Gus Ben David, Dick Jennings and Rob Bierregaard and a crew of volunteers have been erecting osprey poles for many a year. The reason they do so is to ensure pairs of ospreys have a safe site to raise their young. Gus asks that anyone who finds a pair of the Vineyard’s favorite fish hawks nesting in natural trees or on power or phone poles contact him at 508-627-5634. He will gather his crew together and place an osprey pole as near as possible to the existing nest. In some cases it is necessary to move the nest from the old site to the newly raised pole.

Recently Gus became aware that there was a pair of ospreys that nested on the Edgartown Golf Course. The nest was located in a dead pine tree. Unfortunately no one contacted Gus until the nest blew down in the last rain storm. Gus found one chick dead at the nest site and took another to the World of Reptiles and Birds for treatment with the hopes of releasing it back to the wild once it was able. No such luck, the chick had a broken wing and other injuries that caused its death.

I received an e-mail from Bill Post, who said that he had photographed an osprey on a pine tree at the second hole of the Edgartown Golf Course recently. He commented that he had watched one of the pair being attacked by a red-winged blackbird. The blackbird decided the osprey was way too close to its nest. To drive the osprey away, the red-winged blackbird actually landed on the back of the osprey for a few seconds and proceeded to peck the osprey’s back.

Bird Sightings

Bill Post sent me a lengthy list of the birds he saw during the week of June 18. Some of the highlights include watching two black-backed gulls and a red-tailed hawk fighting over a fish carcass on Edgartown Great Pond. Guess who won? The gulls did; black-backed gulls are one of the most aggressive birds in nature. Bill also watched two turkey vultures soaring over the pond. At Sengekontacket Pond shore Bill counted two willets and an American oystercatcher.

On June 27 Linsey Lee called to say she spotted and identified a male black and white warbler at her Seven Gates home. Known as the zebras of the woods, these warblers nest on the Island.

On June 22 Chris Heitt found a dead red-phase screech owl on Quansoo Road that had been hit by a car. These small owls often go after insects attracted to headlight of cars, so you have to be very alert to stop in time.

Cathy Minkewicz heard a bobwhite on Indian Hill and on June 22 John Liller, while working on the Massachusetts Breeding Bird Atlas, heard a bobwhite calling from the fields of Katama. John sent me a long list of the birds he spotted between June 15 and June 22. Highlights include great egrets at both Great Rock Bight in Chilmark and at Katama. Northern harriers were seen by John at Wasque (a pair) and a single male was spotted hunting the Katama fields. A willow flycatcher was heard singing near Herring Creek Road at Katama. One of the best sightings was a white-eyed vireo singing at Great Rock Bight on June 20. John verified that the hooded and northern parula warblers were still at Waskosim’s Rock as of June 22. Finally John watched a saltmarsh sparrow carrying food to young at Katama. We all figured they nested there, but it’s nice to have proof positive!

And speaking of proof positive, Bob Woodruff’s barn owl nest has young. They are making their presence known with much movement and vocalization. Bob added that Cleo Wild let him know that the owl box that Mike Wild had put up some years ago at his property at Katama has owls nesting this year and they have done so regularly.

Peter Enrich birded Sepiessa on June 24 and his best bird was a green heron. He also spotted Baltimore orioles, eastern kingbirds and several pairs of common yellowthroats.

Penny Uhlendorf made a seasonal statement that is right on. “Can you believe all the bird babies right now?” The great horned owl fledglings they have been watching in Tisbury have been roaming nearby the nest for about five weeks. Eastern bluebird fledglings were being fed at Phillips Preserve as early as the end of May, June 16 at the Wakeman Center in Tisbury and Ripley Field in Edgartown on June 16.

Ed Higham watched what he suspects is a second brood of eastern bluebirds produce its first fledgling on June 27 on the corner of Tea Lane and Old Farm Road. He must be sharing the audio of a whippoorwill with Tom and Barbara Rivers. Both the Rivers and Higham hear the bird around 9 p.m. The Rivers are now hearing two whippoorwills in concert near their Tea Lane home.

Hans and Sally Solmssen are the proud “grandparents” of four American robins that fledged from a nest the parents had built on a sconce outside the Solmssen’s front door. Hans also mentioned that he was hearing eastern towhees for the first time in years. Maybe there are less ground nesting predators on Abels’s Hill than there used to be.

Sarah Mayhew photographed an adult feeding an adult red-bellied woodpecker in her West Tisbury yard. At Quansoo she had both prairie and yellow warblers singing her a tune.

Nat Woodruff watched and photographed six house wren fledglings tumble, one at a time, from the nest box in her Oak Bluffs yard on June 26. Mary Jane Makepeace saw a breeding plumage common loon in Lake Tashmoo on the same day. June 25 Mary Jane spotted an American redstart and red-eyed vireo on Quansoo Road and saw a pair of red-tailed hawks and a grasshopper sparrow at Quansoo Farm on June 25. At her home in Edgartown she has a pair of ruby-throated hummingbirds and has seen chimney swifts swooping overhead.

Mary Beth Norton e-mailed to say as of June 28 she has a family of tufted titmice and a Baltimore oriole at her Great Plains Road yard.

Shelley Edmundson photographed the albino sparrow at her Crocker avenue home in Tisbury. This is likely to be the same bird that Elaine Carroll and Pam Benjamin reported. The photograph confirms my guess that the bird is a song sparrow. Nat Woodruff photographed a leucistic black-capped chickadee in her Oak Bluffs yard.

The piping plovers are having a rough summer. Luanne Johnson e-mailed to say they had lost 11 chicks on Dogfish Bar in Aquinnah to crows. One nest that is fathered by Bahama Jack, the piping plover that was banded in the Bahamas the winter before last, is a super dad. Luanne watched him herd three chicks back into the exclosure and then brood them while trying to hatch out the fourth egg. He then joined mom plover in effectively driving a northern mockingbird out of their territory.

Flip Harrington and I watched two food transfers between northern harriers at Quansoo Beach parking lot on June 25. We counted eight American oystercatchers on Big Sandy in Tisbury Great Pond on June 27.

Finally Scott Stephens spotted what we figure was an immature razorbill off Pilot’s Landing in the waters between Aquinnah and Noman’s Land on June 27.

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

Please report your bird sightings to the Martha’s Vineyard Bird Hotline at 508-645-2913 or e-mail to birds@mvgazette.com.