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.
Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary is once again offering Fern & Feather Natural History Day Camp scholarships and discounts to year-round Vineyard residents.
The Felix Neck Fall Festival is turning 22 this year. It takes place on Friday, Nov. 23, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (raindate Nov. 24). The event can be summed up with the words; Migrate, Hibernate, Adapt. There are hayrides, face painting, live music by The Flying Elbows, food, wreath making, crafts for kids and birds of prey.
We are all fired up at Felix Neck!
And why shouldn’t we be? Summer staff is here, camp is going strong and we are getting ready for the big parade next week. But it isn’t just the kids and counselors who are animated.
Our fields are full of light and love in the form of bright beetles. I know exactly what Bishop Reginald Heber was experiencing when he observed, “Before, beside us, and above, the firefly lights his lamp of love.”
