An American bittern is an incredible species. They stand about 28 inches tall and hide in marshy grasses by pointing their beaks almost straight up. The brown vertical streaking on their chest and neck matches their grass stem background making them almost impossible to find. But when you get too close for its comfort it flies off.
This is what happened to Mike Ditchfield on Jan. 30 when he visited the Mattakesset Herring Creek by Crackatuxet Cove. It burst out of the grasses and flew off, but he quickly got a photo of this elusive species. This site is one of the most frequent sites where this species has been found. My recollection is that one or maybe two sightings of this species happens in most, but not all, years.
Another infrequently seen species is the northern shrike. Stefan Martin’s sighting of this species was reported in last week’s column, and he reports finding the bird again on Jan. 31 along the West Basin Road in Lobsterville. Look for a gray and white mockingbird look-a-like that is perched atop the shrubs or small juniper trees.
Bird Sightings
Ruddy turnstones are common on our tidal flats during the northbound and southbound migrations, but they are fairly scarce in the winter. Lanny McDowell found one on Feb. 2 on the rocks and the beach at Harthaven, along with the much more common sanderling. On Feb. 1, he also spotted a well camouflaged brown creeper seeking food as it climbed up a tree trunk, and a hermit thrush off Lambert’s Cove Road.
Gus Ben David reports that the highlight of his Jan. 28 Chappaquiddick birding trip was the flight show that a peregrine falcon put on. Mr. Ben David had just released some of the homing pigeons he raises when the peregrine showed up. The pigeons raced upward to gain elevation and stay above the peregrine. Of course the peregrine was in hot pursuit, flying quickly to get above the pigeons. This show was also observed by Phil Stanton, Matt Connelly and Julie Ben David. All but one of the pigeons made it home. He also points out that waterfowl were incredibly scarce, and that they only saw one yellow-rumped warbler. Not too long ago there would have been thousands of ducks that could be seen from Cape Pogue and Wasque and you could easily find hundreds — if not thousands — of the warblers. No longer.
While shorebirds were fairly scarce on Chappaquiddick, the usuals were present on Norton Point Beach on Jan. 28. Bob Shriber found 12 black-bellied plovers, five sanderling, and seven dunlin. Waterfowl he observed included Canada geese, mute swan, gadwall, mallard, black duck, bufflehead, common goldeneye, hooded mergansers and red-breasted mergansers.
At Black Point Pond on Jan. 29, Allan Keith found the following ducks: gadwall, American wigeon, black duck, mallard, pintail, green-winged teal, surf scoters, bufflehead, hooded mergansers, and red-breasted mergansers, as well as mute swan, sanderling, great blue heron, and northern harrier. He also notes that his feeders have hosted some sporadic visitors, including five male and two female red-winged blackbird (the latter are unusual during the winter), and one male brown-headed cowbird.
Hatsy Potter found a flock of at least 15 cedar waxwings at Pimpneymouse Farm on Jan. 26, and a sizeable flock of robins eating holly berries were nearby along Dike Road. Danielle Belleny spotted three robins at Peaked Hill on Jan. 26, and I saw five of them at my house on the morning of Feb. 3.
House finches have suddenly showed up in new locations. Holly Mercier had a flock of them at her feeders on Feb. 1, and Wendy Culbert spotted a few of these finches at our feeder on Jan. 30 and again on Feb. 2.
Has anyone recently seen the winter flocks of fish crows that were around Vineyard Haven Harbor or Farm Pond in November and December? At that time, the flocks numbered about 200 individuals and 100 individuals, respectively.
The first north-bound migrants will show up soon! 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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