GREEN GRASS AND GOALS
Frequent users of Backus Lane have seen the cleared land between the town's skate park and the Muse, which the town brush cut and graded several weeks ago.

There will not be houses springing up on this 4.4-acre lot anytime soon. Instead, the Nantucket Public Schools are building two new playing fields for the schools' athletic programs. Specifically, the fields are slated for football and soccer practice. But the fields need two years for the grass to take root and grow thick enough and become durable enough to support the intense uses of soccer and football.

HORSESHOE CRABS 101 Blue blood, multiple eyes and four millions years of survival on the planet; the horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus, is an ecological wonder that few people ever see more of than their overturned shells, gutted by gulls and left strewn on beaches along with other crab parts. But in the coming weeks, these prehistoric-looking marine arachnids (an eightleg crustacean) will be crawling out of the depths of the harbors to spawn and lay their eggs in beaches around the island.

For you, the curious beach walker, there is an opportunity to learn about the lifecycle of the horseshoe crab, its place in the harbor and estuarine ecosystem, scientific studies of their blood and join in a survey of their island population size. That chance is with the Maria Mitchell Association on a field trip entitled "In Search of the Spawning Horseshoe Crab." The event happens May 21 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The trip is free to Maria Mitchell and Trustees of Reservations' members and $10 for non-Maria Mitchell members. Those interested in participating should muster at the Wauwinet Gatehouse. Got questions, call Maria Mitchell at 228-9198.

After you've learned where and when to look for horseshoe crabs - during May and June at water's edge on evening high tides around the new and full moons - you can help the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries locate Nantucket shorelines where horseshoe crabs spawn to enhance its management and protection of horseshoe crab habitat. When you're out on the beaches and find these crabs spawning, jot down location with a landmark or street name and contact Alison Leschen at 508-990-2860 or at Alison.leschen@state.ma.us. If you want to learn more about this project, check out www.mass.gov/marinefisheries.

DEAD BIRDS Goldfinches, common redpolls and evening grosbeaks are dropping dead in several towns around the state from the bird seed they're eating because of suspected salmonella poisoning, the most common disease of birds that subsist on food from birdfeeders, according to the Massachusetts Audubon Society.

This intestinal tract infection causes symptoms including diarrhea, ruffled feathers, and lethargy. The disease, according to the clinic, is spread quickly at busy feeders with healthy birds eating food littered with droppings from infected birds. People who feed birds can get salmonella by handling sick birds and should always wear disposable gloves when picking up infected birds.

If you think your feeder is infected, wear gloves and soak it in a solution of one part bleach and 10 parts water for several hours, and rinse and dry away from your kitchen. Mass Audubon also recommends that feeders can be re-hung if there are no sightings of sick or dead birds after two weeks.

The Tufts Wildlife Clinic is accepting sick birds for treatment and seeks reports of dead birds near feeders. Reach them at 508-839-7918. For more details, call Mass. Audubon's Wildlife Information

Line at 781-259-2150. I

BRICKS, OUTDOOR SHOWERS On the site of the former Art Colony at the intersection of Commercial and Washington streets, the residential development, Harbor View Place is springing up where the likes of Ruth Haviland Sutton, Ann Ramsdell Congdon, Emily Hoffmeier, Harriet Lord and Henry Stephens Eddy practiced their arts. With most of its seven buildings nearing completion, Harbor View Place had to make a few minor site changes, which the Planning Board approved at its April 28 meeting.

The changes include adding landscaped brick walkways, outdoor showers to each building, dry-laid patios behind each building facing the harbor and an underground propane storage tank. Harbor View Place's surveyor, Art Gasbarro of Blackwell & Associates, told the board he already amended the Conservation Commission order of conditions for these changes. Also, a red maple tree behind the buildings, which Gasbarro characterized as too far gone to save, will be replaced per approval of Nantucket's tree warden, Dave Champoux.