Lightning bugs, particularly in early summer, have been more visible on the Island than they have been in years.

On a recent morning, a hush fell over a group of three BiodiversityWorks employees as they listened for the soft chirps of a piping plover on the shore of Lucy Vincent beach.

The third annual Bioblitz took place at Long Point Wildlife Refuge over the weekend, where citizen scientists went to work cataloguing hundreds of local species.

Working with wildlife biologists at BiodiversityWorks, seventh and eighth graders in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury spent this month reviewing images of mammals from camouflage cameras placed around the Vineyard.

Against all expectations, some of the Island’s northern long-eared bats are surviving white-nose syndrome, providing optimism for local conservationists.

Dr. Paul Goldstein is an expert on moths and butterflies. He began his formal study of Vineyard lepidoptera at Felix Neck in 1986.

Luanne Johnson’s to-do list runs to the wild side: study otter scat, track owls by moonlight. Last week the founder, director and biologist for BiodiversityWorks was in Aquinnah.

The Nature Conservancy has sold its Lambert’s Cove office to BiodiversityWorks, providing a permanent home for the Vineyard-based wildlife monitoring and research nonprofit.

BiodiversityWorks long suspected northern long-eared bats were sticking around the Vineyard during the off-season. Now the group has proof.

Black racer snakes (Coluber constrictor) have been documented on the Vineyard as far back as the early 1800s, but little is known about the Island population. That could soon change.