Where would you rather be, Florida or Massachusetts? Do you prefer warm weather or cold weather? Now that the cold weather has arrived, we shall see if some of the lingering species vacate to warmer climes!
A western willet certainly prefers warm weather: most of them overwinter along Gulf of Mexico and South American shorelines. So what is one doing here? Nancy Nordin spotted one on Jan. 14 at West Basin. The nearest western willet was along the New Jersey coast on Jan. 7 and Jan. 9. A greater yellowlegs is much more likely, as they seem to be becoming winter residents; on Jan. 10 Bob Shriber spotted two at West Basin.
Another shorebird, the killdeer, is here in small numbers in most winters, although they can be difficult to find. David Benvent saw an unusually-large flock of 13 killdeer on Jan. 8 along Deep Bottom Cove; we usually see solitary individuals at this time of the year.
Other ground-loving birds are also around. Most notably, Nancy Nordin found four Lapland longspurs — a sparrow-like bird — in the agricultural fields at Norton Field Preserve in a flock of eight horned larks on Jan. 9. Another sparrow-like species that loves agricultural fields is the American pipit. Nancy Weaver observed 22 pipits at Katama Farm on Jan. 9 and Lanny McDowell counted at least 60 there on Jan. 12.
Lynne Fraker noticed an immature Cooper’s hawk in a very unusual location — trapped in some lobster pots near Lambert’s Cove Road. She rescued the bird from the pile of lobster pots and released it; when she left, it was resting in a nearby tree.
Another successful rescue took place because of the watchful eye of Carlos Dias, a fifth grader from Edgartown who spotted an unusual-looking black and white bird in his wooded Ocean Heights yard on Jan. 8. In school the next day he was excited to tell me about it and I confirmed it was a dovekie, a small seabird that needs to be in the ocean. I asked him to release it in Edgartown harbor as soon as possible, which he and his mother did after school. Carlos was excited to tell me it dove immediately and they watched it swimming underwater, flapping its wings and kicking with its legs to propel itself forward.
Other seabirds are still nearby. Bob Shriber spotted eight razorbills in Aquinnah on Jan. 9, along with 12 purple sandpipers. Charles Morano found seven razorbills, four dovekies, and one northern gannet in Vineyard Haven outer harbor on July 13. And Bob Shriber and Nancy Nordin teamed up on Jan. 14 with highlights of three horned grebe, three dovekies, two red-throated and seven common loons at Menemsha Bight.
Screech owls are occupying nest boxes already although their nesting will not begin until April or May. Bob Woodruff reports that on Jan. 11 one was peering from a nest box on his farm. The next day Sharon and Amber Simonin found a red phase screech owl in their nest box. Screech owls were heard by three teams on the Dec. 31, 2023 Christmas Bird Count: the Aquinnah team found two, the Chilmark team found one and one was found in the state forest.
Falcons were also found this week. Lanny McDowell had one American kestrel at Katama on Jan. 11; John Nelson spotted a dark-plumaged merlin at Katama Farm — perhaps the same individual he has seen there in past winters; and Charles Morano saw a merlin at Slough Cove on Jan. 12.
Red-winged blackbirds are in the news this week as Penny Uhlendorf and Scott Stephens had a surprise visit of a flock of 31 female red-winged blackbirds at their Pilot Hill feeder on Jan. 8. The flock tends to come in daily although they are very flighty; they have also seen them feeding on the ground in
nearby fields with European starlings. The flock was still present as of Jan. 13. A flock of female red-wings is unusual for this time of the year; usually all of them would be male. On Jan. 12 Nancy Nordin spotted a solitary red-wing at Beetlebung Corner, along with one catbird and one hermit thrush.
Catbirds and hermit thrushes have been reported. Scott Stephens and Penny Uhlendorf report that hermit thrushes are being very obliging and easy to find in the hedgerows around Pilot Hill this month, Nancy Weaver spotted a hermit thrush along Indian Hill Road on Jan. 9. Charles Morano spotted one at Slough Cove and Nancy Nordin observed three catbirds and three hermit thrushes at Thumb Cove on Jan. 12. The next day she found one catbird and one hermit thrush at Tashmoo Springs.
Lingering species include several species of warblers. Most notable is the continuing black-throated blue warbler that was first seen at Lynn Buckmaster Irwin’s feeder on the Dec. 31 Christmas Bird Count. Nancy Weaver spotted it on Jan. 9 and Charles Morano found it on Jan. 10. Lisa Maxfield still has an orange-crowned warbler at her feeder as of Jan. 11, and she spotted another along Lighthouse Road on Jan. 14. Nancy Nordin observed a yellow-breasted chat at Thumb Cove on Jan. 12.
Lisa Maxfield reports that the lingering Eurasian wigeon was still present at Crystal Lake on Jan. 11, along with approximately 80 ring-necked ducks
Finally, on Jan. 11 I found black-capped chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, Carolina wrens, American robins and northern cardinals at my Vineyard Haven house, None of these species are unusual but what was unusual is that they were singing!
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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