owl. I am sure many of you are sick of reading about my obsession with this particular critter, but you are the silent contingent, as the rest of you have my phone ringing off the hook with tips and pep talks. I assure you all, though my dad dropped out of the race (which I don’t actually believe for a second, natch), I can still be found each day driving at a snail’s pace down Atlantic Drive, scanning my surroundings for feathered friends.

Dennis Gazaille has had a couple of sightings on Great Pond, near the sluiceway. One of our buddies had been hanging out a while back, and had disappeared for a bit, but was back last week. Meanwhile, Jerry Grant reports that Cindy Grant and Richard Clark partook of two sightings last week on South Beach, just past the Trustees’ Norton Point shack. My hope of ever seeing these guys is fading fast as the temps rise, but honestly, I’ll take the warmer weather over the bird any day. I’m just glad so many people have had more luck than I have, and I thank you all for sharing and allowing me to espy vicariously through you.

The MV Poets’ Collective will be reading from their new publication at Pathways Institute at the Chilmark Tavern on Tuesday, March 18, from 7 to 9 pm. Edgartown Poet Laureate, Steve Ewing, will join them. Members include Ellie Bates, Tom Durawa, Liz Fauteux, Madeline Fisher, Jill Jupen, Don McLagan, Annette Sandrock, Andrea Quigley, and Ted Hoagland, Honorary Member. The Collective encourages community participation during the evening, so bring any original work to share.

Don’t forget to wear your green on Monday whether you are actually Irish, or just Irish for the day. And if you’d like to get a head start on the shenanigans, the Kelley House and the Newes From America Pub will present their Third Annual St. Patrick’s Celebration on Saturday, March 15. Meet at the bottom of Dock Street at 11 am to join in Edgartown’s shortest, leprechaun-sized Wee Little Parade, which will commence at 11:30 am, followed by family fun times, including dancing and live music. Leading the parade will be Grand Marshalls: the Kelley Family, John Murray, and his son Ryan. Blink and you’ll miss it.

The Edgartown Public Library will host a lecture entitled, “Horseshoe Crabs: A Story of Beach Trysts and Blue Bloods,” Wednesday, April 16 at 5:30 pm. Join Susie Bowman, Felix Neck teacher/naturalist and coordinator of the Island’s spawning horseshoe crab surveys, and Fred Hotchkiss, director of the Marine Paleobiological Research Institute, for a lecture and slide show about these ancient marine residents of Martha’s Vineyard. Often misunderstood by casual beachgoers and in high demand by the bait and biomedical industries, the horseshoe crab plays essential roles in both the natural world and world-wide modern medicine. Also, find out how you can help by becoming a citizen science volunteer to count spawning horseshoe crabs on lunar high tides in May and June. For further info, call 508-693-3122.

Birthday wishes go out this week to Robbie Robinson and Dennis Gazaille on March 14; to Keith Fullin and Maureen Gazaille, March 15; and to Michael Snowden, Helen Plummer, and Zach Townes, March 19.