E-Comet Newsletter of the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association
Dear Friends of the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association:

Wow – what a summer! After 2020 when COVID-19 required us to keep our doors closed, this summer was especially invigorating for the Maria Mitchell Association. We were overjoyed to welcome the public back in for tours at our Historic Mitchell House and Aquarium and to provide learning opportunities in astronomy, the natural sciences, history, and more through our public and private programs.
 
This summer we:
  • Taught 233 campers from ages three-and-a-half to sixteen
  • Welcomed over 1,200 visitors at Loines Observatory for Open Night programs
  • Hosted over 140 Feeding Frenzy tours at the Aquarium
  • Worked with an incredibly talented and dedicated group of 24 interns from all over the country
  • Heard from 25 speakers in our Science Speaker Series and had a total of 417 registrants and 818 YouTube views, tuning in from near and far
  • Cared for over 65 different species in our Aquarium
  • Introduced 161 people to the animals in our Natural Science Museum
  • Collected 650 invasive green crabs in our first annual Nantucket Green Crab Derby
And, we launched and celebrated the newly reimagined Stargazer Gala, which was our most successful gala to date!

As always, the end of the summer also comes with goodbyes as summer staff and interns leave to go back to school, back home, or to new jobs and adventures. We said farewell to our Interim Executive Director, Jason Bridges, who served his last day on August 20. In the year he spent at the MMA, we are grateful for his guidance as we navigated the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic. He’s become a forever friend and for that we are thankful – his work and support of the MMA and all of you during this time was sincerely appreciated. It is never easy to step into an Interim role and he did it with grace and humor and with his sleeves rolled up. We wish him well in his new position at Fairwinds.
 
And now, we welcome our new Executive Director, Joanna Roche. Joanna has lived on Nantucket for nearly decade and is very familiar with the island and the MMA. We are excited to work with her and introduce her to all of you, our friends and supporters. Please join us in welcoming Joanna!
 
A friend is not to be found in the world such as one can conceive of such as one needs, for no human being unites so many of the attributes of God, as we feel our nature requires. In one who shall be guide, counselor, well-wisher and the like. We have therefore a circle whom we call friends, giving a name to the whole, which perhaps in its singular occupation might be used for the combination. Out of the whole circle we may make up a single friend. We love them all but we love the union of all better. – Maria Mitchell
Jascin N. Leonardo Finger
Deputy Director, MMA
Curator of the Mitchell House, Archives, and Special Collections
MMA NEWS
Climate Change Awareness Month and Science Speaker Series Presentation
September 1 marks the beginning of Climate Change Awareness Month. At the Maria Mitchell Association, it is our mission to educate and inspire the next generation of scientists and environmental stewards. By sparking an interest in the natural world, we hope our students, campers, and visitors alike will think more deeply about their impact on the world around them and consider how they can preserve it for generations to come. Climate change is a challenge that needs us all to come together as a community and work towards a sustainable future.
To kick off Climate Change Awareness Month, we've added an additional lecture to our Science Speaker Series, featuring Jon Hare, Director at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, based out of the NOAA Woods Hole Laboratory. His talk, “The Comings and Goings of Climate Change - Thinking About Cape Cod’s Marine Ecosystems of the Future” will be the last lecture of the MMA’s FREE Science Speaker Series in 2021. This talk is TONIGHT from 7-8pm via Zoom. Read Hare's abstract and register below!

Climate change is affecting all aspects of our lives, and the ocean waters of the Northeast are among the fastest warming in the world. The evidence for climate change is overwhelming, and the impacts on marine ecosystems are profound. In and around Cape Cod, southern species are occurring more frequently, both in scientific studies and on fishing lines. Northern species, on the other hand, are declining and moving out of our waters. In addition to warming, oceans are becoming more acidic – a phenomenon termed ocean acidification, which is caused by increased carbon dioxide. Ocean acidification is primarily affecting species with shells, which include clams, scallops, and whelks. From a fisheries perspective, these changes will create challenges and opportunities. Thinking about the future can help prepare us for what is to come. 
For more events, activities, and information on Climate Change Awareness Month, visit ACKlimate's website and calendar. ACKlimate collaborates and supports the resilience and sustainability efforts of many organizations on Nantucket, including the MMA. Through their leadership, they inspire many to address climate change and sea level rise in our Nantucket community and beyond.

ACKlimate has also released a Climate Change Awareness Month Scavenger Hunt that will run for the entire month of September! Individuals will get the chance to compete for hundreds of dollars in prize money by completing as many missions as possible. Some of these tasks will include uploading photos of certain island landmarks, conducting research to answer climate change related questions, and visiting specific locations to find missing information. The entire scavenger hunt will be completed using a mobile smartphone application called GooseChase. The GooseChase application is extremely user-friendly and allows each participating member of the public the chance to create their own account to compete, upload their answers, and save their progress throughout Climate Change Awareness Month. ACKlimate designed this scavenger hunt to involve community members of all ages and allow each participant to complete missions in their own time. They hope that people will learn about Nantucket’s resiliency in the face of climate change and rising sea levels by encouraging them to get outside, visit the island’s open spaces and parks, use alternative forms of transportation, and have fun doing so. Happy hunting!
Stargazer Gala Thank You!
Our Stargazer Gala on August 5 was truly a night to remember. We would like to thank our Co-Chairs, sponsors, Host Committee, Special Events Committee, Board, staff, attendees and all who helped make this our most successful gala to date. A very special thank you to our hosts at 23 Hulbert Avenue.

Please visit our website to view the full gallery of photos taken by Georgie Morley. Thank you for celebrating and supporting science, education, research, discovery, and the MMA. We can't wait for next year!
Miss Mitchell's Birthday Contest Winners
This year to mark Maria Mitchell's 203rd Birthday, the MMA hosted several COVID-safe events including a family scavenger hunt, a photo contest, and a drawing contest.

