Lanny McDowell and Pete Gilmore came across a sad scene on Sept. 14 as they walked along the path between Moshup Trail and Moshup Beach. They found nine dead shorebirds — eight semipalmated sandpipers and one semipalmated plover — spread over a small section of the synthetic walkway. Maybe half of them had been partially eaten. They observed two others that were noticeably wounded.
Later that day, land bank staff removed the lower section of the mats as part of their preparation for Hurricane Lee. They observed that the dead birds were partially eaten and not stuck to the mats.
Barry Burden had recently watched a peregrine falcon in that area as it caught a shorebird right in front of him, carried it off toward the road before it came back and took another one. The peregrine did this a few more times fairly quickly.
While we will never know what happened, this seems to be the more likely cause rather than either disease or poisoning followed by a scavenger discovering the carcasses. Nature is not always pretty.
On a more upbeat note, migration continues and we have a wide variety of warblers to report.
On Sept. 20 through 22, Allan Keith had a rather remarkable three days at Squibnocket: he observed 15 species of warblers including Nashville, parula, yellow, magnolia, Cape May (on all three days), black-throated blue, yellow-rumped, black-throated green, prairie, blackpoll, Wilson’s, American redstart, northern waterthrush and common yellowthroat. To top off this list he also spotted an ovenbird at Gay Head Moraine on Sept. 22.
Shea Fee also has a remarkable list, with three species new for the year that were seen on Sept. 21 at Wasque: one yellow-breasted chat, one orange-crowned warbler and one mourning warbler. She also saw one northern waterthrush, two redstarts, one pine warbler and three prairie warblers. At Quansoo Farm the next day, she added one yellow warbler, one chestnut-sided warbler and five pine warblers.
On Sept. 21 in Aquinnah, Bob Shriber and Nancy Nordin observed seven warbler species: three yellowthroats, two redstarts, two Cape May, one chestnut-sided, one blackpoll, two pine, three yellow-rumped and one prairie. The yellow-rumpeds are a first for the season. Bob Shriber joined Susan Whiting the next day and in Aquinnah they spotted the following warblers: one black and white, two yellowthroats, seven redstarts, two Cape Mays, one yellow, one blackpoll, two yellow-rumped and one prairie.
Kenneth LaVigne spotted a Nashville warbler in Ocean Heights on Sept. 18. Dana Bangs found one redstart, one palm warbler and an amazing 12 pine warblers on Sept. 19 at Long Point. Charles Morano saw one redstart, three prairie warblers and one black-throated green warbler on Sept. 22 at Cape Pogue. Also on Sept. 22 Dana Bangs observed one yellowthroat, one yellow and three palm warblers on at the Gay Head Cliffs while Chris Scott located one black and white warbler and one Nashville warbler at Long Point.
On Sept. 24 the quartet of Nancy Nordin, Bob Shriber, Nancy Weaver and Janet Woodcock saw one ovenbird and one yellowthroat.
The above list is a remarkable 22 species of warblers, more than half of the 35 or so species that may be found in Massachusetts. That is peak migration.
Four species of vireos were seen, too. On Sept. 21 in Aquinnah, Bob Shriber and Nancy Nordin found one white-eyed vireo and one red-eyed vireo, while Allan Keith spotted three vireos at Squibnocket over the period of Sept. 20-22: Philadelphia, warbling and red-eyed.
In other songbird news, Bob Shriber and Susan Whiting spotted a dickcissel — a first for the year — in Aquinnah on Sept. 22. They also saw a ruby-crowned kinglet, as did Bob Shriber and Nancy Nordin the day before, also in Aquinnah. Nancy Nordin added a golden-crowned kinglet on Sept. 19 and 20 at her West Tisbury house. These are the first sightings of either kinglet for the season.
As for waterbirds, Stuart Norton found a first of the year American bittern on Sept. 20 at Sweetened Water Farm. Chris Scott saw a red-throated loon — the first of the season — in the ocean off Long Point on Sept. 22. He also observed six blue-winged teal and four green-winged teal on Sept. 19 at Crackatuxet Cove — more firsts for the season.
Also on Sept. 19, Susan Whiting found four green-winged teal on Tisbury Great Pond near Old Fields Path. On Sept. 22 Charles Morano spotted six green-winged teal and a golden plover on Cape Pogue. And on Sept. 24 he found the second report of Caspian terns for the year: two of them flew past near Philbin Beach.
Perhaps the only Tropical Storm Ophelia storm-driven birds sighted this week were the 40 common terns I observed on Sept. 23. They were flying over Sengekontacket Pond near the Little Bridge before they flew westward and out of sight. There were another 70 terns hiding from the wind on Sarson’s Island; I could identify 20 of them as common terns while the others were most likely the smaller least terns. They were gone the next morning, though I found two first of the season dunlin on the tidal flats at Norton Point.
Sightings in Edgartown: Warren Woessner spotted a family of six bobwhites on Sept. 12 near Old Farms Trail while Bill Post found a family of bobwhites along Kitt’s Field Circle on Sept. 13.
And finally, a few ruby-throated hummingbirds are still around. Matt Born found four along Clay Pit Road in Aquinnah on Sept.19; on Sept. 20, Kathy Landers saw two in Oak Bluffs while Joan Burden observed one near the high school; and on Sept. 23, Meg Spokus had one near the Tisbury School and Sioux Eagle observed one in her West Tisbury yard “repeatedly sticking out her tongue to sip raindrops.” They are still around, so keep your feeders up!
Please email your sightings to birds@vineyardgazette.com.
Robert Culbert is an ecological consultant with Nature Watch LLC, living in Vineyard Haven.
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