Chappy will probably be an island throughout the coming summer. Recent drone photos show a genuine breach with a deep central channel. Forget my prediction that it will close up within weeks. So far there are no obvious breach-related effects on the tidal flow at the ferry.

Potluck dinners at the Chappaquiddick Community Center will continue on the third Wednesday of each month. Contact the center (508-627-8222 or chappyccenter@gmail.com) if you would like to be host. It’s actually fun and will look good on your resume.

The next meeting of the Chappy Ferry lease and license review subcommittee is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 13, time to be determined. Find the Zoom link on the Town of Edgartown website a couple of days prior.

The next meeting of the Chappy Ferry steering committee is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 5:30 p.m. Those who are truly interested in the future of their lifeline to Martha’s Vineyard will do well to attend both meetings.

On New Year’s Day, I participated in the annual Christmas Bird Count. The count is a nationwide project of the Audubon Society to quantify the response of our avian co-inhabitants to the changing climate. The local efforts are coordinated by Luanne Johnson of BiodiversityWorks.

This the fourth count that I have been on. I know a lot more about birds than I did five years ago. You don’t have to be an expert to participate. My job is to write down what the others are saying that they see. You get to go places that you otherwise wouldn’t know about.

Just so you know: there is no such thing as a seagull, except for the mythical one named Jonathan Livingston from way back in the ‘60s. There are 28 gull types in North America. They all have a first name; common, herring, black back, laughing, Bonaparte’s, etc. And, surprisingly, Canada geese are not named for a country north of here. A guy named Robert Canada named the species long, long ago.

You should go on the Count next year.