Congratulations to our winners and thank you to all who helped us celebrate Maria and her incredible legacy! Please check out the winners below, and visit our website to see the impressive honorable mentions.
Photo by Natalie Sears, winner of the Photo Contest Teen Division.
Photo by All Kovalencik, winner of the Photo Contest Adult Division.
Drawing by Walker, winner of the Drawing Contest Ages 7 & Under Division.
Drawing by Aria, winner of the Drawing Contest Ages 8-12 Division.
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.”
-Edith Andrews
Keep Calm and Bird On
By Ginger Andrews
September is the time to get out the bird books and study the “Confusing Fall Warblers” pages.

Young birds are dispersing, in their first sets of feathers. Adults are shifting out of breeding plumage, into eclipse or winter plumage. Some immature male birds keep female-type plumage, with its greater camouflage value, through the winter. While some species look the same in any season, many look very different.

Identification takes much greater attention to different details. The Audubon bird guides are helpful here, as the illustrations have nice little black arrows aimed at the salient points. Many are a bit counter-intuitive at first. For example, look at a cryptic warbler’s feet. Are they yellow, as if wearing gloves? Ahah! Blackpoll! Yes, it’s harder to see. And you might just have to write some off as a “sp.” (Species) But you will be a better observer for the exercise.

At this time of year, anything can happen. Southeasterly storms may bring in unusual seabirds, with winds pushing pelagics within viewing distance of shore. Rougher seas may also confuse the bait they depend on for food.

Northwesterly winds may boost migrating land birds to our thickets as they search for fruits to fuel their journey south. Many of them will take off from here on direct flights over open ocean to South America.

Viburnum, chokeberry, chokecherry, huckleberry, pokeweed berries, bittersweet and of course those high-fat powerhouses, bayberries, provide the fuel for migration. Some of these fruits may also help birds, at the molecular level, to metabolize fat without producing the so-called free radicals that cause tissue damage.

So, look for birds by looking at habitat from the birds’ point of view. And remember, extraordinary sightings require extraordinary documentation.
Maria Mitchell and the Daring Daughters of Nantucket Island Walking Tour and Four Centuries Domestic Walking Tour
There are two opportunities for walking tours with the Maria Mitchell Association this month! The first is our "Maria Mitchell and the Daring Daughters of Nantucket Island" with the MMA's Deputy Director & Curator of the Mitchell House, Jascin Leonardo Finger. Join Jascin on Friday, September 10 from 2-4pm for a walking tour concerning the lives of Maria Mitchell and Nantucket’s famous and infamous women, as well as the lesser known women of our island. Learn why whaling, Quakerism, and the isolation of an island afforded these women opportunities that women elsewhere in America at the time were not afforded.

This tour is $10 for MMA Members and $15 for Non-Members. Space is limited and registration is required. Please call (508) 228-2896 to register and for more information. In the case of inclement weather, the program will be cancelled and participants will be notified. Masks are required.

The second opportunity is the unique and extremely popular collaborative "Four Centuries Domestic Tour." This walking tour with the MMA’s Deputy Director & Curator of the Mitchell House, the Nantucket Preservation Trust, and the Nantucket Historical Association looks at the changes in domestic life over four centuries and how it shaped homes, buildings, neighborhoods, and land use. This walk will take place on Saturday, September 11 from 10am-12pm. Participants should meet at the Oldest House on Sunset Hill (tour will end on Main Street). Tour includes possible brief visits inside each building visited.

This tour is $10 per person, no reservations necessary. In the case of inclement weather, the program will be cancelled. Masks are required.
STAY CONNECTED
Watch
Did you miss a recent Science Speaker Series presentation? You can watch the recordings on our YouTube channel!

Watch the lecture, "How to Share Local Observations of Flooding and Erosion and Influence Coastal Management" with Julia Knisel following the link below.

Read
Learn more about Maria Mitchell and the MMA with "Maria Mitchell's Attic," a blog written on a weekly basis by the MMA's Deputy Director and Curator, Jascin Leonardo Finger. The most recent post features Ada Augusta Brewster, who painted this watercolor of the MMO. Leonardo Finger discovered the watercolor (along with one of the Mitchell House) in a scrapbook of Lydia Hinchman, who was one of the founders of the MMA and a daughter of Maria Mitchell’s uncle, Peleg Mitchell Jr. 

Listen
Listen to the latest episode of "Looking Skyward," a podcast with MMA Director of Astronomy, Dr. Regina Jorgenson, on WCAI. In this episode, Dr. Jorgenson discusses what may be the formation of a new moon in a distant solar system 400 light years away.

MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Helene Weld, President
Judy MacLeod, First Vice President
Frances Symes, Second Vice President
Curt Burwell, Treasurer
Joseph E. Santucci Jr., Clerk

MEMBERS
Richard Bard
Margaret Falk
Chris Griffiths
John Hartner
Carolyn Holt
Toni McKerrow
Michael Nelson
Molly Paiement
Mary Archibald (Bebe) Poor, D.V.M., M.S.
Katherine Rhode, Ph.D.
Brian Sullivan
HONORARY MEMBERS
Beverly Barlow
Howard Blitman†
Sally Charpie
John Daniels
Daniel Drake
Joan Gulley
Judith Lee
Malcolm MacNab, M.D., Ph.D.
Eileen McGrath
Nathaniel Philbrick
Anne P. Strain
Edward Symes, III†
The Maria Mitchell Association creates opportunities for all to develop a life-long passion for science through education, research, and first-hand exploration of the sky, land, and sea of Nantucket Island.
Maria Mitchell Association | mariamitchell.org