It is hard to believe that by the calendar, winter is practically upon us and that it is already the week before Christmas. Not only are birds stirring, but I heard a black-capped chickadee and a Carolina wren singing this morning. Okay, the wren has been singing almost every day, but this is the first chickadee song (feee-beee with both notes on the same pitch) I have heard in at least a month.
Also, we are leading up to the 60th annual Christmas Bird Count, which goes back to 1960. If history is a valid precedent, we expect to see at least 120 species and count at least 20,000 individuals. Our highest count was 134,963 individuals on the 2002 count, while the highest number of species (130) was recorded on both the 2003 and 2007 count.
Bird Sightings
The best sighting of the week is of a short-eared owl on Dec. 11. The owl was on Norton Point but Lanny McDowell was at the boat launch ramp on Edgartown Bay Road. A distant but unmistakable sighting that is very similar to my sighting last week of the first snowy owl of the season. He also spotted horned larks, killdeer, snow buntings and a northern harrier.
Woodpeckers are in the news this week. On Dec. 15, Mariah BenDavid observed a juvenile yellow-bellied sapsucker on her suet feeder. And recently, Jeri Dantzig has had a male northern flicker visiting bird feeders.
Also on Dec. 15, Jeff Bernier was at a farm in Katama when he saw and photographed an eastern bluebird catching and eating some sort of insect larvae.
Danguole Budris spotted a belted kingfisher at Sepiessa Point on Dec. 13.
Dec. 11 was a busy day. Marquisandro Robadel spotted some dark-eyed juncos feeding on the ground and Danguole Budris also saw her first juncos of season at her feeder. That same day, Penny Vaughn saw a leucistic downy woodpecker that was almost all white visiting her feeder.
Finally, the fish crow story took an unexpected turn on Dec. 14, when Sharon Simonin was on the 3:45 p.m. Steamship Authority boat and observed fish crows headed to Woods Hole. Apparently, these birds were unaware that they were supposed to be commuting to their overnight roost on the Island. What is going on?
Our winter residents are starting to arrive as southbound migrants become scarcer. Please report your sightings to birds@mvgazette.com.
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant with Nature Watch LLC living in Vineyard Haven.
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