By most accounts, birding has been slower than expected this week. Nothing earth-shaking was spotted.
Likely the best bird of the week is Nora Papian’s sighting of a blue-gray gnatcatcher, which she found in the trees near the parking lot at Felix Neck on April 11. This diminutive bird is always a good find, as it is not very common in any season.
Large numbers of grackles have been around for the past week or so. Charlie Kernick reports that a large flock showed up in West Tisbury on April 7. On that same day Helen Mickelson reports hundreds of them in her Oak Bluffs yard. Ruth Nichols and Jacqueline Cromwell have also had them eating all the seed and suet at their feeders. And there have been large numbers of them around my Vineyard Haven neighborhood for the past week or so. It is good practice to pick out the brown-headed cowbirds and red-winged blackbirds that also seem to be present in these flocks. You do not necessarily need to see their colors as their shapes are different both in flight and when they are on the ground.
Nancy Rogers reported her first barn swallow of the year on April 5. Lanny McDowell also reports one near Black Point Pond on April 11. Also on the swallow front, Christy Edwards observed a flock of tree swallows at Long Point on April 12. They are likely to stay and nest here since some of them were hanging out around the nest boxes near the visitor’s center. Flocks of the swallows that are foraging over the water may be just passing through to points further north. That same day, David and Libby Fielder also observed their first tree swallows of the season.
Mike Savoy has had a red-bellied woodpecker pounding away at the trim of his house, as has Holly Mercier. Our other woodpeckers will do the same thing, though most of them are smaller and thus are a tad quieter. The health of your house is usually not a concern in these situations, as they use your house to broadcast their territory, telling other males to stay away. This drumming is especially loud when they find your gutters or the flashing around your chimney. Many birds sing to establish and defend their territories, but only a percussionist would call these noises song.
On April 11, Lanny McDowell observed a greater yellowlegs at Black Point Pond. He also heard a ring-necked pheasant screeching in the distance.
Matt Pelikan was in the State Forest when he heard his first field sparrow of the year on April 12. He also heard his first singing pine warblers on April 8, as they were singing around The Nature Conservancy’s office off Lambert’s Cove Road.
It is always difficult to pinpoint when a species leaves for points north. While we are excited to see new species — mostly what this column deals with at this time of the year — it is more difficult to document absence unless daily records are kept. But people seem to be noting their dark-eyed juncos, as they are still present at feeders belonging to Christy Edwards, Jo-Anne Eccher and Sharon Pearson. They will likely be gone by the end of this month.
On April 12, I finally heard and saw that my phoebe had finally returned from his winter vacation. While the first phoebes were observed on March 30 and April 1, I have not heard of any other reports, so it seems that he is about two weeks late!
There are lots of birds around, so please get out to look for them, and be sure to report your bird sightings to birds@mvgazette.com.
Robert Culbert leads guided birding tours and is an ecological consultant living in Vineyard Haven.
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