Fresh Water Turtles of Fishers Island by Penni Sharp Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) On any sunny spring or summer day, anyone passing by one of Fishers Island’s freshwater ponds may catch a glimpse of turtles basking on an exposed rock or fallen tree. These turtles are most likely to be painted turtles (Chrysemys
Cinnamon fern (Osmunda cinnamomea). HLFM Sanctuary, 5/15/13. Ferns of Fishers Island by Penni Sharp Fishers Island is a botanically diverse island with a number of different habitat types supporting different plant communities. Nearly 1000 species of vascular plants were identified in a 2003 study of the island flora. The flora of Fishers Island
2012 Nature Notes Fishers Island is host to many bird species and perhaps the most striking are the herons and egrets, members of the bird family Ardeidae.
2011 Nature Notes Two years ago, a bird not seen at Fishers Island for a number of years, returned. The bird was the Piping plover (Charadrius melodus), a federally threatened species in the Atlantic region. During the 1970s, the island supported a small colony of this species near Middle Farms; however, habitat change and other causes resulted in the disappearance of this bird from Fishers.
2010 Nature Notes For a relatively small island, Fishers has a thriving owl population. Owls are sighted frequently and often heard calling at dusk and during the night. In southern New England, the Barred Owl (Strix varia) is the most common large owl. This holds true on Fishers Island as well and many of us have seen or heard this owl with its distinctive eight-note call and/or its several variations.
2009 Nature Notes The month of May brings with it the assurance that spring is fully underway. The landscape is fresh and green and the woodland wildflowers make their appearance, capitalizing on the sunlight that filters to the forest floor. Insects, some more welcomed than others, reappear.
2008 Nature Notes During the first warm rainy nights in late winter or early spring, a ritual occurs throughout the woodlands of the northeast, including Fishers Island. This is the return of amphibian species to their breeding pools.
2007 Nature Notes During June, a careful look at some of the beaches on the north side of Fishers Island will reveal numerous tiny exoskeletons of one of the oldest creatures still living today, the Horseshoe Crab (Limulus polyphemus).
2006 Nature Notes The American woodcock (Scolopax minor) is a breeding bird on Fishers Island although it is seldom seen due to its reclusive habits.
2005 Nature Notes Fishers Island has been included in a fascinating article by Robert T. McMaster appearing in the Journal of Biogeography. The study investigated factors influencing vascular plant diversity on 22 islands off the coast of eastern North America.
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F.I. Sketchbook 2005
