How can we help birds in this intense heat? The most important way is to provide water for them. I find I fill my bird bath several times a day during hot days.

How do birds stay cool with all the down feathers? Birds don’t sweat (lucky devils) but to rid themselves of the body heat they have to use water as we do. Birds’ methods of lowering their temperature are by way of evaporative cooling. Birds pant or vibrate their throats or gular patches to cool off. Some birds have off-the-wall techniques to lower their temperature. Black vultures excrete onto their legs to speed up heat loss by evaporation. Gulls will turn and face the sun so the whitest part of their body is reflecting the sun. Gulls also will stand in water to cool off — just as we do! The chicks of gulls and other birds will stand in the shade of their parents or other birds on excessively hot days to find relief. Birders the world around know that in the heat of the day, birds are hard to find. They are seeking shade just as we are. Stay cool and provide water for the birds and yourself.

Bird Sightings

Robert Levine spoke to me about a common problem. He has a square cage that closes with a hook and holds a cake of suet. The cage is full and hooked shut in the evening and hanging on a tree. In the morning everything has been eaten — without the hook being opened! Houdini? No, a very hungry and persistent raccoon is the culprit. Gus Ben David and I have seen raccoons and crows go after suet cages for their contents, but we agree that the raccoons are the most efficient in “cleaning house.” Suet can become rancid quite fast in this heat. Perhaps it is best to take the suet down during hot days and put it in a bag in the refrigerator until the days have cooled off. To prevent losing your suet overnight, take it down, bag it and refrigerate it until the morning.

Many birders are enjoying hearing birds even if they are unable to spot them amongst the leaves. Tom Rivers heard both a chestnut-sided warbler and a veery singing on Tea Lane in Chilmark June 30 and July 1. He has also heard a whippoorwill calling during the daylight hours. Rob Culbert has some exciting news. He spotted a broad-winged hawk again near the State Forest on July 3. He also heard field sparrow, rose-breasted grosbeak and yellow-billed cuckoo singing in the same area.

Larry Hepler spotted two great egrets at Black Point Pond on June 29 and has a young great crested flycatcher around his Chilmark house.

Margetty Coe e-mailed to say she thought she had seen an immature bald eagle at Aquinnah on June 29. Yes, you undoubtedly did. There has been one seen in Oak Bluffs and Chilmark, and Aquinnah is a short trip from either location for an eagle. Unfortunately Margetty’s photo did not come through in the e-mail attachment, but her description matched that of an immature bald eagle.

Penelope, the itinerant osprey that was fitted with a transmitter a couple of years ago on the Vineyard, is giving us quite a show. She has visited every state in New England except Maine and Vermont. We expected her to return to the Vineyard, but instead she is presently on Block Island. Dick Jennings and Rob Bierregaard can’t figure her out! On another osprey front, Rob has been asked if one osprey deserts a nest, can the youngsters be moved to another nest. Rob’s answer was, “As tempting as it is to intervene and rescue young that will probably starve (single-parent birds often finish raising a brood of young when they’ve lost a mate, so it isn’t certain that the young won’t make it), it really doesn’t make sense to do this for a species that is doing as well as ospreys are.” For the complete text go online to bioweb.uncc.edu/bierregaard.

I received an e-mail from Liz Baldwin who filled me in on the total at present for the shorebird census. We have 35 pairs of piping plovers who have fledged 14 young, 13 young are not yet flying and three pairs are still on nests. There are 19 pairs of American oystercatchers who have fledged 11 young, with two pairs still on nests. The big tern colony at Norton Point is huge; no count at present. There are tern chicks and nests also at Harthaven, Mink Meadows and Edgartown Great Pond. Liz added that she also has a common tern nesting all by itself in the back dunes on Joseph Sylvia State Beach — crazy bird!

Bob Shriber saw a bobwhite in Aquinnah on July 3. Warren Woessner found three cedar waxwings and a piping plover on South Beach in Edgartown on July 6.

Matt Pelikan’s observations show the delight one can have from planting native shrubs. The shadbush (wild pear) next to his office at the Wakeman Center had American robins, gray catbirds, eastern phoebes, great-crested flycatchers and northern cardinals all feeding on the nearly ripe fruits. Matt also heard a yellow-billed cuckoo nearby on June 29.

Eleanor Waldron, Barbara Pesch and I counted eight great blue herons flying west along South Beach in Chilmark on July 7. Great blue herons do not nest on the Island and usually the migrants do not start appearing until August, with peak numbers being seen in September and October.

 

Please report your bird sightings to the Martha’s Vineyard Bird Hotline at 508-627-4922 or e-mail to birds@mvgazette.com.

Susan B. Whiting is the coauthor of Vineyard Birds and Vineyard Birds II. Her Web site is vineyardbirds2.com.