Forsythia in All Its Glory

Forsythia, osprey and daffodils are all signs of spring on Nantucket. The brillant yellow of the forsythia bush is hard to capture in a photograph but this shot of a bush down the street from us gives you an idea of how beautiful it is. You'll have to visit Nantucket in the springtime to see for yourself! The forsythia serve as a color-coordinated background for the daffodils that preceded them by just a week or so as they poked through the earth into bloom.

The third sign of Nantucket spring--the osprey--made their way to the island in mid-March. This year the first nesting pair was spotted arranging sticks on an osprey pole on March 18 by Nantucketer Rob Early. Osprey nests are situated high up on poles all around the island.

Each year the person calling in the first sighting to the Maria Mitchell Association is recognized with a certificate, with the sighting written up in the local newspapers. Rob has been the first to sight osprey for the past two years.

According to the Maria Mitchell Association, the osprey winter in Northern South America and then return to Nantucket until late September. Their departure signifies the close of summer and the advent of fall. They're beautiful to watch as they soar above the earth with their four-foot wingspan.

When I worked at Maria Mitchell last year I enjoyed hearing ornithologist emeritus Edith Andrews, in her 90s, talk about osprey and their nests, which they build using all kinds of found objects they spot as they fly around. The island's birders, according to Edith, have even found Barbie dolls incorporated into the nests. The dolls must have attracted the osprey from the air with their bright colored hair and clothing.

Osprey are often seen flying through the air carrying very large fish, returning to the nest to feed their young. Our friends out at the UMass Field Station, Sarah and Len, have reported sightings of osprey soaring through the air with shiny gold koi in their beaks, having raided some wealthy summer resident's koi pond in the neighborhood. Now that's good taste.