Before you grab that beef burger or toss some packages of hot dogs and buns into your shopping cart, think about going local this Fourth of July. East End baymen and baywomen provide heavenly and healthy seafood year round. Rounding out your holiday eating with fresh seafood from nearby waters seems to us a fine way to celebrate.

Brown-headed cowbirds and guinea hens were pecking at the ground this morning where seeds had fallen from the bird feeder. I am splitting my time these days between Greenport and East Hampton and have noticed with interest that, aside from the shore birds you see along the beach on the ocean side, avian visitors on the North Fork are much the same as those on the South Fork. (Although the guinea hens, of course, are not native or migratory; they have been imported to feast on ticks.)

This has been a fine week to be a bird. Judging from the noise outside the window before dawn, they are fat and happy — especially those that eat insects. This has also been a fine week, or year actually, to be a mosquito.

“UFO Sightings Desk Reference,” a county-by-county compilation of saucer sightings in all 50 states, ranked Suffolk County as number one, with 554 U.F.O.s reported from 2001 to 2015. Here are some of the most notable sightings over East Hampton and Montauk.

On a day that I thought I should stay in bed — dragged down temporarily by a cough that came hand in hand with the fecund delights of spring — I went instead with Mary on a bus trip to the New York Botanical Garden, returning, if not cured, enlivened by what I’d seen.

AMAGANSETT

154 Cranberry Hole to J. Sun, 22 Pepperidge Lane, 1.9 acres, April 17, $4,100,000.

G. Basso and M. and J. Potter to Town of East Hampton, Stoney Hill Lane, 7.1 acres (vacant), April 26, $568,000.

G. Basso to Town of East Hampton, 4 and 6 Hamlin Lane, 4.3 acres (vacant), April 26, $2,982,000.

A Call Comes In
Montauk
June 30, 2019

Dear Editor:

A terrible tragedy occurred here in Montauk this week. Twin little girls were murdered and their mother is accused.

Here it is half the year gone and I understand less about nature while studying it more. Friday evening was the perfect night for studying the flashes of the fireflies. It was calm, only partly cloudy, and gray tree frogs were singing from the wet spots.

It’s been an unusual season for the normally reliable bluefish this year. Catches were scarce in many locales the past two months, and the fish showed up only a week or so ago in Noyac Bay. Usually they could be found as early as the first week of May in this area.

Concerned Citizens of Montauk released its latest round of water testing results on Thursday, indicating potentially harmful levels of the bacteria enterococcus in many of the water bodies that the group monitors, even before the heavy rains that followed the June 24 sampling.

Guild Hall will celebrate the artistry of the instrument with the second annual Guitar Masters festival, starting Friday when no less a master than Buddy Guy takes the stage at 8 p.m. On Saturday, the Allman Betts Band, featuring three sons of the Allman Brothers Band, takes over. On Sunday, another offspring of a legend, Roseanne Cash, will close out the festival with a band that includes the guitarist John Leventhal.

It has been an open secret for some time that Howard Stern might be the best interviewer in America, humorous and agile. His new book, “Howard Stern Comes Again,” anthologizes the highlights of his radio career, from Paltrow to McCartney to Trump, complete with cross-references.

The East Hampton Historical Society's Poetry Marathon, held at the Mulford Farm on James Lane in the village, returns Sunday to continue a roughly 25-year tradition, with wine, comestibles, and signings.

Showfish’s menu illustrates Chef Blutstein’s exuberant adoration of local fish and farms. Interestingly enough, his name is not on the menu but the names of over 13 farmers, fishermen, and cheesemakers are.

Two new works recently joined the other installations and objects that came this year from Young Jae Lee, Will Ryman, Jun Kaneko, Wendell Castle, and Joseph Walsh. They are “Out of Sight,” an installation resembling a hopscotch board by Lawrence Weiner, and Stephen Talasnik’s “Echo,” floating reed bamboo “habitats” in the Black Mirror fountain.

The Amagansett Library will launch “Secrets in Family Documentaries,” a series of four films that explore different approaches to telling stories behind family secrets, with “Little White Lie,” a film by Lacey Schwartz, next Thursday at 6 p.m.

Market Art + Design, on the grounds behind the Bridgehampton Museum along Corwith Avenue, where it began in 2011, will be open with 90 galleries from Friday through Sunday.

Fireworks season on the South Fork will be in full swing starting on Wednesday, and displays will continue to light up the skies this summer.

Have an old frame, dusty book, or outdated piece of furniture you can’t seem to get rid of? Your household items and antiques could be worth more than you think.

Amber Waves Farm in Amagansett will hold a pizza-making class Friday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. The cost is $40. Tickets can be purchased on the farm’s website.