Matt Pelikan
Young birds face threats from all quarters
Parents have just a few weeks to bring their offspring to independence, fending off countless risks in the process.
Wildlife biologists tag willets to learn their habits
Little is known about where willets winter, how they migrate, and how our coastal population is related to a second population that nests on the northern plains.
Butterflies on Martha’s Vineyard are varied and very interesting
Knowing the habitats of these excellent butterflies will help you notice them in the first place.
Look closely to see beauty, elegance in beetles
They may be small and inclined to hide, but insects are fully equal to birds as quarry for the careful observer.
Records help refresh and enrich memories
I've always augmented my memory with written records, especially when working on a specific project.
Invasive pests crash the biodiversity of Martha’s Vineyard
Flightless and strongly associated with horticultural plants, this species surely didn't get here on its own.
Singing to promote themselves, birds help us identify them
Bird song is everywhere, now, and the number and diversity of birds singing seems to increase every day.
Vocal and social, cardinals are at home on Martha’s Vineyard
Bright red males are unmistakable, but even females are eye-catching and a cinch to identify.
Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye, how nice to see a bluebird
The bluebird is welcome for its song, its role in controlling insect numbers, and above all because of that blue.
Six principles to boost native species in your yard
A green lawn and beds of non-native ornamentals benefit the lawn and garden product industry more than native wildlife.
Working the angles
In early January, chickadees begin to chime in; later in the month, they're joined by house finches, and as February proceeds, song sparrows tune up.
Extreme cold challenges wildlife on Martha’s Vineyard
Prolonged cold, especially when paired with snow cover, represents a sort of ecological bottleneck, killing many individuals.
Martha’s Vineyard birders appreciate wintertime juncos
Juncos are not particularly shy birds, and if they are frequenting your feeding station, you can't miss them.
Martha’s Vineyard birders take a year-end accounting
Approximately 60 birders took to the field, and tracked down more than 21,000 individual birds representing 121 species.
Rare and elusive, auks winter off Martha’s Vineyard shores
Though they're hard to find and even harder to get a good look at, I've always had a fondness for the auks.
Feeding birds is serious business on Martha’s Vineyard
Birds are nice friends to have. Feeding them, as lots of Islanders do, can have unintended consequences.
A common pigeon asks for help on a Martha’s Vineyard ferryboat
The episode reminded me that humans and animals, for all their differences, also share many similarities.
Finches due to swarm over Martha’s Vineyard soon
On the Vineyard as well as in the rest of our region, this will be a bountiful season for these northern birds.
Mushrooms bloom on Martha’s Vineyard in autumn
Conditions have produced an unusually lengthy season for these interesting Islanders, along with robust numbers and diversity.
Nature never gets old, on Martha’s Vineyard or anywhere else
The complexity of nature is virtually infinite, and in a half-century of study, I've barely scratched the surface.