Shorebirds, waders, peeps, squatters, twiddlers, tattlers or sandpipers, it makes no difference what you call the members of the Scolopacidae family. They have hit the beaches, flats and fields of the Vineyard running. The shorebirds are visiting the Vineyard now and will be for the next few weeks. Visiting from where and why here?

The vast majority of sandpipers are long-distance migrants, some traveling up to 6,000 miles nonstop. The peeps we observe every summer on the Island are stopping over to fuel up as they move from their breeding grounds in the tundra to their winter digs in Central and South America. Now I can definitely see moving south in the winter, but why go up to the tundra?

The tundra is an area in northern Canada and Alaska where the ground is frozen most of the year, the results permafrost. The wintertime temperatures go from 28 to 50 below zero! The summer months warm up and the tundra’s weather can climb to a whopping 54 degrees. This causes the melting of the top of the permafrost and creates a soggy mess full of mosquitoes and every other type of biting fly, in my eyes. However, the shorebirds have a different take on this. The incredible hatches of insects provide food which has become scarce as their Latin American winter homes become cooler and provide less food. Migration for birds is essentially the movement from one area of abundant food to another.

The peeps head up to the tundra in the spring, some flying as high as 20,000 feet. When they arrive, they mate, build nests and hatch their young. Almost immediately thereafter the adults start moving south to arrive on Island in July, with the largest numbers moving through the Vineyard flats in August. It is amazing to learn that young hatchling shorebirds are precocial and leave their nest soon after hatching. Within short order the youngsters can feed themselves, although the parents do tend to them for a while — each species having different routines.

There are a few shorebird species that have some sense, in my eyes. They are the American oystercatcher, the willet, the piping plover, the spotted sandpiper, the Wilson’s snipe and the American woodcock. These are short-distance migrants and have chosen to stay in the more moderate environment, so they nest on the Island! There is enough food for these few species to raise their clutches and then move south in the fall.

Why do so many shorebirds visit the Vineyard in the late summer and fall? You guessed it: there is an abundance of invertebrates on the flats, and seeds and berries in the fields. The Vineyard is the equivalent of a glorified pit stop where they can rest and fuel up. A good number of the shorebirds when full and rested will take off, usually at night and at high tide, and head directly on a nonstop flight to South America. Others will make a couple more pit stops along the way.

It is always a treat to visit the flats around the Island at this time of year and relearn the field marks that distinguish one peep from another. It is a challenge. Please be thoughtful and don’t walk through a flock of shorebirds; they may have just had a tiresome flight and need to feed to survive and continue on.

Bird Sightings

The Chilmark Community Center bird watchers found 10 species of shorebirds on the flats at Tisbury Great Pond on August 3. The best bird was a white-rumped sandpiper. We also had four species of gulls, herring, greater black-backed, ring-billed and laughing. Allan Keith and Al Sgroi joined us and I thank them for their input and their scopes! Join me Tuesday, August 10 at 8 a.m. at the Chilmark Community Center for another bird walk.

Two female birders who rent a house on Lobsterville Road were walking along Lobsterville Beach near Dogfish Bar and spotted a piping plover with a black flag. Unfortunately they didn’t have a scope so were unable to read the numbers. We know it was from the Bahamas.

Luanne Johnson spotted a Virginia rail in Squibnocket Pond on August 2.

Rob Bierregaard’s talk on the movements of ospreys tracked by GPS transmitters was fascinating. Rob and Dick Jennings have determined that this year the Vineyard ospreys produced the third highest number of fledglings since 1992. The highest was in 1992, the second was in 2008, and this year so far Rob and Dick have counted 103 young ospreys fledged. We will soon notice that the female ospreys have left for their southern homes, which, according to Rob, are further south than the males venture.

Penny Uhlendorf reported seeing adult barn swallows feeding their fledglings on the wing. I must say I have never observed this, but these swallows have excellent aerial agility so I am not surprised. I found no note of aerial feeding of young by barn swallows in my research. Scott Stephens has been spotting greater shearwaters and Wilson’s storm petrels off Gay Head.

Al Sgroi spotted a sooty shearwater while fishing off Gay Head on August 2. Page Rogers sent me nice photos of a roseate tern she saw at Katama on August 1.

On July 30, Lanny McDowell, Bob Shriber, Flip Harrington and I were at the flats at Tisbury Great Pond and had a good mixed flock of shorebirds, the best being a stilt sandpiper. We also saw two lesser black-backed gulls, one a second-year gull and one in third-year plumage. The next day, July 31, Porter Turnbull and Pete Gilmore joined Lanny, Flip and me. We had the great mix of shorebirds again, and our best birds were a white-rumped sandpiper, a black tern and an adult northern gannet that flew over the pond out over the ocean.

Jeffrey Heidt and Myra Green sent an e-mail to say they had seen an adult northern gannet on the beach between Black Point and Quansoo on August 1. They wrote that the bird allowed them to approach it and finally it took off. My theory is that the bird is either weakened by lack of food, old age or sickness.

Dale Carter called to say she had spotted a weird dove, one that looked like a cross between a mourning and white-winged dove, at her home near the Dike Bridge on Chappaquiddick. I would like to hear if anyone else sees this bird, and if you can please take a photo so we can figure out what it is.

Speaking of photos, Allan Keith went over to Chappaquiddick on July 30 to try to find the painted bunting. He was unable to find the bird, but did find the neighbor of Colin Floyd’s who took a photo. It was indeed a painted bunting but unfortunately it has not been seen since.

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.