Revolutionary Harbor: Signs of Spring

Spring is Coming! Join the Boston Harbor Islands Natural Resource Team as we virtually explore signs of spring in the Harbor with local and regional experts.

Presentation 1: Spring Migration and the Boston Harbor Islands - Spring is a dynamic season, with blooming flowers, new leaves on the trees, seasonally emerging insects, and returning migratory birds all briefly turning the landscape into a carnival of color and sound. Because birds are among the most stunning and animated players in this anticipated panoply, their activities are inevitably of special interest. By April most of the seasonal withdrawal of wintering waterfowl has already taken place, at the same time that many of the harbor’s breeding species are engaged in early nesting activities, migrating cormorants and several raptor species are moving north over the harbor islands, and periodically island vegetation is decorated with the presence of brightly colored songbird migrants bound for northern New England and eastern Canada to nest after a winter spent in the tropics.

This presentation will briefly highlight the behavior of a few of these species, including the destinations of the migrant species, and the remarkable way in which they accomplish their epic seasonal journeys.

About the presenter:Wayne Petersen is the director of the Massachusetts Important Bird Area (IBA) program for Mass Audubon. He has lectured and conducted birding workshops across North America for over 40 years, and his tour leading experiences have practically taken him around the world. Among his writing projects are the Field Guide to Birds of Massachusetts, co-authorship of Birds of Massachusetts, and co-editorship of the Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas 1 and 2. Wayne is also the editor of New England Christmas Bird Counts, and he serves on the advisory committees of the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program and the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. His knowledge and broad perspective of the seasonal distribution of New England bird life were recognized in 2005 when he received the American Birding Association’s Ludlow Griscom Award for outstanding contributions in regional ornithology.

Presentation 2: Sphingidae Hawkmoths/Sphinx Moths - Sphingidae (Hawkmoths/Sphinx Moths) are able to survive our winters, what cues they require in the spring, and their diversity and ecology in urban areas such as Boston and the Harbor Islands. These moths pupate underground, and as such, require different cues than butterflies, and often appear later in the year.

About the presenter: Teá Kesting-Handly is a third year PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Her work is on the ecology of Sphingidae moths, focusing on their abundance along urban to rural gradients, taxonomy, and various aspects of their larval phenoplasticity. In her spare time, she curates SphingidaeUSA, a website dedicated to collecting all of the ecological information about Sphingidae in the USA. She is also the president and founder of The New England Entomological Society.

Photo credit: Brian Small

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