We saw these species last winter or last spring, so they are not new sightings for the year. But they have not been here since the spring, and now they are passing through or are arriving for the coming winter.
The most unexpected yard bird was a Wilson’s snipe found by Meredith Leon-Brown on Oct. 22. She was able to get good views of this normally elusive species that lives in wetlands and is frequently only seen as it flies away after we disturb it.
Warren Woessner reports a great cormorant on Norton Point Beach on Oct. 23. This is the first one he has seen there, as they are more likely along the up-Island boulder-strewn shorelines. He also had two red-throated loons fly by.
Two observers spotted their first white-winged scoters of the season on Oct. 22. Jeff Bernier spotted his off Squibnocket Point and David Stanwood saw his off Lake Tashmoo. That day David also spotted his first bufflehead of the season on Lake Tashmoo.
Allan Keith spotted three horned grebes In Squibnocket Pond on Oct. 21. Normally they are a saltwater species, but he notes that the first arrivals tend to show up in Squibnocket rather than in the ocean, a pattern he has noticed in other years. He also spotted a female bufflehead, six ruddy ducks, and a flock of at least 75 lesser scaup. He also comments that suddenly he is seeing white-throated sparrows and dark eyed juncos all over the place — in Aquinnah, at Squibnocket, and at his feeder. They seem to be arriving late this year, as the early individuals are often arriving in late September.
And our winter resident fish crows have started to return. Lanny McDowell spotted some of them on Oct. 19, and Penny Uhlendorf reports that they were at the Vineyard Haven Post Office in force the next day. John Nelson reports that the flock that frequents the Harthaven Beach near Farm Pond has also returned. These are some of our winter resident birds that are here 24/7 until next March. The commuter crows that roost on the Vineyard and feed during the day on Cape Cod have yet to be seen. They are due to arrive any day now.
Bird Sightings
Migrants are staying later into the season as well. We call these birds stragglers, individuals that are the last of their species to vacate the Vineyard on their way to their southern wintering grounds.
Most notable of these stragglers are two species that are not normally seen from land — both a Manx and a Cory’s shearwater were spotted by Lanny McDowell, Bob and Dawn Buckler, and Allan Keith from the Gay Head Cliffs on Oct. 21. The first three birders also report a black-legged kittiwake on a low tide at Norton Point. These three species are normally found further out to sea.
The ruby-throated hummingbird that was reported last week remains around, as Charlie Kernick spotted it again on Oct. 23, as this column was being written. John Nelson also reports a hummingbird near his house on Oct. 18, but he only saw it for about two seconds, nowhere near long enough to identify it to species. We are likely to get more hummers, so keep looking.
Some of the lingering songbirds Allan Keith spotted on Oct. 21 include black-throated green and pine warblers in Aquinnah, and western palm, orange-crowned, blackpoll and yellow-rumped warblers at Squibnocket. Non-warblers include ruby-crowned kinglet, Baltimore oriole, American wigeon, and earlier in the week a gadwall.
Some of the lingering shorebirds include dunlin, sanderling, black-bellied plover, American golden plover, American oystercatcher, ruddy turnstone, semipalmated plover, killdeer, pectoral sandpiper, and greater yellowlegs. Multiple observers have reported these species from Norton Point, Little Beach, Edgartown Great Pond, and various pastures in Katama.
The dredge spoils that are being spread on Lobsterville Beach are a good location to look for unusual gulls. They are attracted to the freshly spread sand because of all the shellfish and other critters that accompany the pumped sand. Bob Shriber reports that at least two lesser black-backed gulls were there on Oct. 19.
Also of note is a bobwhite that showed up feeding on the grain that Dardanella Slavin puts out for her chickens.
Sparrows and finches are starting to show up on their southbound migration and our winter residents are starting to show up; please keep us up to date by reporting your sightings to birds@mvgazette.com.
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant living in Vineyard Haven.
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