The Wrack

The farmhouse shingles get a fresh coat of sealant.

That was the bird of the day! A woodland hawk hunting for breakfast found its course suddenly interrupted by the woven nylon of our bird bander's mist net. It was a Coopers Hawk, just a few months old, and with its 285 mm wing chord proved to be a female.…

One icehouse chrysalis has become translucent and a near-adult monarch is now visible through the case. Thanks, Laura L, for the irresistible photographic update.…

The Reserve's milkweed feeds multitudes of monarch larvae. The adult butterflies seem to be especially abundant this summer and signs that they're reproducing are commonplace. The clapboard siding of the icehouse has proven popular with monarch caterpillars. He…

Too hot to move. That's what the birds must be thinking. The banders had the nets up soon after 5:30, by which time it was already over 80 degrees. Six hours later, they closed them down, having completed the requisite duration. By then it was 95.Just three birds in those six hours, all hatch-year captives? two Black-and-white Warblers and an American Robin.Three. That's the banders' lowes…

Mays flooding washed away two of the Reserves water data-logger units used for the System-Wide Monitoring Program (SWMP). Replacing the units was well timed, though, as equipment upgrades now allow public access to real-time data on weather and water quality.

Mosquitoes. Visitor complaint #1.

Too many nutrients can cause more algae growth than an estuary can support. Excess algae leads to decreased oxygen in the water and other symptoms that if left unchecked can completely devastate a marsh. This process is known as eutrophication. Scientists are now developing a tool to help address eutrophication in estuaries.

Shade is in high demand. Artists are beneath the copper beech and any other trees that block the searing sun. They're on the farmhouse porch and in the horse barn's shadow. And they have set their umbrellas into the earth, put on their wide-brimmed straw hats, …

Danger seeps from your garden.

Fertilizer causes tomatoes to ripen larger and plants to grow taller. But applying more than your plants need can have a devastating effect.

The rain washes your excess fertilizer, either manure or chemical, down the road and into the nearest water source. There, it mixes with water traveling from other gardens, farms, and power plants to create a stream of nitrogen and phosphorus. The stream pours directly into the marsh.