Matt Pelikan
Wild Side: The osprey cometh
It’s hard to think of a species more beloved among Vineyarders than the osprey. This long-winged, black-and-white bird was, like many other raptors, nearly...
Wild Side: Brown thrashers have become rare here
A recent report in a Vineyard birdwatching Facebook group called to mind a species I hardly ever think of these days: the brown thrasher....
Wild Side: Reconsider ducks
The late, great Vern Laux, perhaps the best birder ever to trespass his way across the Vineyard, had little patience with ducks. Oh, he’d...
Wild Side: Shoreline bugs
I’ve been thinking a lot about shorelines lately, and the complex mix of challenges and opportunities that the meeting of land and water poses...
Wild Side: Savannah sparrows
Across its vast geographical range, Savannah sparrows show a remarkable range of variation in features such as bill size, coloration, and preferred habitat. About...
Wild Side: Titmice are fun to watch
As our excellent planet wraps up another orbit around its star, most naturalists probably reflect a bit on their activity over the past 12...
Wild Side: Dovekies may show up
Since it seems to be impossible to write about alcids — that is, the auks — without mentioning footballs, I’ll get it over with....
Wild Side: Odd ducks
If you’re fond of odd-looking birds, you’re in luck! Late fall is prime time for viewing American coots on Martha’s Vineyard. A member of...
Wild Side: The 3D chess of a Cooper’s hawk
This past weekend, as I was doing some final fall chores in our Oak Bluffs yard, I noticed an elongated blob high in a...
Wild Side: The yellow-rumped warbler
Last Saturday, Oct. 28, saw a flurry of activity around the parking loop at the Gay Head Cliffs in Aquinnah. Some of the activity...
Wild Side: Chipping sparrows
October is sparrow season on the Vineyard, and indeed throughout southern New England. This is the month when all the sparrow species that occur...
Wild Side: Seaside goldenrod
This past weekend, I focused my fieldwork on one of my favorite plants: seaside goldenrod, Solidago sempervirens. The common name accurately sums up the...
Wild Side: Birds from Lee
Vineyard birders have a love-hate relationship with tropical storms. Like anybody else, we respect the enormous power of these systems, and dread the damage...
Wild Side: Sense of direction
September is the peak of migration, not just for birds but for bats, butterflies, and dragonflies as well. We tend to think of fall...
Wild Side: It’s just a little crush
Most of the time, I’m an equal-opportunity naturalist: Everything I see holds the same interest for me, and everything seems uniquely beautiful. But every...
Wild Side: The seasons are turning for birds
In nature, as in anything else, arrivals and beginnings are relatively easy to spot. One day in early spring, birds appear that weren’t there...
Wild Side: The driveway is prime real estate
If you were asked to describe good pollinator habitat, you’d probably come up with something like a wildflower meadow or a pollinator garden: green,...
Wild Side: Tree crickets
Members of the insect order Orthoptera — grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids — can be found year-round on Martha’s Vineyard (immatures of a few species...
Wild Side: Sheep laurel and its lonely fan
Across much of the Vineyard, on sandy soils both moist and dry, the most obvious late spring flowers may be those of sheep laurel,...
Wild Side: The mysterious chimney swift
After the robin, the chickadee, and the blue jay, the chimney swift may have been the first bird I learned to identify. I was...