In the middle of October, Luanne Johnson and I watched a single snow goose fly into Sengekontacket Pond from offshore. It is odd to spot a single snow goose. They usually migrate in large flocks and when the flocks descend from the V in the sky the scene is likened to a “snow storm of white birds.” Remember when you shook the round paper weight and the snow swirled around? That is what snow geese look like coming in for a landing. I have seen huge flocks of snow geese in Chesapeake Bay and in New Mexico, but never on the Vineyard. Presently there is a single snow goose hanging out with Canada geese at Katama.

Known also as the white goose, there are three distinct breeding populations found in the United States for the snow goose. A western one from far northern Alaska to the Northwest Territories of Canada, a mid-continental population from Victoria Island to Hudson Bay and Baffin Island and finally the eastern population found from Elsmere Island to Baffin Island. The tundra is the habitat of choice for the snow goose to breed and rear their young. The snow geese that occasionally end up on the Vineyard are presumed to be from the eastern breeding population. Birds from this population have been found as far south as Belize and Honduras.

Snow geese are dimorphic which means not all snow geese are white with black wing tips. This describes the white morph or form. The dark form or blue morph of the snow goose has a white head and dark grey-brown body. Until 1983 these two morphs or forms were separated into two species — the snow goose and the blue goose. Now due to DNA research, the two morphs are lumped into one species, the wavey or snow goose.

Why are snow geese also known as wavey geese? The derivation is from Native American names. The Crees called the snow goose whey, the Chinook tribe wawa and the Ojibway tribe wewe. And why these names? It is said these monikers described the call of the wavey or snow geese. Many folks consider the snow goose the noisiest of all the waterfowl.

Snow geese are monogamous and the lifelong bond is made in the wintering grounds when the birds are about two years old. On arrival in the breeding grounds the female has been known to forage up to 18 hours a day. Her choice of food is totally vegetarian and is procured by grubbing or rooting in the ground to pull up rhizomes, tubers and roots. Frequently the pristine white feather of the head and neck of snow geese take on a rusty color. This is the result of grubbing in ground that is high in iron oxides. It is the female that not only chooses the nest site, but constructs the nest. At first it is not much more than a scrap in the ground, but then she “feathers her nest” with a combination of down feathers she plucks from her breast, eel grass and leaves from willow and birch. She lays two to six eggs, which are white. If one looks at the snow goose nest after six eggs are laid, one might find that some are no longer creamy white; again due to the iron oxide, this time having rubbed off the head and neck of the adult female. Incubation takes about 23 days, again only by the female, and when the goslings hatch they are amazingly well developed. They have down and open eyes and shortly thereafter can forage on their own, can swim and maintain their own temperature without being under the female. It seems that within three weeks of hatching the parents start walking to an area of better feed. This can be as far as 50 miles! And speaking of walking, it seems that molting snow geese are pretty speedy and can outrun many of their predators. Snow geese are also strong flyers and swimmers. In some cases, when under attack, these geese can even dive for a short time to avoid predation.

So if you have a chance, go and check out the Vineyard’s lone snow goose at Katama.

Bird Sightings On Nov. 6 Bob Shriber, Lanny McDowell, Allan Keith and I birded Gay Head. Our best birds included a clay-colored sparrow, three snow buntings, an orange-crowned warbler and an osprey. At Squibnocket Bob, Lanny and I counted 20 greater scaup, two lesser scaup, two surf scoters, 12 white-winged scoters, 120 bufflehead, 20 ruddy ducks, four horned grebes, a great blue heron, a field sparrow and a white-throated sparrow. At Chilmark Pond Bob Shriber and I found six gadwall, two hooded mergansers, two greater yellowlegs and a lesser black-backed gull. At the other end of the Island at the Farm Institute Ken Magnuson re-found the western kingbird and a vesper sparrow the same day.

On Nov. 7 Jeff Bernier photographed an immature white-crowned sparrow at the Farm Institute.

Nov. 8 Rob Culbert found a brant at Ocean Park. Jeff Bernier spotted the western kingbird and a palm warbler at the Farm Institute on the same day. Lanny McDowell found a peregrine falcon, a pine warbler and counted 65 American pipits. Luanne Johnson and Liz Baldwin found a male harrier hunting over Nat’s Farm field in West Tisbury the same day.

On Nov. 9 Joanie Ames watched a brown creeper spiral up an oak outside her Seven Gates home. Jeff Bernier photographed birds in Menemsha the same day and got good shots of five common loons, 12 common eider and one juvenile American oystercatcher. Down-Island Penny Uhlendorf and Scott Stephens counted eight American oystercatchers, a great blue heron, and both black-bellied and semipalmated plovers on Sarson’s Island.

On Nov. 10 Rosemary Knolton Hidreth photographed 12 turkey vultures in an evening roost at Priester’s Pond in West Tisbury.

Nov. 11 Ken Magnuson found an orange-crowned warbler at Gay Head. Michael Ditchfield counted five American oystercatchers and dunlin at Little Beach and found two American coots at the Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary in Edgartown. Jeff Bernier photographed several American pipits at the Farm Institute the same day.

Please report your bird sightings to the Martha’s Vineyard Bird Hotline at 508-645-2913 (due to technical difficulties the Bird Hotline has been temperamental). If the phone doesn’t answer please e-mail to birds@mvgazette.com.

Susan B. Whiting is the co-author of Vineyard Birds and Vineyard Birds II. Her website is vineyardbirds2.com.