The most intriguing bird of this week is the varied thrush seen in Dodger’s Hole in Edgartown by Ira Certner and Dorie Godfrey on Nov. 18. First they noted a flock of cedar waxwings, which they do not normally see in their yard. Then a flock of robins arrived and proceeded to their bird bath. They had their binoculars out to watch the waxwings, but they scanned the robins at the bird bath and noticed a robin-like bird with an overall orangey cast, an eyebar, and a black collar. The different bird was a varied thrush, a rare visitor from the west coast.
Of course, the varied thrush disappeared into the state forest before they could get a photograph of this rare visitor. They searched for it in the state forest but could not locate the bird again.
The website ebird reports that there have only been two other eastern sightings of varied thrushes so far this month, one on Nov. 7 in southern New Jersey and another on Nov. 18 in Montreal, Canada. That same website also shows four sightings of that species on Martha’s Vineyard: in Edgartown on March 15, 1994; in Oak Bluffs on Jan. 19-23, 2005; in Edgartown from Feb. 7 to April 14, 2006; and another sighting in Edgartown on Nov. 23, 2006. I remember seeing one near the summit of Indian Hill Road, but cannot find the date of that sighting. A varied thrush is a rare and exciting sighting.
Knowing that this bird was here recently means that we need to keep our eyes out for it. Of course it may be long gone, but it could also be hanging out with one of our many flocks of winter resident robins. And the robins often travel around with cedar waxwings and eastern bluebirds. Another species that could hang out in such flocks is a Bohemian waxwing, the larger northern cousin of our cedar waxwing.
Bird Sightings
Allan Keith has found some good birds. At the Gay Head Cliffs on Nov. 9 he found a blue-headed vireo, orange-crowned warbler, savannah sparrow and eastern meadowlark. At Squibnocket he added a house wren and a yellow-breasted chat. On Nov. 14 he had a solitary tree swallow fly past his Chilmark house. On Nov. 18 he observed one common grackle that visited his yard briefly. He then went to the cliffs where his one highlight was a Baltimore oriole. When he visited Squibnocket later that day, he found several firsts for the season, including pied-billed grebe, ruddy ducks, gadwalls, red-necked grebe and red-throated loon. He also found a very late red-eyed vireo.
Great egrets and American oystercatchers are still around. Cookie Gazaille Perry found an oystercatcher at Little Beach on Nov. 17, and Jeff Bernier found a great egret that was feasting on mummichogs that had become trapped in small pools at low tide in Menemsha on Nov. 18.
Lanny McDowell spotted some horned larks on Nov. 21.
And that same day Anne Lemenager found a “squadron of surf scoters” off East Chop, probably the same flock that Tim Johnson observed on Nov. 18. Meanwhile, Nathalie Woodruff observed a number of Bonaparte’s gulls in the same locale. And Sharon Simonin observed some robins feeding on juniper berries, which are present in abundance at the East Chop Lighthouse.
On Nov. 22, Mr. McDowell went to East Beach on Chappaquiddick and spotted a small flock of Ipswich sparrows. They are a larger and much paler version of our Savannah sparrows, and they breed exclusively on Sable Island — that small sandbar out in the middle of the North Atlantic. They are almost always found on ocean beaches. Allan Keith found one of these pale sparrows at Quansoo Beach on Nov. 18.
Charlie Kernick has had an adult Cooper’s hawk buzzing his West Tisbury feeders. Molly Anderson also has a Cooper’s hawk coming to her yard daily, though it seems to be stealing dog treats — rawhide bones with chicken jerky — rather than searching for birds.
Gus Ben David just put up his 143rd osprey pole on the Vineyard (about two-thirds of them are utilized by ospreys). This one was erected at Squibnocket with assistance from Albert Fischer, Anne Lemenager, Danny Whiting and Dick Jennings. Mr. Ben David also reports that his flock of dark-eyed juncos finally showed up on Nov. 16. On Nov. 22, his house finches returned after a long absence, and he had an adult peregrine falcon strafe the ducks in his duck pond.
There are lots of birds around, so please get out looking for them, and be sure to report your bird sightings to birds@mvgazette.com.
Robert Culbert leads Saturday morning guided birding tours and is an ecological consultant living in Vineyard Haven.
Comments
Comment policy »