Free Book Offer

Get Vineyard Birds II
by Bird News columnist Susan Whiting and co-author Barbara Pesch,
your free gift with a new or gift subscription

Related Categories

Bird News
Farm & Field
Vineyard Gardener
Nature & Conservation

Search
All Outdoors

Friday, July 18, 2008
Three types of morning glories call Martha’s Vineyard home, one native and two introduced. The former, wild morning glory, is found in wet environs and is not very common; while the latter, called bindweed and wild potato vine respectively, are both known to be botanic pests. But, as poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox said, “A weed is but an unloved flower.” So what’s the story, morning glory?
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, July 11, 2008
Ronald Rood had a great and somewhat timeless concept for a book. In 1971, he penned a little paperback titled Animals Nobody Loves, highlighting the wonders of some often-maligned creatures. The author cleverly divides the book of unloved critters into three sections, based on the reasons for finding them objectionable: The Way They Look, The Way They Act, and A Little of Both.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, July 4, 2008
No one is happier than I am about the preponderance of peas. We are nearing legume lunacy - snap, sugar, English, snow and others adorn many gardens and many minds.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, June 27, 2008
Ouch — both literally and metaphorically.

I will say pointedly that thistle has some sharp issues. To look at this plant, one might think of a pincushion due to its predilection for prickles. You can find them on its stem, leaves, bracts, and even the single bulbous flower head.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, June 20, 2008
While most of us know that it is not polite to spit, there are some who refuse to follow even this basic tenet of manners.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, June 13, 2008
I have been very blessed lately, and I bet that you have been too.

It is not an epidemic of good fortune, but rather an overabundance of pollen that has brought all of those “bless you’s” in response to the seemingly never-ending supply of sneezes.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, June 6, 2008
It is for good reason that the meadows are red-faced. Blame it on embarrassment, but more likely it is sorrel that is the cause. Red sorrel has created that crimson glow.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, May 30, 2008
They’re back, we hope. Within a week or two, the nymphs may emerge from the ground where they have hibernated for 17 years, occasionally sipping on water and other nutrients from the roots of trees and shrubs which they pierce with their beaks. The nymphs emerge from the ground, hatch into adults and start their mating cycle.
» Full Story By Allan Keith

Friday, May 23, 2008
I can “azure” you that it is finally spring.

It wasn’t a little birdie that told me; rather, a small butterfly. This butterfly has all the reason in the world to be blue. For that is the color of the spring azure butterfly.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, May 16, 2008
If you blinked last week, then you might have missed it. The shadbush bloomed.

Shadbush is a quick-change artist: its flowers are here one moment and gone the next. Before leaf-out of most other woodland species, the slender five-petaled white flowers of the shadbush appear and fade away quickly.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, May 9, 2008
The ability of pigweed to grow cannot be denied. It grows just about anywhere and may grow to be six feet tall. Last May we discovered it in our community garden plot at the Farm Institute, which is not too surprising since it is a common garden weed.
» Full Story By Robert A. Culbert

Friday, May 2, 2008
I guess that it is true that you can’t have it all. Wood anemones should know this adage well since they lack much.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, April 25, 2008
The other night I had the strangest sensation that I was sleeping with Dracula.

Morning brought not the prince of darkness, but another vampire-like creature. Unlike the original scourge of Transylvania, this small blood-sucking beast took to my leg rather than my neck and was still with me by the light of day.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, April 18, 2008
There are many wonderful sayings regarding the first blooms of spring.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, April 11, 2008
It seemed like a harmless sort: a symbol of purity and hope, a cancer crusader and fundraiser, and beautiful harbinger of spring; but, if the truth be told, the daffodil has a dark and sinister side.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, April 4, 2008
Green home building is all the rage right now, but humans are Johnny-come-latelys to ecological building. Our “nests” are too often made from new materials that come from far and wide. Not so in the avian world.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, March 28, 2008
Run, herring, run! Or, rather, swim, herring, swim, to your natal stream. River herring — harbingers of spring — should be back soon, if they are not already.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, March 21, 2008
Next week, I will put all of my eggs in one basket.

It is, after all, Easter, and more importantly spring. Eggs are a symbol of the season. In addition to representing rebirth of the earth, new life and fertility, they are just plain good to eat.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, March 14, 2008
This tree will give you shakes and shingles.

Building materials aside, many of us agree that the Eastern red cedar is a terrific tree.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, March 7, 2008
Some males will do anything to impress the ladies.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, February 29, 2008
Only slow food will do for this bird.

Faster prey would fly, run or otherwise get away before it became a vulture’s meal. Vultures like their food not just slow, but stopped cold (and dead too.) Fresh kill is good, but, in a pinch, the vulture can eat meat that has begun to rot. Luckily (or, thanks to adaptation), the vulture won’t get sick.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, February 22, 2008
There is a whale of a tale in Edgartown.

Marine mammal madness is what I call it. Earlier this week, I received a call about a few animals that have been swimming around Edgartown harbor. The caller thought that they were either dolphins or pilot whales. Either one would be a good sighting and would make for a nice article.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, February 15, 2008
I learned a hard lesson last Sunday.

It was about two hours into my research and half an hour into the writing of this week’s column when I came across a disturbing fact.

Hail occurs in the spring and summer.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, February 8, 2008
The apple was wrongly accused. It might just have been an innocent victim of an ancient slander. Many scholars believe that it was actually a pomegranate and not an apple that tempted Eve and led to her banishment from Eden. The mistake may be understandable, as pomegranate translates roughly as “apple with grain-like seeds. ” Eve was not able to resist.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Friday, February 1, 2008
Sometimes you just have to face the facts, even if they seem rather unpleasant.

Most people use the term habitat without realizing that they are one. Yes, you read right: whether you know it or not, you are a habitat and a home base for ectoparasites.
» Full Story By Suzan Bellincampi

Print Page

Email this page to a friend

Back to top

Email a link to this web page

Send
Email Your message here.

to:
from:

---

© 2008 Vineyard Gazette