Those of all ages and species joined the celebration at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary Sunday in honor of 50 years of the sanctuary’s popular Fern and Feather day camp. Former campers brought their children. Gus Ben David brought a cane toad.

Through a twig archway in a pocket of the forest, 
a group of children played in the dirt and on some old tree stumps. In the background of their play space, known fondly as secret spot number two, stood several stick structures, remnants from the past year. Last summer, the older campers at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary’s Fern and Feather Day Camp built the forts for their traditional Thursday night sleep-out. This year they are territory for the younger kids to explore.

If you’ve ever found a skull or bone while walking in the woods and wondered just what it may have come from, the upcoming workshop at Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary can shed some light.

It’s not too soon to think about summer camp. Registration is now open for this summer’s Felix Neck Fern and Feather Day Camp.

After all that celebrating, start off the new year with a walk at the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in Edgartown.

With the help of two ferries and some human rescuers, a cold-stunned sea turtle made its way from a Chappaquiddick beach to the New England Aquarium Monday.

Celebrating fall is a tradition at Felix Neck and it comes with hayrides, face painting, live music by the Flying Elbows, food, wreath-making, crafts and even a look at the baby barn owls through the ingenious owl cam.

Last Friday morning, in the shady woods of Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary, camp counselor Noah McCarter sat on a fallen log and held a tiny blue and white feather in his hand.

“What kind of bird do you think it was from?” he asked a camper sitting quietly beside him.

“A blue jay!” Nora exclaimed.

Noah placed the feather in Nora’s hand and she proudly shared what she just learned.

When a newly hatched mallard duckling crossed Clevelandtown Road Sunday, it was embarking on an odyssey.
The trip would take it down a storm drain and then to a new home among chickens. It would involve police, the highway department and the kindness of strangers. It would give the duckling (gender yet unknown) a name: Stormy.
Stormy, less than a week old, was observed Sunday crossing Clevelandtown Road when he walked across a storm grate and fell through to the bottom.
“He was seen swimming in circles down at the bottom,” Edgartown police Sgt. Craig Edwards said.

The thunder and rain held off just long enough for Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary to host its Citizen Science Celebration last Saturday. Visitors had the opportunity to participate in hands-on citizen science work, starting with a guided bird walk and ending with a salamander survey.

The event was held so adults and children could get an up close look at the various data gathering activities happening at the sanctuary and to inspire volunteerism.