Dick Jennings sent me a photograph of a shore bird he found out on the shore of Cape Pogue Bay. The caption was “What is this, it looks like a willet, but it is the wrong color?” Dick was correct, it was a willet and his confusion was legitimate. There are two subspecies of willets found in the United States. One is the eastern (Tringa semipalmata semipalmata) and the other the western willet (Tringa semipalmata inornata).

Now we enter the world of esoteric birding 101. Some would say a willet is a willet. Others would show you that the eastern willet has a grey belly whereas the western has a whitish breast in the juvenile and fall plumages. They would also note that the western willet is larger than the eastern. The bill of the western willet is longer and thinner and the eastern’s stouter and shorter. The western willet has longer legs as well. The eastern willet has a grey forehead and the western a white one. And finally, the western willet’s call is slightly deeper than the eastern willet’s.

I checked with Allan Keith who has been researching willets for a book he is working on and he told me that eastern willets nest on the Vineyard and along the coast to Nova Scotia and down to Florida and Gulf Coast around to Texas. This population then migrates down to the eastern coast of South America. Western willets migrate south to the western coast of South America and east, spending the winter on the Gulf Coast and southeastern Atlantic coast.

Allan also noted that most of the eastern willet adults have migrated south by late July and the juveniles are gone by August. The western willets move in August and so if we were to see a western willet it would make sense that it is now. It is nice that Dick realized he was seeing something unusual and the Vineyard birders were able to puzzle it out.

Bird Sightings

Ruby-throated hummingbirds are putting on quite a show this summer. The hot dry weather is just what these, the smallest of our North American birds, relish. Tom Rivers called to say that he has been through most of his wife Barbara’s sugar to fill his hummingbird feeders. He has counted seven hummers around his feeders and suggested that they look like a miniature fleet of fighter jets.

Catherine Deese called to say she was amazed to count 10 ruby-throated hummingbirds around her feeders on North Road on the Chilmark/West Tisbury line on August 15. Tom Engley had so many hummingbirds around his two feeders near Oyster/Watcha Pond that he couldn’t tell if there were 15 or 20 hummers. He mentioned it was like watching a swarm of bees. Flip Harrington and I have at least four hummers at our one feeder. Sheila and Tim Baird were surprised to see two of their four hummers sitting on the feeder at the same time. Usually they are chasing each other around. The late Dr. Alexander Skutch of Costa Rica suggests that hummingbirds are dashing after each other in play, not aggression. Whatever the case, it is great to see the number of ruby-throated hummingbirds on the Vineyard this summer.

Anyone who has birded in Latin America watches many species of hummers sharing the same feeder. Sheila Baird thought the difference was that with a larger number of species of hummingbirds their territory might be smaller.

Dick Jennings spotted a female peregrine falcon at Wasque on August 13. The next day it had moved to Tisbury Great Pond.

On August 14, Allan Keith, Bill Lee, Harriette Otteson, Lanny McDowell, Flip Harrington and I birded Quansoo. The best event was when a big female peregrine falcon spooked all the shorebirds off the flats. The peregrine took off after a flock of sanderlings and cut one out of the flock and chased it for a good five minutes. The sanderling flew sky-high to try to avoid being below the peregrine. When both birds were almost out of sight and the air was thin, the sanderling was unable to stay above and was caught. The peregrine then came down out of the clouds and Sarah Mayhew saw it by the Quansoo gate. We had a good selection of shorebirds; the best being one eastern willet, four white-rumped sandpipers, 75 short billed dowitchers, seven American oystercatchers and five piping plovers. We also spotted a female northern harrier flying across Tisbury Great Pond. Later that same day Pete Gilmore spotted the immature bald eagle at Sepiessa on the east side of Tisbury Great Pond.

Lanny McDowell saw the female peregrine at Norton Point on August 18. He was saddened to find no black skimmer chick or eggs. He did spot one adult skimmer along Katama Bay. We figure the skunks probably took the eggs and maybe the chick. Lanny added that the number of laughing gulls had greatly increased.

Scott Stephens saw a Manx shearwater off Gay Head on August 13. At home on Pilot Hill, Penny Uhlendorf counted five ruby-throated hummingbirds and was waiting for the Carolina wren chicks to fledge so she can use her clothespin bag again.

Julie Ben David still had a pair of Baltimore orioles at her Oak Bluffs feeder. The Bairds’ orioles disappeared a couple of weeks ago, but they had a male return to their Edgartown trumpet vine on August 16 and 18.

A group of intrepid West Chop walkers joined me at Quansoo on August 16. They braved wind and storm and saw a good cross section of shorebirds, white-rumped sandpipers, piping plovers and ruddy turnstones. The best bird was a northern gannet that was diving offshore.

The next day the last of a series of Chilmark Community Center walks went to Lobsterville’s Red Beach. Shorebirds dotted the flats, but the sight that drew our attention the most was a flock of close to 400 tree swallows. Melinda Sowizral mentioned that she remembers this type of flocking in September, not midAugust. I agreed.

Pete Gilmore, Allan Keith and I decided to check out Gay Head on August 15 to see if any migrants were moving through. The only bird that we thought could qualify as a migrant was an orchard oriole. Bill Lee was at Squibnocket on August 13 and counted 10 ruddy turnstones, a white-winged scoter, a laughing gull as well as other peeps.

Flip Harrington and I spotted a belted kingfisher, two spotted sandpipers, a green heron and a Baltimore oriole in Town Cove on Tisbury Great Pond the afternoon of August 15.

Tom Rivers heard a screech owl on August 17 from his home off Tea Lane in Chilmark. Tom also mentioned that his whip-poor-wills must have moved south as he is not hearing them calling.

I have no idea what the osprey at Chappaquiddick has been smoking! Dick Jennings sent me a photo of an osprey holding a tomato in its talons. Skip and Nancy deBettencourt took photos of the same vegetarian osprey.

Phillip Hunziker spotted what he felt was a goshawk sitting in a tree near the Felix Neck feeders. He did not take a photo, so because this is a rare bird on the Island and occurred at an usual time, we need more sightings or a photo for verification.

 

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