Songbirds are on the wing moving south for the season. Their migration will pick up in intensity over the next few weeks, and the sightings will be reported in this column. But just because the songbirds are here does not mean that they are easy to find. They will be distributed in small patches all around the Island and it may be necessary to visit a few sites before migrants are encountered. And once they are encountered, they are generally small and tend to be in trees hidden by leaves.
Weather plays a factor in their migration. As most of the migrants are coming from the north and northwest, they take advantage of the northwesterly winds that follow a front passing through. These tailwinds reduce the energy it takes for them to fly and boosts the distance they can fly.
The night after a front comes through, the migrants’ call notes can often be heard as they fly overhead. Listen for the call notes once it is dark. Many of the call notes — communication with other migrants — are distinctive and, with practice, can tell you which species is flying by.
Once the migrants reach the Vineyard, they alter their direction and head westward and proceed to follow the coastline toward New York and New Jersey. Or, they stop here to rest and eat.
Undoubtedly, the best place on the Vineyard to find these migrants is near the Gay Head Cliffs. The migrants may land anywhere, but once here they tend to head westward in their search for food and/or their preferred habitat. They may stay for a few days to feed and replenish their fat reserves, which is how they store the energy necessary to power their nocturnal flights. After a few days they inevitably find themselves in Aquinnah facing a long flight over the water, which they are hesitant to attempt. So their numbers build up all over Aquinnah, especially near the Gay Head Cliffs, until there is favorable weather.
Based on my observations, I think many of the songbird migrants head westward down the north shore. It is often easier to find migrants there, especially in the wetter woodlands — red maple and/or beetlebung swamps — perhaps because there are more bugs and more berry-laden shrubs and trees. In drier soils elsewhere on the Vineyard, I find that pine woodlands often host more migrants. Perhaps their structure and insect diversity more closely resembles the spruces and conifers that many of these species breed in. Another clue to finding the migrants is to look closely at any flocks of chickadees, nuthatches, titmice and woodpeckers. Migrant songbirds may be interspersed among these resident flocks.
Bird Sightings
Scott Stephens had an unexpected visitor on his fishing boat when he was six miles south of the Vineyard on August 24. A migrating bobolink flew past the Vineyard and was lucky Scott was there. The bird might not have made it back to land otherwise. Scott hand-fed the tired and hungry bird, and the bobolink stayed on the boat until after it docked in Menemsha.
On Sept. 1 Pete Gilmore had the second sighting of bobolinks, a flock of 15 at the Gay Head Cliffs. That morning, he also observed house wren, common yellowthroats, and pine, prairie and magnolia warblers.
The most interesting news of the week involves seabirds. A flock of all-star Vineyard birders — Soo Whiting, Flip Harrington, Allan Keith, Lanny McDowell, Pete Gilmore and Ken Magnuson — went out to sea south of Noman’s Land on Sept. 6. Their highlights include one white-faced storm petrel (a first for near the Vineyard), a flock of about 300 red-necked phalaropes, three species of shearwaters — greater, sooty and Cory’s — Wilson’s storm-petrel and a dolphin. These species are not seen near the Vineyard very often. All this came after Flip Harrington spotted a south polar skua about one mile north of Noman’s Land on Sept. 3.
Buff-breasted sandpipers are considered to be an uncommon fall transient on the Vineyard, according to Susan Whiting and Barbara Pesch’s Vineyard Birds II. So it is exciting that Sarah Mayhew found one at Quansoo on August 31. Ken Magnuson found four of them there on Sept. 2. Although they were spotted along the shoreline this time, they are more likely to be seen in mowed or heavily grazed fields at Katama.
Susan McCoy reports another now uncommon species, wood duck, at Blackwater Pond off Lambert’s Cove Road in West Tisbury. The pond, due to the drought, is now more of a mudflat, but there were several wood ducks swimming in the little bit of shallow water. She also observed some yellowlegs on the mudflats and a hairy woodpecker in the nearby woods.
Steve Allen and Suzan Bellincampi observed two whimbrels at Felix Neck on Sept. 2. Steve saw them again on Sept. 7.
My Saturday morning guided birding tour was searching for migrating songbirds and searched numerous flocks of chickadees on Sept. 5. At the head of the lagoon, we got good looks at an American redstart that was exceedingly active, typical of that species, and we heard a Baltimore oriole. Other highlights included a great blue heron, a green heron and a Carolina wren.
Chris Daly reports that he has been awoken by two screech owls loudly calling to each other near his Noman’s Watch house. And Happy Spongberg spotted one that flew up from her driveway, illuminated by her car’s headlights.
On Sept. 6, Luanne Johnson participated in the World Shorebird Day at Little Beach and Eel Pond and found 21 species, including the following highlights: black-bellied plover, semipalmated plover, piping plover, spotted sandpiper, greater yellowlegs (26), semipalmated sandpiper, sanderling (42), willet, ruddy turnstone, laughing gull and black skimmer.
At 7 a.m. in the morning on Sept. 6, I was driving northward along Herring Creek Road in Edgartown when two meadowlarks flew low and fast across the road from Katama Airpark toward Herring Creek Farm. Then I realized why they were in such a hurry; a merlin was in hot pursuit about 50 feet behind them.
Penny Hinkle has not heard a mockingbird on East Chop all summer, and wonders if others have noticed a scarcity of this very vocal songster. Let us know about your mockingbird sightings, or lack thereof.
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.
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